European Union Law and International Law: Sources, Effects, and Remedies
EU law
A candidate must know the sources of EU law: primary law (Treaties), secondary law (regulations, directives, decisions), and general principles. Understand the direct effect of regulations and, under conditions, of directives; the principle of supremacy; and the principle of conferral. Learn the institutions and their competences, and the four freedoms, especially free movement of goods, persons, and services. Know the preliminary reference procedure and the conditions under which a national court must refer.
Remedies and international law
Understand infringement proceedings, annulment actions, and state liability for breach of EU law. In international law, know the sources (treaties, custom, general principles), the law of treaties, state responsibility, and the relationship between international and domestic law.
Traps
Questions confuse direct effect with supremacy, and regulations with directives on horizontal effect. Another trap is the assumption that a directive can be invoked against a private party; it generally cannot. Watch for the conditions of state liability and the limits of the preliminary reference obligation.
Rule of thumb
For any EU law question, identify the source, then ask: is it directly effective, is it supreme, and what is the remedy? Answer in that order.
Worked example
A national law conflicts with a directly effective regulation. The national court must disapply the national law without waiting for a legislative repeal, because supremacy operates immediately.