New College of Florida to Host Judge Thomas von Danwitz of the European Union Court of Justice
On Monday April 13, New College will host a lecture by Judge Thomas von Danwitz of the European Union Court of Justice. The talk, entitled “State of the Union in Europe: The EU Facing External Challenges and Internal Reforms,” begins at 4:00 pm in the College Hall Music Room.
Judge von Danwitz was appointed a Judge at the Court of Justice in October 2006. He studied in Bonn, Geneva and Paris and holds a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Bonn, and an International diploma in public administration. He was a professor of German public law and European Law at Ruhr University, Bochum from 1996 to 2003 (Dean of the Faculty of Law 2000-2001). He was Professor of German public law and European law at the University of Cologne from 2003 to 2006, and served as Director of the Institute of Public Law and Administrative Science in 2006. He has held several visiting professorships, including the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (2000), François Rabelais University, Tours (2001-06) and the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, (2005-06).
The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union (EU). It has the ultimate say on matters of EU law in order to ensure equal application across the various European Union member states. The body was established in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg City — unlike most other Union institutions which are based in Brussels. The court is composed of one judge per member state although only 13 of them hear a case at any one time in the ‘Grand Chamber’. The court is led by a president; since 2003 this has been Vassilios Skouris. The court is assisted by a lower court, the Court of First Instance, which has jurisdiction over direct actions brought by natural or legal persons. Its previous jurisdiction over staff cases brought by offices of the European Institutions and agencies was transferred to the Civil Service Tribunal.
As of January 2007, the Court of Justice is made up of 27 Judges and 8 Advocates General. Should the Court so request, the Council of the European Union may, acting unanimously, increase the number of Advocates General. The Judges and Advocates General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the member states and hold office for a renewable term of six years. They are chosen from legal experts whose independence is ‘beyond doubt’ and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries or who are of recognized competence. Each member state of the European Union has the power to nominate one judge, so their number coincides most of the time with the number of member states. However, as the ECJ can only sit with an uneven number of judges, additional judges have been appointed at times when there was an even number of member states.
New Topics New College Special Lecture
“State of the Union in Europe”
Judge Thomas von Danwitz, European Union Court of Justice
Monday, April 13
College Hall Music Room
4:00 pm
Free for New Topics subscribers, New College faculty, staff and students and the members of the New College Library Association. The fee for the general public is $15.
For reservations and information contact Greg Hite at (941) 487-4155 or email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations Coordinator Aimee Chouinard at (941) 487-4152 or email [email protected].