Introduction

As recent pages of this journal and and any other number of indicators would suggest, legal developments in the European Community (EC or Community) have sparked unprecedented interest on the part of the American legal profession. That this journal, five or ten years ago, would have devoted an entire issue to these developments, while not unimaginable, was unlikely. Today, however, changes in the world legal community\u27s focus make the choice of topic seem quite obvious. The question now seems not to be whether or even when to address the Community, but rather what specific areas to address and how to do so. My own preference has been, and will likely continue to be, to examine the evolving constitutional framework of the Community, the relationship among its institutions and the reconciliation of Community interests with the potentially divergent interests of its Member States. From that perspective, seemingly infinite possibilities for comparison with the American legal system and its experience with federalism present themselves. Perhaps never before have the leaders of different nations come together so deliberately and self-consciously under the world\u27s watchful gaze to produce a common governance regime of such ambitious scope. That interest in the larger questions regarding the political and economic design of an increasingly united Europe has not been exhausted seems evident from most recent events in Europe. As this topical issue goes to press, European leaders once again assemble to pursue those very questions, and they do so without the faintest belief that they are writing the final chapter