Pavlos Eleftheriadis

Biography

Pavlos Eleftheriadis is Professor of Public Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow and Tutor in Law at Mansfield College, Oxford.

He was educated at the University of Athens (BA, 1990) and the University of Cambridge (LLM, 1991, PhD, 1995). He teaches European Union law, constitutional law and jurisprudence. He is the author of L e gal Rights (Oxford University Press, 2008) and many other essays in public law, jurisprudence and European Union law. He is also the co-editor (with Julie Dickson) of the collection of essays The Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law (Oxford University Press, 2012). He is currently at work on a monograph entitled 'A Union of Peoples: Europe as a Community of Principle'.

He is also a barrister in England and Wales and practises before the English courts in various areas of public law and human rights from Francis Taylor Building in the Temple. Some of his recent cases involved challenging the Brexit process on constitutional grounds, including a challenge to the legitimacy of the EU referendum on account of the violation of electoral law by the ‘Leave’ campaigns.

He regularly blogs and writes for the press on European, constitutional and legal issues. He has been an active commentator on the Eurozone crisis in the press. He has been interviewed by publications such as Der Spiegel, Le Monde, NRC Handelsblad, El Pais, The Irish Times, The New York Times, Channel 4 and many others.

Some of his recent articles are:

'Only a New Political Order Can Rescue Greece', Financial Times, 28 May 2012

'Greece's Anti-Capitalist Turn', Wall Street Journal, 21 January 2013

'Why Germany is the Eurozone's Biggest Free Rider' Fortune, 22 October 2014

'Misrule of the Few', Foreign Affairs, November/December, 2014

'Syriza's Dark Side' Project Syndicate, 11 Feburary 2015

'A New Referendum is a Constitutional Requirement' Oxford Business Law Blog, 04 July 2016.

'A Second Referendum is Probably Legally Required' InFacts, 06 July 2016

'How Brexit Will Fail' Oxford Business Law Blog, 27 October 2016

'The Illegitimacy of Brexit' Open Democracy, 11 January 2017

'How the Government Lost the Article 50 Case', InFacts, 27 January 2017

'The Elegant Way of the Constitution' Solicitors Journal, 21 February 2017

'EU Financial Claims Against the EU are Enforceable', InFacts, 22 March 2017

'UK's Obligations will not go to Zero if we Leave Without a Deal' InFacts, 23 March 2017

'Right to Remain May Already be Guaranteed' InFacts, 24 March 2017

'Brexiters are Crazy to take lessons from Varoufakis' InFacts, 26 October 2017

'Scottish Court Could Make Brexit far from Inevitable' InFacts, 25 May 2018

'UK Legal Opinion is Clear: UK Can Choose to Stay' InFacts, 04 December 2018

His interview on the requirement for a new referendum on Brexit with Debating Europe, is here.

His radio interview with LBC radio on the requirement for a second EU referendum is available here.

The BBC's discussion of his argument is here.

His Lexis Nexis Interview on the proposed changes to EU electoral law (taken no 06 January 2016) is here.

You can follow him on twitter at @PEleftheriadis.

Publications

Displaying 1 - 86 of 86. Sorted by year, then title.

P Eleftheriadis, 'Constitutional Rights as Moral Judgments ' in Massimo La Torre, Leone Niglia and Mart Susi (eds), Fundamental Challenges to the Universality of Human Rights (Edward Elgar 2019) (forthcoming)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Cosmopolitan Legitimacy' in Jorge Fabra (ed), Jurisprudence in a Globalized World (Edward Elgar 2019) (forthcoming)
P Eleftheriadis, 'In Defence of Constitutional Law' (2018) Modern Law Review 154
P Eleftheriadis, 'Constitutional Change Through Deliberation' in Ron Levy, Hoi Kong, Graeme Orr and Jeff King (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press 2018)
P Eleftheriadis, 'The European Union's Relationship to International Law: Lessons from Brexit' in Davies & Avbelj (ed), Research Handbook on Pluralism and EU law (Edward Elgar 2018)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Two Doctrines of the Unwritten Constitution' (2017) 13 European Constitutional Law Review 525

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1574019617000190
Abstract -The Gina Miller judgment of the United Kingdom Supreme Court will be famous for its protection of the rule of law against an overreaching executive. But it should also be remembered for affirming the systematic nature of the British unwritten constitution. The Supreme Court rejected the older theory of the constitution, on which some of the government’s submissions relied, according to which the British constitution is based on the political fact of parliamentary sovereignty (or an equivalent ‘rule of recognition’) and is for that reason different from that of all other states. This was the view outlined by A. V. Dicey and endorsed by the British legal community for almost a century. The Supreme Court majority (and it is possible that the minority does too) relies on a different theory of the constitution, widely described as the ‘common law’ theory, which is a better fit with constitutional history. For the majority, the UK’s constitution is higher law made by the conscious decisions of a legislature like all other law. Joining the EU was a constitutional change brought about by parliament. For this reason withdrawal from the EU and its precise terms must also be decided by an act parliament. The Supreme Court considers the unwritten constitution to be a system of principles of the rule of law, whose origins lie not in a fact of sovereignty (or in the identity of the underlying ‘political community’) but in the legal transformation of the United Kingdom three centuries ago by way of the Bill of Rights 1688, the Act of Union 1707 and other constitutional statutes that created the higher law of the constitution.
ISBN: 1744-5515
P Eleftheriadis, 'A new era of climate change reality - developing a planning system - An Interview with LexisPSL' (2017) LexisPSL Environment
P Eleftheriadis, 'Constitutional Illegitimacy over Brexit' (2017) 88 Political Quarterly 183

Members and supporters of the British government say that the only constitutionally legitimate course of action over Brexit after the referendum is to press ahead with withdrawal from the European Union, even if that would entail the complete severance of all ties (which we normally call ‘hard Brexit’). A more sophisticated view of the constitution, however, shows that these more or less populist arguments are false. As the Supreme Court confirmed in the recent Gina Miller judgment, the constitution did not change with the June referendum. Parliament is still supreme and determines both ordinary legislation and constitutional change. In fact, if one examines closely the claim that the referendum entails hard Brexit, it becomes obvious that this claim is false as well. The referendum opened the door for one among four different possibilities. Which Brexit option—if any—the United Kingdom should take is a matter for Parliament now to decide, following the normal processes of democratic deliberation and representation.
P Eleftheriadis, 'How to Make a Transitional Brexit Arrangement' (2017) Oxford Business Law Blog
P Eleftheriadis, 'Losing to the European Union: A Review of Yanis Varoufakis, Adults in the Room ' (2017) Verfassungsblog.de [Review]

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20171114-094539
P Eleftheriadis, 'Repealing EU Law: The Great Puzzle' (2017) Solicitors Journal
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Coming Constitutional Instability ' [2017] Public Law 347
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Court of Appeal clears Newick Neighbourhood Plan in a wide-ranging judgement' (2017) Up Front - Planning Aid e-bulletin [Case Note]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Elegant Way of the Constitution' (2017) Verfassungsblog.de [Case Note]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Illegitimacy of Brexit' (2017) www.opendemocracy.net
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Systematic Constitution' (2017) United Kingdom Constitutional Law Blog

DOI: https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2017/01/30/pavlos-eleftheriadis-the-systematic-constitution/
P Eleftheriadis, 'Power and Principle in Constitutional Law' (2016) 45 Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy

DOI: 10.5553/NJLP/.000052
The whole of law, public and private, assumes a particular ordering of social life which presupposes the distinction between higher and ordinary law, in that it subjects all of official action of law-making, administration and adjudication, to a general framework of institutions at the service of equal rights. These self-embracing constitutional institutions create the conditions for political legitimacy. The constitution does not seek to create a morally perfect society. Constitutional law aims to construct legitimate institutions under which we could live side by side in spite of our disagreements and in spite of our mutual suspicion. Constitutional law is therefore invested with a very distinct moral purpose: the construction of an effective and legitimate scheme of social co-operation that enables us to live side by side as free and equal. Power alone cannot achieve this task. In this sense, just like moral reasoning, legal reasoning needs no foundations. It is continuous with practical reason. The constitution is a practical judgment, defended and justified like all others.
P Eleftheriadis, 'A New Referendum is a Constitutional Requirement' (2016) Oxford Business Law Blog
P Eleftheriadis, 'How Brexit Will Fail' (2016) Oxford Business Law Blog

DOI: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2016/10/how-brexit-will-fail
P Eleftheriadis, 'International Institutions and Legitimacy' (2016) 2016 EUI Working Papers Claudio Corradetti and Giovanni Sartor (eds.), Global Constitutionalism Without Global Democracy (?), EUI Working Papers 21/2016, p. 79-93
P Eleftheriadis, J. Armour, L. Enriques and R Mooney, 'Legal Aspects of Withdrawal from the EU: A Briefing Note' (2016) 2016 Oxford Legal Studies Research Papers Oxford Legal Studies Research Papers
P Eleftheriadis, 'Obstacles to Concluding Transitional Arrangement are Immense' (2016) InFacts.org

DOI: https://infacts.org/obstacles-concluding-transitional-deal-immense/
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Institutions, 2nd ed. ' in David Vaughan and Aidan Robertson (eds), The Law of the European Union (Oxford University Press 2016)

ISBN: 978-1-90-450111-4
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Proposed New Legal Settlement of the UK with the EU' (2016) United Kingdom Constitutional Law Blog
P Eleftheriadis, 'The United Kingdom and the Eurozone after the Referendum' (2016) Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper 36/2016
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Problem with Greece (and with Europe)' (2015) 86 Political Quarterly 177 [Review]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Unfair Eurozone' (2015) verfassungsblog.de
P Eleftheriadis, ''High Speed Constitutional Reconstruction'' (2014) Solicitors Journal [Case Note]

The HS2 ruling will restart debates about the fundamental principles of public law. The hierarchy between deeper constitutional principles and ordinary laws is now part of the constitution.
P Eleftheriadis, 'Democracy in the Eurozone' in WG Ringe & P Huber (ed), Legal Challenges Arising out of the Global Financial Crisis: Bail-outs, the Euro, and Regulation (Hart Publishing 2014)

In December 2012 Four Presidents of the European Union (of the European Council, the Commission, the Central Bank and the Eurogroup) issued a paper outlining steps for a genuine monetary union promising among others better democratic accountability for its institutions. This essay asks if an entity like the European Union - and the Eurozone within it - can indeed become democratic. I distinguish between two approaches to democracy, first as collective self-government or, second, as set of egalitarian institutions. The essay argues that the German Federal Constitutional Court supports the first theory and for that reason is very cautious of the idea of bringing democracy to the European Union. The collective view believes that without a single people, there cannot be self-government. The second theory accepts the primacy of domestic democracy but allows, by contrast, for international institutions of democratic accountability that support domestic democracy. I offer some arguments for this view and conclude that the four Presidents are not mistaken in endorsing the ambition of democratic accountability for the Eurozone. The European Union is a union of peoples. A union of this kind can become more democratic without seeking to become a democracy.
ISBN: 9781849464390
P Eleftheriadis, 'Legality and Reciprocity: A Discussion of Lon Fullers The Morality of Law' (2014) 9 Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies 1
P Eleftheriadis, 'Misrule of the Few' (2014) Foreign Affairs
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Content of European Citizenship' (2014) 15 German Law Journal 777

Many European Union law scholars, commentators and politicians consider the creation of European citizenship by the Treaty of Maastricht an important landmark in the process towards ever closer union. By marking a special relationship with the Union itself, citizenship epitomizes the growing maturity of the Union as a political community and not merely an economic project of a single market. Citizenship introduces the first elements of a political, social, and emotional bond between the peoples of Europe and their new Union. Nonetheless, the content of European citizenship remains a puzzle. The rights it grants are very different to those promised by states. When looked at in detail, it fails to match many of the most central elements of citizenship.
ISBN: ISSN: 2071-8322
P Eleftheriadis, 'Book Review of Philosophy and Resistance in the Crisis' (2013) Times Hihger Education Supplement [Review]
P Eleftheriadis, Democratic Accountability for a Monetary Union, paper presented at London: UCL European Institute
P Eleftheriadis, 'Global Rights and the Sanctity of Life' in Glenn Cohen (ed), The Globalization of Health Care (Oxford University Press 2013)

ISBN: 9780199917907
P Eleftheriadis, 'Hart on Sovereignty' in Andrea Dolcetti, Luís Duarte dAlmeida and James Edwards (eds), Reading HLA Hart's 'The Concept of Law' (Hart Publishing 2013)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Austin and the Electors' in Michael Freeman & Patricia Mindus (ed), The Legacy of John Austin's Jurisprudence (Springer 2012)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Descriptive Jurisprudence' (2012) 5 Problema 117
P Eleftheriadis, 'Federalism and Jurisdiction' in Geert de Baere, Elke Cloots (ed), Federalism and EU Law (Hart Publishing 2012)
Julie Dickson and P Eleftheriadis, 'Introduction: The Puzzles of European Union Law' in Julie Dickson & Pavlos Eleftheriadis (ed), Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law (Oxford University Press 2012)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Paradoxes of EU Citizenship' (2012) 156 Solicitors Journal [Case Note]
P Eleftheriadis and Julie Dickson (eds), Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law (Oxford University Press 2012)

ISBN: 978-0-19-958877-0
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Euro and the German Courts' (2012) 128 Law Quarterly Review 216

This note discusses the judgment of the German Constitutional Court of 9 September 2011, according to which the Euro Bailout agreements of 2010-2011 may be unconstitutional, if they encroach on the 'Budgetary Sovereignty' of the German People.
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Structure of European Union Law' in Thomas Streinz (ed), The EU and National Constitutional Law (Boorberg 2012)
P Eleftheriadis, 'A Right to Health Care' (2012) 40 Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 268

ISBN: 1073-1105
P Eleftheriadis, 'Citizenship and Obligation' in Julie Dickson and Pavlos Eleftheriadis (eds), Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law (Oxford University Press 2012)

ISBN: 978-0-19-958877-0
P Eleftheriadis, 'Austin and the Electors' (2011) 24 Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 441
P Eleftheriadis, Kalypso Nicolaidis and J. H. H. Weiler, 'Foreword: the changing landscape of European constitutionalism' (2011) 9 International Journal of Constitutional Law 673
P Eleftheriadis, 'Planning Agreements as Public Contracts Under the EU Procurement Rules' (2011) 20 Public Procurement Law Review 43
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Institutions' in David Vaughan QC and Aidan Robertson QC (eds), The Law of the European Union (Oxford University Press 2011)

ISBN: 978-1-90-450111-4
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Moral Distinctiveness of the European Union' (2011) 9 International Journal of Constitutional Law 695
P Eleftheriadis, 'Art and Moral Dilemmas' in Johannes Odenthal and Elina Kountouri (eds), Kalliopi Lemos: A Sculptural Trilogy About Europes Fragile Borders (Göttingen: Steidl 2010)

In the last three years the artist Kalliopi Lemos has constructed three large sculptures consisting mainly of boats used by illegal immigrants to cross from Turkey into Greece. These boats were discarded on the island of Chios, where Lemos discovered them. She exhibited these three sculptures in public settings in Athens, Istanbul and Berlin, with the respective titles: Crossing, Round Voyage and Crossroads. What is the meaning of this work? In this essay (which will form part of a forthcoming book on this trilogy, alongside essays by Arthur Danto and Thomas Pogge) Pavlos Eleftheriadis argues that art does not seek to resolve moral dilemmas, such as the dilemma posed by the competing claims of justice made by the illegal immigrants and the neediest of our own society. The power of art is in reminding us (in a way that does not deploy philosophical arguments but is equally or more persuasive) of the profound importance of our moral responsibility towards everyone.
ISBN: 978-3-86930-052-8
P Eleftheriadis, 'Human Rights as Legal Rights' (2010) 1 Transnational Legal Theory 371
P Eleftheriadis, 'Human Rights for Liberals' (2010) 3 Global Justice: Theory, Practice, Rhetoric 42

James Griffins rich and elegant study, On Human Rights (Oxford, 2008), is a superbly accomplished book. Its range is impressive. It offers a discussion of the general status of values, a general theory of rights, concrete accounts of the right to welfare, the right to privacy, the right to life, the link with democracy and the idea of group rights, among other things. At every stage we are treated to a clear, rigorous and elegant discussion full of broad learning and penetrating judgment, which readers of Griffins earlier books have perhaps learned to expect. Yet, the view of human rights that Griffin defends is strangely narrow and unfamiliar in that it is not connected to any political or legal framework.
ISBN: ISSN: 1835-6842
P Eleftheriadis, 'Introduction: On Reading Law as a Moral Idea' (2010) 1 Jurisprudence
P Eleftheriadis, 'On Rights and Responsibilities' [2010] Public Law 31

The UK Governments Green Paper Rights and Responsibilities: Developing our Constitutional Framework, outlines a new proposal for a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, which may replace the Human Rights Act as the main constitutional statement of human rights in the United Kingdom. The Green Paper does not address squarely the role that rights play in protecting liberty. It does not deal with the modern literature on justice, liberty and democracy. The failures are surprising, given the significance of what is being proposed. The experience of modern constitutional law teaches us that we need strong and independent judges and clear public laws, if rights are to be effective. The Green Paper fails to do justice to this long tradition. By making our rights conditional on someones (and mainly the governments) view of our own virtue, the governments proposal, at least as it stands today, threatens to undermine some of the most central safeguards of liberty.
P Eleftheriadis, 'Pluralism and Integrity' (2010) Ratio Juris 365

One of the theoretical developments associated with the law of the European Union has been the flourishing of legal and constitutional theories that extol the virtues of pluralism. Pluralism in constitutional theory is offered in particular as a novel argument for the denial of unity within a framework of constitutional government. This essay argues that pluralism fails to respect the value of integrity. It also shows that at least one pluralist theory seeks to overcome the incoherence of pluralism by implicitly endorsing monism. The coherence of European legal reasoning will be best preserved, if we consider that both the national legal order and the international (or European) such order endorse a sophisticated view of their own limits.
ISBN: 0952-1917
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Law of Laws' (2010) 1 Transnational Legal Theory 597
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Structure of European Union Law' (2010) 12 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies 121
P Eleftheriadis, 'Law and Sovereignty' (2010) 29 Law and Philosophy 535

How is it possible that the idea of sovereignty still features in law and legal philosophy? Sovereignty is normally taken to refer to absolute power. Yet modern law assumes that power is exercised by officials constrained by legal rules and the rule of law. This essay argues that a closer look at sovereignty and law shows that the first impression is correct: law and sovereignty are mutually exclusive. Philosophically speaking, sovereignty is and has always been incompatible with the rule of law and with constitutional law itself. Sovereignty and constitutional government are mutually exclusive.
ISBN: 0167-5249
P Eleftheriadis, 'Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Constitution' (2009) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence
P Eleftheriadis, 'Tender Moments' (2009) 153 Solicitors Journal 12 [Case Note]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Universality of Rights' (2009) Indian Journal of Constitutional Law

This essay argues that the universality claim is a claim concerning two different domains: first, the domain of the political and, second, the domain of foreign policy. The domain of the political gives us a theory of political rights as we find them in Rawls' Political Liberalism. The domain of foreign policy gives us a theory of human rights as we find them in Rawls' Law of Peoples. Both are distinct from a third domain, that of the moral relations of persons, where rights also are seen to have a bearing. We have therefore political rights, human rights, and moral rights. Only the first two enjoy universality. The distinction between the moral, the political and the international domains is crucial to the success of the claim to universality.
P Eleftheriadis, Legal Rights (Oxford University Press 2008)

ISBN: 978-0-19-954528-5
P Eleftheriadis, 'Environmental Rights in the EC Legal Order' (2007) 27 Yearbook of European Law
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Idea of a European Constitution' (2007) 27(1) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1

DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gql022
ISBN: 1464-3820
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Standing of States in the European Union' in Nicholas Tsagourias (ed), Transnational Constitutionalism: International and European Perspectives (Cambridge University Press 2007)

ISBN: 978-0-521-87204-1
P Eleftheriadis, 'After Aarhus' (2006) European Advocate 10
P Eleftheriadis, 'Not Quite Lawless' (2006) 77 Political Quarterly 294 [Review]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Rule of Law in Modern Greece' in Kevin Featherstone (ed), Politics and Policy in Greece: The Challenge of Modernisation (Routledge, London 2006)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Constitutional Reform and the Rule of Law in Greece' (2005) 28 West European Politics 317

A critical analysis of the last ten years of constitutional developments in Greece
ISBN: 0140-2382
P Eleftheriadis, 'Constitution or Treaty?' (2004) The Federal Trust Online Paper 12/04 1

A discussion of the Draft EU Constitution
P Eleftheriadis, 'Cosmopolitan Law' (2003) 9(2) European Law Journal 241

DOI: 10.1111/1468-0386.00177
ISBN: 1468-0386
P Eleftheriadis and Nicos Alivizatos, 'The Greek Constitutional Amendment of 2001' (2002) 7 South European Society and Poiltics 63
P Eleftheriadis, 'Book Review: Governing With Judges by Alec Stone Sweet' (2001) 72 Political Quarterly 402 [Review]
P Eleftheriadis, 'Book Review: Social Rights Under the Constitution, by C. Fabre' (2001) 72 Political Quarterly 133 [Review]
P Eleftheriadis, 'The European Constitution and Cosmopolitan Ideals' (2001) 7 The Columbia Journal of European Law 21

ISBN: 1076-6715
P Eleftheriadis, Constitutionalism and Political Values: The Normative Presuppositions of Constitutional Law [In Greek] (Sakkoulas, Athens 1999)
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Future of Environmental Rights in the European Union ' in Philip Alston (ed), The European Union and Human Rights (Oxford University Press 1999)
P Eleftheriadis, 'Begging the Constitutional Question' (1998) 36 Journal of Common Market Studies 255
P Eleftheriadis, 'Political Romanticism in Modern Greece' (1998) 17 Journal of Modern Greek Studies 41
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Direct Effect of Community Law' (1997) 16 Yearbook of European Law 205

The Direct Effect of Community Law: Conceptual Issues 16 Yearbook of European Law (1996) 205-221.
P Eleftheriadis, 'Aspects of European Constitutionalism' (1996) 21 European Law Review 32
P Eleftheriadis, 'The Analysis of Property Rights' (1996) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
P Eleftheriadis, 'Unfreedom in a Laissez Faire State' (1994) 80 Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 168
P Eleftheriadis, 'Freedom as a Fact ' (1993) 56 Modern Law Review 897