... national laws of its member states. This is the doctrine of supremacy. This fundamental doctrine is not written in any of the founding treaties: it was invented by the European Court of Justice in the van Gend en Loos3 case, and has been expanded ever since by the same court. The court in this case looked to the creation, by the member states, of Community institutions with sovereign powers to conclude that "the Community constitutes a new legal order, ... the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but also their nationals." The Court followed up its bold assertion two years later in Costa v ENEL4, but this time offered detailed justifications for its decision. Firstly it inferred that, by establishing sovereign Community institutions, the member states had intended them to be supreme. Without such a doctrine, unilateral derogation would defeat the 'spirit and aims' of the Treaty. This implied ...

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