Constitutional Empathy and Judicial Dialogue in the EU

L. Arroyo Jiménez, “Constitutional Empathy and Judicial Dialogue in the EU», 24-1 European Public Law, 2018, pp. 57-72.

In a context of legal pluralism, empathy becomes a constitutional virtue. Legal interfaces governing intersystem relations among EU and national laws must be devised and implemented accordingly. This article explores some of the conclusions that might be drawn from this in the area of judicial dialogue, particularly from the perspective of the Member States’ Constitutional or Supreme courts. As for the formalized dialogue, analysing the structure of communication interfaces provides, on the one hand, a better understanding of the functions and rhetorical styles of references made by different national courts. On the other hand, the concept of constitutional empathy also allows for inferring rules of conduct in terms of drafting requests for preliminary rulings. With respect to non-formalized judicial dialogue, the paper argues that an empathetic design of legal interfaces might help national Constitutional or Supreme courts to improve the reception of driving forces that stem from EU law, both in their own case law and as regards EU law implementation by ordinary courts.

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