Course · Foundations of Law
European Union Law
How the Union’s law works and how lawyers use it: the Union as a legal order, its institutions and law-making, Union law in national courts, the Court of Justice and remedies, the internal market, fundamental rights and citizenship, and consumers, cross-border disputes and data.
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Union law is not a foreign subject for a lawyer in a member state; it is part of the national legal system, above the national statute and enforceable in the national court. It also works in a way that national lawyers do not expect: it has its own sources and hierarchy, its own court, and a doctrine that lets a person rely on it directly against the state. This course teaches that structure and how to use it. It starts with what the Union is and what it may do; goes through the institutions and the way law is made; explains direct effect, primacy and state liability, which decide what a person can actually rely on; follows a case through the Court of Justice and the remedies available; examines the internal market, the freedoms and competition; turns to fundamental rights, values and citizenship; and ends with the rules that touch ordinary clients most: consumers, cross-border disputes, criminal cooperation and data. It uses real Treaty articles and landmark cases that have lasted, invented people and businesses, and three working tools.
The Curriculum
The Union as a legal order: how it came about, the treaties, the sources of EU law and the limits of its powers→
What the Union is, how it grew, the treaties, the sources of EU law and the limits of its powers. Practice: Which Source of Law, First Question and Spot the Mistake.
The institutions and how Union law is made: Parliament, Council, Commission, the Court, the legislative procedure and the legal basis→
The institutions and their roles, the ordinary legislative procedure, majority and unanimity, the legal basis, and delegated and implementing acts. Practice: Which Institution, Which Procedure and Spot the Mistake.
EU law and national law: direct effect, consistent interpretation, state liability and the primacy of Union law→
Direct effect, the limits of directives, consistent interpretation, state liability and primacy, with the leading cases. Practice: Can She Rely on It, First Question and Spot the Mistake.
The Court of Justice and the remedies: preliminary references, infringement, annulment, failure to act and damages→
The Court, the preliminary reference, infringement, annulment and who can bring it, failure to act, damages and effective protection. Practice: Which Action, Who Can Bring It and Spot the Mistake.
The internal market: free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, and the rules on competition and state aid→
The four freedoms, the goods cases, justification and proportionality, mutual recognition, and competition and state aid. Practice: Which Freedom, Can the State Justify It and Spot the Mistake.
Fundamental rights, values and citizenship: the Charter, the general principles, the limits on rights, the rule of law and the rights of citizens→
General principles, the Charter, when it applies, how rights can be limited, the values and the rule of law, non-discrimination and citizenship. Practice: Does the Charter Apply, Which Right and Spot the Mistake.
Private law, procedure and data in the Union: consumers, cross-border disputes, judicial cooperation and data protection→
Consumer protection, choice of law, jurisdiction and judgments, criminal cooperation, data protection and AI. Practice: Which Court, Which Rule and Spot the Mistake.
Capstone: Capstone: Anna Lindqvist sells across the Union→
A small online seller, a labelling rule that blocks her goods, a customer dispute across a border, a data request and an employee relying on a directive. Choose the source, test the rule, find the court and advise.
What It Covers
“You will be able to say, for any rule or dispute with a Union element, which source applies, whether a person can rely on it, which court decides, and whether a national rule can stand.”
- Follows the problem: a four-question order of thought (which source, can the person rely on it, which route and which court, and does it prevail over national law) that works on every problem in the course and the capstone.
- Teaches the structure behind the rules, so that a student who knows how direct effect, primacy and the freedoms fit together can read any new regulation, directive or judgment.
- Three tools with invented facts: an Instrument Chooser, a Direct Effect Tester and a Free Movement Checker, each showing how the answer changes when a fact does.
- Honest about limits: it teaches durable Treaty provisions and landmark cases, and does not state changing figures, thresholds or recent decisions. It is general education, not advice, and it links to the site’s EU Law portal and its comparisons of legal systems.
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Or give this as a giftOther Scrolls in This Chamber
Across the Table$15 →Interests, walk-away numbers, offers, trades, pressure tactics and professional limits, with practice rooms and calculators.
Cooling the Room$15 →How conflict escalates, mapping a dispute, de-escalation, hard conversations, choosing a process, mediation, power, culture and ethics, with practice mediations.
The Client Conversation$15 →Trust, the first meeting, fees and scope, updates in plain words, advice and decisions, bad news, boundaries and ethics, with practice meetings.Part of a program
Step 7 of 12 in the Foundations of Law, Year 3
Remedies, regulation and the world beyond one country: administrative, international, cross-border, employment and immigration law. Each course is sold on its own; the whole program is $69 once and unlocks every course in it.
See the whole programModule 1 is free to try. Sign in, pass each module quiz and the course average, and your Certificate of Completion is emailed to you automatically. This course teaches method and technique with invented people and figures; it is general education, not legal advice, and professional rules differ from country to country.
Common questions
- Do I need to know the law of a particular member state?
- No. The course is about the Union’s own law, which is the same in every member state. It uses invented people and abstract member states, and it notes where national law comes in.
- Does it cover the current state of the law?
- It teaches the Treaty framework and the landmark cases that have lasted. Detailed rules, thresholds and recent decisions change, so check current law for any real matter.
- Does it cover the United Kingdom after it left?
- No. It covers the law of the Union as it applies to its member states. It mentions the withdrawal procedure in the Treaty but not the arrangements of any particular country.
- Are the tools real data?
- No. The tools apply well-known ideas in simplified form to invented facts. They show the structure of the answer and cannot decide a case.
- Is it useful for practice or for exams?
- Yes. Union law is tested in qualifying exams across the member states and touches national practice in consumer, data, employment, competition and free-movement matters.
- How do I get the Certificate of Completion?
- Sign in, pass each module quiz and keep a course average of at least 75. The certificate is then issued and emailed to you automatically.
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