EU Law Revision for LLB UK Students
Cases, exam pitfalls and OSCOLA-ready notes for the UK undergraduate eu law syllabus.
Where EU Law sits in the LLB
Post-Brexit EU Law remains examinable in nearly every UK LLB. You are expected to understand the institutional architecture (Commission, Council, Parliament, CJEU), the doctrines of supremacy and direct effect, the preliminary reference procedure, the four freedoms, and the relationship between EU and domestic law before and after the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The leading authorities, Costa v ENEL, Van Gend en Loos, Marshall, Francovich, and the more recent retained EU law jurisprudence, form a tight, examinable corpus. Increasingly, courses also test the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 and its consequences for statutory interpretation.
This page sets out the canonical authorities and the structural questions that come up most. Use the assistant to drill direct-effect problems, the distinction between vertical and horizontal direct effect of directives is a perennial exam trap.
Key cases you must be able to apply
Costa v ENEL [1964] CMLR 425
Supremacy of EU law over conflicting national law.
Van Gend en Loos [1963] CMLR 105
Direct effect of Treaty articles.
Marshall v Southampton AHA (No 1) [1986] QB 401
Directives have vertical but not horizontal direct effect.
Francovich v Italy [1991] ECR I-5357
State liability for non-implementation of directives.
Cassis de Dijon [1979] ECR 649
Mutual recognition principle, free movement of goods.
R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the EU [2017] UKSC 5
Triggering Article 50 required parliamentary authorisation.
Van Duyn v Home Office [1974] ECR 1337
Establishes direct effect of directives where conditions met.
Litster v Forth Dry Dock Ltd [1990] 1 AC 546
Indirect effect, duty to interpret national law in light of EU directives.
Exam pitfalls to avoid
- Forgetting that, post-Brexit, retained EU case law is binding on lower courts but the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court may depart from it.
- Misstating Marshall, directives still lack horizontal direct effect.
- Treating the preliminary reference procedure (Art 267 TFEU) as still available to UK courts in respect of new disputes.
- Confusing direct effect with direct applicability (Regulations vs Directives).
- Ignoring the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, it changes the interpretive priority of post-Brexit statutes.
How ThinkLikeLaw helps with EU Law
- Use the assistant to drill direct-effect scenarios with both vertical and horizontal facts.
- Generate timeline flashcards mapping Costa, Van Gend, Marshall, Francovich, Miller, the doctrinal arc is examinable.
- Run a retained-EU-law essay through the assistant to check your application of the 2023 Act.