Tort and Regulatory Law in Italy
In an effort to synthesise a complex issue, one may say that the impact of administrative law rules on Italian tort law is at least twofold.
Introduction to Italian Law
This is an introduction to the main features of the Italian legal system. Its 18 chapters cover: the system of private international law; the altered and expanded body of family law; the code of criminal procedure; changes in civil procedure; the effects of European legislation on Italian municipal law; the reformation of administrative law; and the computer-assisted research tools and techniques used to research Italian law.
The Direct effect of Directives: Grasping the Nettle
the supremacy of Parliament has been threatened—when the UK entered the Common Market in 1972 the Treaty of Rome dealt only with economic matters—it does appear that there is no immediate and major increase in competence. The "veto" which was adopted after the Luxembourg compromise can still be invoked. What is new is the acceptance that more majority voting is needed. The involvement of a democratically elected European Parliament having a say, however minor, in legislation will create additional pressures on a State in the minority. Both these factors, together with the increased membership of the Community, may in turn make it increasingly difficult to exercise the Luxembourg "veto", both as regards the internal market and possibly as regards other areas. Both the House of Lords Committee on European Legislation and the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee reported that the use of the veto would become more difficult. The exercise of the veto has already been unsuccessful, despite the importance attached to it by the UK. The successful use of majority voting for completion of the internal market may be formally extended later to other areas, quite apart from the informal influence that voting on the internal market may bring. The UK can of course be outvoted in other forms of international relations, but the difference in the EC is that legislation can be directly applicable in the UK by a majority vote of EC Ministers in the Council. At the end of the day, the question is whether real control by the UK Parliament over Community legislation has been weakened by the introduction of more majority voting. The answer to the question of parliamentary control lies in the "veto" in the EC, but it also lies in the effectiveness of ministerial responsibility in the House of Commons by a minister or the government for failure to protect UK interests. It could be argued that the introduction of more majority voting has weakened that effectiveness thought so vital by the Foster Committee, though it could also be argued that the "Belgrano" and "Westland" affairs suggest that, if the Prime Minister supports the minister concerned, parliamentary control has in any event become much weaker than the Foster Committee supposed.