The “constitutional traditions common to the Member States” in the case-law of the European Court of Justice: judicial dialogue at its finest

The references to the «constitutional traditions common to the Member States» (CCTs) in Art. 6(3) TEU and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Preamble and Art. 52, originate in the case-law of the European Court of Justice. Looking back at nearly five decades of case law on the issue, this article explores three main research questions by providing a quantitative analysis of one hundred judgements of the ECJ. Primarily, the article examines whether the Court tends to make reference to CCT as a rather supple “source of inspiration” to corroborate the protection of fundamental rights, or as an autonomous source of fundamental rights. Secondly, whether it draws on those traditions going into an extended search into their single national manifestations (and if so, which are the ones that influence the development of EU law more regularly). Lastly, the article investigates the fundamental rights in connection to which the CCT clause has been referenced more frequently. The article concludes that CCT are a potential counterpart to the notion of ‘constitutional identity’, showing that Europe’s constitution is not disconnected from the constitutions of the Member States.