Comparative Public Law for European Society

This contribution theorises European comparative public law as a special way of comparative legal thinking. European comparative public law is special as it can use a legal lodestar, the ‘ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’ of Article 1 para. 2 Treaty on European Union (TEU). It is special as it compares within a specific body of law, namely European law that unites European Union (EU) law, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) law, and the law of the 27 Member States. It is special as it can rely on common values, those enshrined in Article 2 clause 1 TEU. And it is special as it can serve a specific social entity ushered by ‘ever closer union’, namely European society (Article 2 clause 2 TEU). European comparative law, so conceived, helps develop that society as well as understand, assess and protect its diversity. This contribution discusses the specific role of comparative arguments as well as their legal and methodological bases. A comparative reconstruction of constitutional adjudication, a bulwark of diversity, illustrates this theorisation. Finally, this article shows how the European comparative setting furthers an academic mindset that mirrors a diverse European society characterised by common constitutional principles.