Internal and External Limits of the Principle of Consistent Interpretation of Domestic Law with the Directives of the European Union and Their Relevance for the Adjudication of the Administrative Courts

Abstract

This article examines the issues of external and internal limits of the consistent interpretation of the domestic law with the EU directives in the context of verification adjudication of the administrative courts. The external limits of the pro-directive interpretation are derived from the EU law and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU. The limits of the pro-directive interpretation can as well be derived from the domestic law of the member states (the internal limits). This kind of limitations is strictly connected with domestic limits of the judicial interpretation. In the considerations it is argued that the pro-directive interpretation which goes beyond the literal meaning of domestic provisions could not be treated as being contrary to the domestic law. In the case-law of administrative courts the necessity of functional, purposive and axiological meaning of the contra legem limit is especially significant. It is justified to state that consistent interpretation must embrace operations of interpretation secundum legem and praeter legem. Therefore, the domestic contra legem limit is shaped and modified by the EU rules of interpretation.