• Offers an overview of European Union law, showing why it is the most ambitious attempt yet made to get historically, economically and legally diverse nation states to work together for the common good
• Explains the role of the European Court of Justice and other European Union courts, and how they are involved in the application of European Union law
• Discusses the range of issues that the European Union has the power to regulate, such as the free movement of goods and people
• Considers the distinction between the European Union's substantive law, which concerns the content of the rules put in place to achieve its policy objectives, and the EU's constitutional and administrative law, which concerns the mechanisms by which those rules are adopted, applied and enforced
• Contemplates how European Union law might develop in the future in the face of pressures to reform

 
The European Union is rarely out of the news and, as it deals with the consequences of the Brexit vote and struggles to emerge from the eurozone crisis, it faces difficult questions about its future. In this debate, the law has a central role to play, whether the issue be the governance of the eurozone, the internal market, 'clawing back powers from Europe' or reducing so-called 'Brussels red tape'.

In this Very Short Introduction Anthony Arnull looks at the laws and legal system of the European Union, including EU courts, and discusses the range of issues that the European Union has been given the power to regulate, such as the free movement of goods and people. He considers why an organisation based on international treaties has proved capable of having far-reaching effects on both its Member States and on countries that lie beyond its borders, and discusses how its law and legal system have proved remarkably effective in ensuring that Member States respect the commitments they made when they signed the Treaties. Answering some of the key questions surrounding EU law, such as what exactly it is about, and how it has become part of the legal DNA of its Member States so much more effectively than other treaty-based regimes, Arnull considers the future for the European Union.