As the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum approached, it was inevitable that the Cambridge Centre for European Legal Studies and thus the Yearbook would reflect on the lessons learned. Professor Anand Menon, in his thoughtful Mackenzie Stuart lecture in November 2025, did just that, discussing the Brexit revolution, a story which is still far from complete.

Brexit has inevitably led to soul-searching by European lawyers in the United Kingdom: what role is there for EU law and thus EU lawyers in UK law schools? We think that the answer is clear: EU law is still an important source of law (over 4,000 pieces of retained, now assimilated, law are still on the statute book), and the EU continues to be the biggest trading partner for the UK, its centripetal force meaning that UK manufacturers voluntarily apply many EU rules. Learning EU law also teaches students about the basic tenets of federal law and the law of international trade.

Some EU lawyers have become experts on Brexit law/EU relations law, but most continue to teach and research ‘pure’ EU law, and this is reflected in the articles in this Yearbook, which draws contributions from academia from across Europe. Considering topical issues in EU law are McNaughton’s article on sanctions, Zelger’s piece on the future of the European Union, Csúri’s article on the European Public Prosecutor’s office, Kochenov’s contribution on constitutionalism, and Konstantinidis’s article on mixed agreements. The Yearbook also has some interesting comparative articles, such as Jafferali’s on the interpretation and characterisation of contracts in the New Belgian Civil Code, Ostrowski’s on procedural formalism, and Quintavalla’s on the issues around property abandonment. At the same time the Yearbook considers the other dimension of Europe, the Council of Europe, with Vogiatzis’s article on institutional change through dialogue with the EU, looking at the Data Protection Commissioner and the Data Protection Officer of the Council of Europe. And AI is never far away, with Colombo’s article on Arendt and justice-centred artificial intelligence.

I am very grateful to the previous editors of the Yearbook, especially Oke Odudu and Sophie Turenne, for all their work. We have a new editorial team in place and the Yearbook will be having an addition to its title. It will now be called: Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies: The Journal of European Law.

Catherine Barnard

Cambridge, July 2026