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European Legal Method in D enmark and S weden—Using Social Science Theory and Methodology to Describe the Implementation of EU Law
Author(s) -
Edwardsson Eva,
Wockelberg Helena
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/eulj.12028
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , face (sociological concept) , law , political science , member states , commercial law , legal research , field (mathematics) , sociology , business , european union , computer science , social science , programming language , mathematics , pure mathematics , economic policy
This article presents data from a study in which national bureaucrats working in the fields of taxation and food law in S weden and D enmark are asked which legal sources and methods of interpretation they use when implementing EU law. The purpose is to contribute to the discussion about E uropean legal method by using social science methodology. National agencies and authorities in the fields of taxation and food law face a ‘multilayered’ or ‘multiprincipal’ reality in which there is room for policy choices. The answers given by the interviewees speak of a plurality of legal sources, a situation where bureaucrats are becoming reluctant lawmakers instructing others on how EU law is to be applied and where bureaucrats find it necessary to found their decisions on what colleagues within the authority or from other M ember S tates have said about how EU law should be applied.