ECJ (Preliminary Ruling ) 1. The obligation imposed by the third paragraph of article 177 of the EEC Treaty upon national courts or tribunals of last instance may be deprived of its purpose by reason of the authority of an interpretation already given by the court under article 177 in those cases in which the question raised is materially identical with a question which has already been the subject of a preliminary ruling in a similar case.
2. When giving a ruling within the framework of article 177, the court limits itself to deducing the meaning of community rules from the wording and the spirit of the treaty, it being left to the national court to apply in the particular case the rules which are thus interpreted.
3. Article 177 always allows a national court or tribunal, if it considers it appropriate, to refer questions of interpretation to the court again even if they have already formed the subject of a preliminary ruling in a similar case.
R-30/62, [1963] EUECJ R-30/62, (1963) 2 CMLR 224
Bailii
EEC Treaty 177
European
Cited by:
Cited – HP Bulmer Ltd and Another v J Bollinger Sa and others CA 22-May-1974
Necessity for Reference to ECJ
Lord Denning said that the test for whether a question should be referred to the European Court of Justice is one of necessity, not desirability or convenience. There are cases where the point, if decided one way, would shorten the trial greatly. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Constitutional
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.214017