The best European Union lawyers manage to look good in a range of hat styles. The fine tailoring of doctrinal precision, the retro look with its clear sense of history, the cosmopolitan flair of mixing traditions, reasoning and ideas as well as a wide sourcing of legal materials. 50 Years of the European Treaties provides a very accessible catalogue of haute couture.

This book, the collected papers from a conference in 2007, contains a range of stimulating and useful views on the development and future of EU law. There are too many specific chapters to discuss in detail, but three key issues emerge from the discussion. First, the dynamics of constitutional structures; second, the balance of economic and non-economic aims as the EU evolves; finally, the diversity of issues with which the EU engages: from energy to gender, from anti-trust to a rule of law crisis planning team to Kosovo.

In the first category, constitutional structures, there are some strong contributions, especially in relation to the competences of different institutional actors. One example is Robert Schütze's detailed classification and exposition of what he calls competence typologies. By clarifying the arrangements of power he seeks to sharpen the boundaries and interactions of power relationships within the Union. Similarly, Derrick Wyatt's contribution on the “Community Competence to Regulate the Internal Market” is particularly powerful. In essence, Wyatt argues that the Community institutions have won a general competence to regulate the internal market. Wyatt suggests that the landmark decision in Tobacco Advertising (Case C-376/98, Germany v. Parliament and Council [2000] ECR I-8419), where the ECJ takes a stand against such a competence, has been eroded away by later cases. Instead, he argues that the following propositions are now supported by the case law: 1) obstacles to trade can be addressed by banning the trade; 2) hypothetical obstacles to trade flowing from national labelling rules can be addressed by eliminating the disparities in question even where those products do not contribute to cross-border trade; 3) only appreciable distortions of competition can trigger harmonisation, though what constitutes “appreciable” will be an impressionistic judgment and 4) a measure need only contribute to the internal market, once it does that it can also regulate situations which have no link with freedom of movement. This expansive approach is not directly criticised, but there is a call for outer limits to be set out. Wyatt's is a strongly argued piece, with detailed analysis of what the ECJ says as well as what it does.

There are also numerous contributions which shed light on the balancing of economic and non-economic aims of the Union. Two particularly interesting pieces are those of Catharine Barnard and Samantha Currie. Both highlight the way that the implications of each step in the evolution of EU law can take years to explore fully. Barnard examines the phenomenon of social dumping. She gives a balanced view first, noting the benefits that some countries may accrue if social dumping occurs. However, what is particularly interesting is her analysis of four Directives commonly said to be fuelled by the potential for social dumping: the Posted Workers Directive and the Manning Directive being thought of as measures to avoid social dumping and the Port Services Directive and the Services Directive supporting it. She examines these beliefs before bringing in earlier work on other arguments to give alternative means to support social legislation, arguing for measures which promote “the efficient use of labour by ruling out low-productivity strategies of firms engaged in regulatory arbitrage between systems.” Currie, on the other hand, traces the development of Union Citizenship, but suggests that certain aspects, like the persistence of the migration model and economic worth reasoning, continue to frustrate attempts to make citizenship the “fundamental status” of nationals of Member States. The concept of citizenship clearly diverges from some of the outcomes of an economic model for the EU. The same tension that Barnard highlights in relation to social dumping is evident in the concept of citizenship. Barnard argues that Viking and Laval (Cases C-438/05 and C-341/05 [2007] ECR I-11767) have shown the economic arguments are still trumping the social welfare ones. It remains to be seen how long this will be the case.

The book also explores some developing substantive areas, not just the constitutional basis and fundamental freedoms that mark the traditional core of EU law. Often these are longstanding but less clearly articulated European goals. For instance, the role of gender equality, particularly in the accession of new member states, is discussed by Fiona Beveridge. Meanwhile Peter Cameron highlights the changing nature of energy law regulation within the EU and the changing views of Member States, including the UK, to the desirability and content of that regulation.

This anthology is very strong on drawing out the patterns of how EU law has developed in the last 50 years. The greater difficulty is in applying this depth to the future of EU law. While this was attempted in some of the papers, and certainly some of the titles, it is a particularly difficult goal to achieve. The book is nonetheless a solid collection of pieces which does well to introduce the complex background literature on fine disputed points of EU law as well as add some new perspectives on them. It is a work with much to commend it to students in particular, as many of the chapters are clear, accessible and cover a lot of ground. Given the timing of the conference, a few years before the Lisbon Treaty was brought into force, one might think that the work has missed out a little. However, the length of the pre-Lisbon negotiations meant that many up to date references could still be made in the book. In addition, its focus on charting and explaining the development of EU law makes the claim to relevancy even stronger.