Waiting for the Barbarians

Abstract

This chapter offers some methodological insights to those who wish to embark on a study of the archival history of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Through her voyage into this newly opened archive, the author unpacks the comparative legal history emerging from the jurisprudence of the ECJ, a supranational court embedded in different European legal traditions. The author relies on the findings of the new legal historians who have brought to the surface legal and political resistance to the constitutionalization narrative of the ECJ. She also relies on the work of sociologists who have focused on professional networks of Eurolawyers as a powerful engine for the integration and liberalization of the single market. By deploying these insights, the chapter offers a novel reading of the grands arrêts through the dossiers de procédure now open to the public in electronic format at the Historical Archives of the EU.