Article 234 Reference

The Judicial Committee of the House of Lords on Tuesday referred a case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. This procedure allows a question of European Union Law arising in a national court, to be referrred to the ECJ for a ruling on that particular issue. The ECJ gives its interpretation of ECJ, but the national court has to apply it to the case in hand.

This 'preliminary ruling' procedure has played an important role in the development of EU Law - including such key cases as Van Gend en Loos and Costa v. ENEL. A very useful article on EU Law by Petra Lea Láncos can be found at http://www.jak.ppke.hu/hir/ias/200612sz/o1.doc

Some statistical information on Preliminary Rulings can be found at -

It was ordered that the following questions be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Communities for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 of the Treaty establishing the European Community:

1) Is a person of dual Irish and United Kingdom nationality who has resided in the United Kingdom for her entire life a “beneficiary” within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (“the Directive”)?

2) Has such a person “resided legally” within the host Member State for the purpose of Article 16 of the Directive in circumstances where she was unable to satisfy the requirements of Article 7 of Directive 2004/38EC?

and that further consideration of the appeal be adjourned sine die.

http://www.eu-newgov.org/database/DELIV/DLTFIID1&2_Statistical_Examples_Arts_226&234.pdf

The Minutes of Proceedings - Judicial Business records -

McCarthy (FC) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) (formerly SM (Eire) (FC) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent))