This book brings together essays by leading legal scholars from a number of European countries. The focus of the essays is on the role of the courts at both national and supra-national level and they are all based on papers presented at a research conference held at the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, on 18 September 2009. The book contains ten contributions altogether, each of which addresses different dimensions of the general theme. The three contributions in Part One represents a horizontal approach to the European courts' role(s) in the development of the European Social Model in that each essay examines the courts' treatment of issues arising across different subject areas. For example, Micklitz looks at anti-discrimination law, consumer law, and universal services. Part Two includes contributions that consider the courts' role(s) in a specific subject area: Spaventa on citizenship, Rönnmar on labour, and Roseberry on fundamental rights. The final part consisting of four essays investigates more explicitly theoretical and methodological aspects. Indholdsoversigt: Introduction af Ulla Neergaard, Ruth Nielsen & Lynn Roseberry Part I: Horizontal Approach Judicial Activism of the European Court of Justice and the Development of the European Social Model in Anti-Discrimination and Consumer Law af Hans-W. Micklitz Is There a Social Ideal of the European Court of Justice? af Dagmar Schiek In Search of the Role of “Solidarity” in Primary Law and the Case Law of the European Court of Justice af Ulla Neergaard Part II: Subject-Oriented Approach The Constitutional Impact of Union Citizenship af Eleanor Spaventa Labour Law in the Courts af Mia Rönnmar International Human Rights Treaties and Fundamental Rights in the Case Law of the European Court of Justice: Pointing Towards a European Social Model? af Lynn Roseberry Part III: Theoretical and Methodological Aspects Scandinavian Legal Realism and EU Law af Ruth Nielsen The Case Law of the European Courts as Seen from a National Supreme Court – the Case of Norway af Finn Arnesen Legal Reasoning and the Hermeneutic Turn in the Law – Remarks on the European Court of Justice af Joxerramon Bengoetxea Institutional Theories, EU Law and the Role of the Courts for Developing a European Social Model af Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt The Authors Abbreviations