Judicial Dialogue in Multi-Level Governance: The Impact of the Solange Argument

Abstract

States increasingly 'contract out' their governmental authority in favour of international organizations. As a result, remedies available under domestic law to individuals and legal entities may no longer be available, leaving them without redress. (Domestic) courts have devised a method to react to such diminution of their jurisdiction, which at the same time comprises a message for various addressees and engages a dialogue on multiple levels. This method is shaped by the spirit and thrust of the argument the German Constitutional Court put forward in its Solange jurisprudence, and has the potential of fostering a harmonization of domestic and international law, as well as that of establishing a rudimentary normative hierarchy at the international level.