Moser, Philip; Sawyer, Katrine --- "Introduction" [2008] ELECD 223; in Moser, Philip; Sawyer, Katrine (eds), "Making Community Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Making Community Law

Editor(s): Moser, Philip; Sawyer, Katrine

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201379

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Moser, Philip; Sawyer, Katrine

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

Introduction: Making Community Law
The legacy of Advocate General Jacobs at the European
Court of Justice
Philip Moser1 and Katrine Sawyer2
Sir Francis Jacobs was the United Kingdom's Advocate General (AG) at the
European Court of Justice (ECJ) from 7 October 1988 until 10 January 2006.
He attended his first hearing on 9 November 1988 and delivered his first opin-
ion on the thirtieth day of that same month.3 Sir Francis's last case hearing was
on 17 November 2005,4 with a three-pack of final opinions delivered on 15
December 2005, in Cases C-167/04-P JCB,5 C-423/04 Richards6 and C-
416/04-P Sunrider,7 followed by a final attendance in the Chamber at the audi-
ence solennelle on 10 January 2006 which marked his retirement.
During Sir Francis's tenure at the ECJ both the European Communities and
the wider world experienced fundamental changes. When Sir Francis arrived
at the ECJ, there were twelve Member States. At the time of his departure,
there were twenty-five Member States, with two more (Romania and Bulgaria)
about to accede. In October 1988 the iron curtain was in place, Germany was
divided into two states and the Soviet Union was just beginning its process of
reform. In 2006 the Soviet Union was history and three former Soviet Socialist
Republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) were actually within what was now

1 Of the Inner Temple, Barrister, Monckton Chambers, London.
2 Of the Middle Temple, ...