Costa v. ENEL
| Costa v ENEL | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Decided 15 July 1964 | |
| Full case name | Flaminio Costa v E.N.E.L. |
| Case number | 6/64, |
| Case Type | Reference for a preliminary ruling |
| Chamber | Full court |
| Nationality of parties | Italy |
| Procedural history | Giudice conciliatore di Milano, Sezione I, ordinanza del 16 January 1964 21 January 1964 (RG 1907/63) |
| Ruling | |
| As a subsequent unilateral measure cannot take precedence over community law, the questions put by the Giudice Conciliatore, Milan, are admissible in so far as they relate in this case to the interpretation of provisions of the EEC treaty | |
| Court composition | |
|
Judge-Rapporteur Robert Lecourt |
|
Flaminio Costa v ENEL (1964) Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the supremacy of European Union law over the laws of its member states'.
Mr. Costa was an Italian citizen who had owned shares in an electricity company, Edisonvolta, and opposed the nationalisation of the electricity sector in Italy. He asked to two lower courts in Milano (two different Giudice Conciliatore) to ascertain that the real creditor of his electricity bill (a relatively small amout of money, 1,925 lire) was the nationalised company, Edisonvolta, and not the newly established state company, Enel. He argued that the nationalisation of the electricity industry violated the Treaty of Rome and the Italian Constitution. The first Giudice Conciliatore of Milan referred the case to the Italian Constitutional Court and the second Giudice Conciliatore referred it to the European Court of Justice.
The Italian Constitution Court gave judgement in March 1964, ruling that while the Italian Constitution allowed for the limitation of sovereignty for international organisation like the European Economic Community, it did not upset that normal rule of statutory interpretation that where two statutes conflict the subsequent one prevails (lex posterior derogat legi anteriori/priori). As a result the Treaty of Rome which was incorporated into Italian law in 1958 could not prevail over the electricity nationalisation law which was enacted in 1962.
In light of the decision of the constitutional court, the Italian government submitted to the ECJ that the Italian court's request for a preliminary ruling from the ECJ was inadmissible on the grounds that as the Italian court was not empowered to set aside the national law in question, a preliminary ruling would not serve any valid purpose.
...
Wikipedia