According to many scholars, Community law simply cannot be understood

without taking its multilingual character into account. The equal authenticity

of all language versions of a Community provision, and the danger of diverging

meanings between versions, imply a duty to consider the various versions when

interpreting or applying laws. At the EU level, this duty can be said to be

reasonably adhered to, considering the enormous strain on the Unionand#8217;s

translating service (there are now twenty-three authentic and working

languages used in the EU institutions). However and#8211; as this important book

reminds us and#8211; the day-to-day interpretation and application of Community law

actually takes place in the many and various courts and tribunals of the

Member States.

For the first time in European law scholarship, Mattias Derland#233;n provides an

in-depth analysis of the actual use of multilingual interpretation of

Community law in national courts. He has sifted from the (mostly recent)

history of high courts (and some lower courts) in Germany, England, and

Denmark some 186 judgements in which the courts diverged from reading the

national language version in isolation by admitting one or more other language

versions of a Community provision. In each instance he closely investigates:

• 
  
  why and under what circumstances this initiative was taken;
  
  



• 
  
  which and how many foreign language versions were used;
  
  



• 
  
  in what way the national court gained knowledge of the meaning of the foreign
  
  language versions; and
  
  



• 
  
  how the court acted when the meanings of the examined language versions
  
  deviated from each other.
  
  

Denmark, England and Germany were chosen because they represent three of the

classical Western legal families and#8211; the Scandinavian (Nordic) law, the common

law and the civil law traditions. In this connection, the author clearly

demonstrates that the shortcomings of national courts that emerge from the

study result not only from practical constraints, but also from features of

legal culture and basic notions of the law in the particular jurisdictions.

Multilingual Interpretation of European Union Law offers a superb

foundation for further work in an area of European law that is gathering

greater significance day by day. Although it goes without saying that any

scholar or student engaged in studying the multilingual aspect of European law

will find this book indispensable, there is also an important place for this

knowledge among academics and practitioners generally, given the pervasive

effects of language and translation in interpreting Community law.