The Court of First Instance of the European Communities

The purpose of this Note is to examine the organization and structure of the Court of First Instance to determine whether it is suited to assume its role as a trial court. In particular, emphasis will be placed on the new court\u27s ability to be a fact-finder as this is one of its primary tasks. It may be helpful in this connection to first review the role and function of the Court of Justice within the European Community; and, then the circumstances under which the Community chose to attach a lower level court to the Court of Justice. With this as a foundation, the Note will then examine the Council\u27s decision which setup the basic structure of the new court. The Note will also examine some aspects of the Court of First Instance\u27s newly formulated rules of procedure. Finally, some thoughts will be given as to the expected long-term impact of the Court of First Instance on the Court of Justice and the European Community in general