State liability under community law : in particular where there are infringements attributable to a national court adjudicating at last instance

Abstract

Ever since Malta has become a Member State of the European Union all the Maltese citizens became automatically European citizens. As European citizens we have achieved a new status as we have new rights and new obligations. Every legal system, even the European Union's legal system, attributes rights and imposes obligations in its respective jurisdiction. The key subject of this thesis is in fact dedicated to one of the fundamental rights of every European citizen - the right of redress. The subject of state liability within the ambit of the European Union has been a constant subject of scholarly argumentation especially after the decisions of the European Court of Justice in certain landmark cases and this is what in fact attracted my attention. During my studies at the University of Malta I noticed that one of the maJor advantages of being a lawyer is to be able to help out persons whose rights have been infringed either by another private citizen or else by the State. This thesis is going to be focusing on an aspect of the principle of state liability where the rights of the citizens are infringed by the State organs being the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. It is very interesting to include the judiciary in the context of the definition of the State as this creates a number of repercussions within the legal context and gives a clear indication of how a judgment of the European Court of Justice can create a debate in between scholars on the subject of state liability in particular for infringements attributable to the courts of last instance. After an introduction on the subject of State liability on a European level, the attention will be turned exclusively on the area of state liability attributable to the judiciary. In my argumentation I included all the derivatives of the subjects as the mechanisms available to the national courts so that there will be no infringements, the supremacy of Community law and its effects upon the national laws, the issue of res judicata and others.