European Business Law

Citation

Carolan, B. (1998), "European Business Law", European Business Review, Vol. 98 No. 1, pp. 73-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.1998.98.1.73.4

A business lawyer who would like to tackle EC law faces a quandary. Many specialist EC law books (e.g. labour and social law) presume the reader has a detailed knowledge of EC law. Other books provide a comprehensive overview of EC law, but do not treat specialist subjects in detail. Geraint Howells plans to steer a middle course with a series of books entitled the “European Business Law Library”.

European Business Law is the introductory book in the European Business Law Library series. It provides an overview of some subjects to be covered in greater depth in later titles. There are chapters by various authors on “European Intellectual Property”, “Labour and Social Law in the EC”, “EC Competition Law”, “EC Environmental Law and Policy”, “EC Consumer Law”, and other topics relevant to business law. Ultimately these will be titles in their own right in the European Business Law Library. This first book also includes “stand‐alone chapters” on the free movement of goods and services and EC food law which, apparently, are not included in plans for future volumes.

This book is designed to meet the needs of the pragmatic business lawyer who appreciates that, like it or loathe it, European Community law is here to stay, and its impact on business law must be confronted. To a large extent this book meets that need. The chapters are thorough and accessible. The chapter concerning the free movement of goods and services, for instance, would be at about the right level for an upper class law student encountering the subject for the first time. A lawyer without a background in EC law should not find it intimidating.

The chapters vary in level of detail. Howells’ own contribution, “EC Consumer Law”, has considerable breadth and depth. The chapter on “EC Competition Law” provides more in the way of an overview of the economic theories underpinning EC competition law and a brief treatment of the Treaty Articles and major secondary EC competition law. The chapters which I read included a judicious selection of journal articles, suitable for a reader who wished to pursue a topic in greater detail.

The problem with a book of this sort is that EC law constantly is changing. This problem will be addressed by the later publications in the series which will update the subject‐matter while treating it in greater depth. European Business Law could serve as a relatively painless introduction to European Community law for a business lawyer (academic or practitioner), who has little or no familiarity with the law of the European Union. The European Business Law Library series seems a worthwhile venture.