In the year 2006, just as the European Union was planning its 50th birthday party, the powerful and prestigious American Bar Association circulated the first fruits of a major restatement of European Community law. Whether the ABA is a nonprofit- making organisation, I am not aware; but it is hardly a philanthropic then should this massive project have seen the light of day? One reason is that transatlantic political relationships are becoming closer. We have already experienced joint action in the field of security, with questions raised about legality, as with ‘rendition’ in breach of due process requirements or, in the case of air travellers, their data.
