Robert Lecourt (19 September 1908 – 9 August 2004) was a French politician and lawyer, judge and the fourth President of the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

. He was born in Pavilly and died in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

. Significantly, in his role as a judge at

, he gave the landmark decision in the case of ''

Costa v ENEL ''Flaminio Costa v ENEL'' (1964) Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the primacy of European Union law (then Community law) over the laws of its member states.Hilf, Meinhard (2012). Costa v. EN ...

'', establishing the supremacy of EU law over the law of member states.

Biography

After studying at the Jean-Baptiste-de-La-Salle college in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, he studied law at the

University of Rouen The University of Rouen Normandy (''Université de Rouen Normandie'') is a French university, in the Academy of Rouen. History and demographics Located not in Rouen, but in the suburb of Mont-Saint-Aignan (a "township" in the Normandy region), t ...

and became a lawyer in Rouen and at the Court of Appeal of Paris in 1932. He was president of the Youth People's Democratic Party in 1936, and a lieutenant at the Fort de Saint-Cyr in 1939, whereafter he became actively involved in the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

and a member of the steering committee of the Resistance movement. In 1958, he was elected in the first constituency of the

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population ...

. A member of two national

constituent assemblies Constituent or constituency may refer to: Politics * An electoral district or constituency * Constituent, an individual citizen or voter represented by a politician within an electoral district, state, community, or organization * Advocacy grou ...

, he was elected from the MRP in the Seine district, and retained his mandate during the three legislatures of the Fourth Republic. He chaired the MRP group in the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

, and was also a member of the Association of MRP until his death. In January 1958, as Minister of Justice in the government of Felix Gaillard, Lecourt proposed various reforms to the French Constitution. In modified form, the famous Article 49-3 of France's 1958 Constitution is largely derived from his constitutional vision. After leaving the French government in 1961, Lecourt served as judge on the

from 1962 to 1976, and as President of the Court from 1967 to 1976. In the fourteen years he spent in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

as a European judge, Lecourt had a major impact on the

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. In 1964, he was

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

in the famous Costa v. ENEL case, in which the Court of Justice ruled that European law had primacy over national law. Lecourt was convinced that this was a necessity for the Court of Justice, and that the European judges had an active role to play in the creation of an ‘ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’. They did have to convince national courts to collaborate. Soon after his election as president of the court, Lecourt developed a communication strategy to convince national judges of the benefits of the preliminary ruling mechanism, a procedure through which they could ask the European judges questions regarding the interpretation of the European Treaties. After his retirement from the Court, Lecourt published "L'Europe des Juges" (Bruylant, 1976), an account of the major decisions and principles of European law, targeted at national lawyers and judges.

Government roles

* Minister of Justice of the government of André Marie (from July 26 to 5 September 1947) * Minister of Justice of the government of

Robert Schuman Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman (; 29 June 1886 – 4 September 1963) was a Luxembourg-born France, French statesman. Schuman was a Christian democrat, Christian democratic (Popular Republican Movement) political thinker and activist. ...

(Popular Republican Movement, 5 to 11 September 1948) * Vice-chairman, Minister of Justice of the government of

Henri Queuille Henri Queuille (; 31 March 1884 – 15 June 1970) was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister. Governments First ministry (11 September 1948 – 28 O ...

(13 February 1949 to 28 October 1949) * Minister of Justice of the government of Felix Gaillard (6 November 1957 the 14 May 1958) * Minister of Justice of the Government of

Pierre Pflimlin Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin (; 5 February 1907 – 27 June 2000) was a French Christian Democrat politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the ...

(May 14 to 1 June 1958) * With the special award of the constitutional reform * Minister of State of the government of

Michel Debré Michel Jean-Pierre Debré (; 15 January 1912 – 2 August 1996) was the first Prime Minister of the French Fifth Republic. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France. He served under President Charles de Gaulle from 1959 ...

(January 8 to 27 March 1959) * Minister of State, responsible for cooperation with African States and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, in the government of Michel Debré (27 March 1959 to 5 February 1960) * Minister of State in charge of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

, and Overseas Departments and Territories, in the government of Michel Debré (5 February 1960 to 24 August 1961)

References

Sources

Former Members
European Court of Justice official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lecourt, Robert 1908 births 2004 deaths People from Seine-Maritime Popular Democratic Party (France) politicians Popular Republican Movement politicians Deputy prime ministers of France Ministers of justice of France Ministers of the overseas of France Members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Seine Members of Parliament for Hautes-Alpes Presidents of the European Court of Justice French judges of international courts and tribunals 20th-century French judges University of Rouen Normandy alumni French military personnel of World War II French Resistance members French people of the First Indochina War French people of the Algerian War Commanders of the Legion of Honour

Biography

Government roles

See also

References

Sources