Introduction to EU Law

Edinburgh Law School is a world-leading centre for the study of European Law. In 1968, we established the UK’s first research centre dedicated to European legal affairs, the Europa Institute.

European Union (EU) law exerts an important influence on domestic legal orders in almost all areas of law. Where this is the case, specific questions concerning the applicability, interpretation and application of EU law arise. This online course provides you with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate this increasingly important area of law.

The course commences by providing you with a very brief introduction to the EU, its competences, and its main institutions. It then moves on to cover substantive topics relevant for legal practitioners:

• The Court of Justice of the EU (jurisdiction, in particular the preliminary reference procedure);
• The key principles of EU law governing its application in domestic law: primacy and direct effect;
• The four freedoms of the internal market: free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital;
• The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The course is taken online on a 'self-access' basis, meaning that you can dip in whenever you like, and work through the materials at your own pace.

Each session ends with an interactive quiz providing feedback so that you can check your progress and deepen your understanding. These quizzes can be taken as often as wished so that you can revisit specific areas of interest if desired.

You can log in to the course 24/7, so you can fit your learning around work and personal commitments.

The course should take about 15 hours to complete and you will have two months to complete it. This allows you to go back through the course and concentrate on particular topics.

This course is relevant to anyone in legal practice and the topics covered are presented in a focused and condensed manner.

For those wishing to merely gain an overview of European Union law no further reading will be necessary. For those interested in delving deeper, tips for further reading are provided.