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In this essay I propose to consider the implications for our legal system of the exponential growth in European law and human rights jurisprudence. This jurisprudence is now increasingly populating our domestic law. Accordingly now is a very good time to ask questions such as: why is it important to have a system of supranational courts in Europe? What can be done to improve the way they relate to national courts at the highest level? For reasons which I will explain, a successful working relationship with national supreme courts is in my view one of the most important benchmarks of success for the European supranational courts.
To save time, I will refer to the European Court of Justice 1 and its jurisprudence as the Luxembourg court and Luxembourg jurisprudence, and to the European Court of Human Rights and its jurisprudence as the Strasbourg court and Strasbourg jurisprudence respectively.
I am not the first person to have noticed the incoming tide of Community (now EU) law. Lord Denning, a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, who was often ahead of his time, famously said: " � the flowing tide of Community law is coming in fast. It has not stopped at the high water mark. It has broken the dykes and the banks. It has submerged the surrounding land. So much so that we have to learn to become amphibious if we wish to keep our heads above water. 2" Nor am I the first person to speak about difficulties of implementing the European Convention on Human Rights. Lord Hoffmann was highly critical of some of the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg court in his lecture, The Universality of Human Rights, in March of last year. 3 The press and the politicians have their own views on what should happen about human rights, but �
