Professor Giuseppe Martinico from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies gave a lecture on General Principles of EU Law and Comparative Law online to the students at the invitation of the College of Comparative Law on the evening of 25 Nov, 2022.
Prof. Martinico gained a PhD in Law with main research in comparative and EU law. He is a member of the Steering Committee 'Collegio Puteano' in Pisa, the International Journal of Constitutional Law Society (ICON) and the Society 'Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo'. He is also the recipient of the National Prize 'L’Astrolabio', the Prize 'Ultimo Novecento' for young researcher and the Prize UD-Grupo Santander 2015.
The lecture was hosted by the Institute of Sino-Italian Law and Roman Law of the College as an academic celebration of the 70th anniversary of CUPL. Director of the Institute & Director of the Academic Committee of the College Prof. Fei Anling moderated the lecture. Director of the Institute of European Law of the College Prof. Zhang Tong, Assistant to the Director of the Institute of Sino-Italian Law and Roman Law Dr. Xu Jianbo joined the discussion in the lecture.
At the beginning, Fei made an opening speech and expressed her heartfelt thanks to Martinico for giving the lecture and her sincere gratitude to the distinguished guests Zhang and Xu for their active participation.
Then Martinico introduced the value of general principles in today's society, and pointed out the problems in the application of general principles and the 'hidden' comparison method adopted by the European Court of Justice. He focused on the criteria for the extraction of general principles in the common constitutional tradition of member states, the significance of the opinions of the general counsel in understanding the important role of comparative methods in the interpretation of general principles, and the risk of conflict between national legal systems and EU law in the interpretation of general principles. He explained the general principles and the important role of comparative law in the current EU legal system and the development trend in detail.
In the discussion, Zhang said that the general principle itself has the guidance, the abstract and the uncertainty, and that the European Court of Justice's citation of the general principle is determined by the case law, therefore presenting the scattered characteristic. She took the draft European Civil Code as an example to point out the classification of general principles by the European Court of Justice. On this basis, she explained that there is a point of view that comparative law has a certain negative role on the ascertainment of foreign laws. Afterwards, Xu said that Martinico provided the audiences with a new perspective to understand the relationship between the EU law and its member states' laws, from paying attention to the impact of the EU law on the laws of member states to trying to understand the relationship between the two from the perspective of the influence of member state law on EU law. In addition, she exchanged views with Martinico on the issue of whether there is an extraction of general principles in the field of private law, such as social law.
At the end of the lecture, Fei once again thanked Prof. Martinico, the guests and all the teachers and students present, and hoped that Martinico would join in more academic exchanges in the future. The lecture concluded in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere.
