Four Or Fewer Freedoms: Justice Contested And Codified Between 1941 And 1957

Abstract

A key aspect of investigating the foundations of justice in Europe is to understand how these developed over time. Such an inquiry can begin in many different places and at many different moments. This chapter, however, focuses on the period during and after the Second World War, from 1941 to 1957. One reason for this is that the Second World War was, in many different ways, the reason for closer cooperation within Europe and for the institutionalization of such cooperation. Another is the degree to which this particular period was still characterized by an openness and indefiniteness in terms of the type of justice to be institutionalized in Europe. By the time of the formation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 this was very different – clear choices had been made in terms of the type of justice institutionalized in the European project. A close consideration of the particular debates that led to these institutional outcomes, of the people involved and the ideas that they held can offer important insight into the conceptions of justice on and off the table in this early period of European formation (Norman and Zaidi 2008).