How does EU Law affect the UK?

• Because the EU can introduce legislation that automatically forms part of English law, and that creates individual rights which the English courts must enforce
• This raises the issue of sovereignty - which law, English or EU, will prevail where there is conflict? How will Brexit effect this?
• If the EU is to work, EU law must prevail over inconsistent national law (Costa v ENEL [1964])
• Member states have made a transfer of some of their rights to the EU (Costa)
• In cases of conflict, national courts must give priority to EU law and disapply inconsistent national law (Minister of Finance v Simmenthal [1978])
• The European Communities Act 1972 incorporates EU law into English law. It states that all UK legislation takes effect subject to EU law with the exception of the 1972 Act itself
• If the EU passes a law that opposes the national law of a member state, the member state must repeal their law

R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte Factortame (1990)

• New British legislation required that to register a ship in Britain, most of the ship's owners were to be of British nationality. Subsequently, a group of fishermen from Spain requested a judicial review of this law, asserting that it breached EC laws. The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 allowed them to fish in the UK and sell their catch in Spain. The Merchant Shipping Act 1988 is what to prevent this.
• The Act was in breach of the Treaty of Rome 1972, as it was discriminating on the basis of nationality.
• The case held and confirmed the UK's subordination to EU law