Historical development of the concept of free movement of persons in European law

The historical evolution of the concept of free movement of persons within the European law Abstract The thesis focused on what for us, citizens of the European Union means the free movement of persons and how the content of this concept has changed and is still changing, depending on the key documents adopted by the European Union and the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In the first chapter you can find the historical overview of the most important treaties and legislative acts of the European Union, which affected the evolution of the free movement. In subsequent chapters the focus is on case law of the Court, the case studies, where we see a shift in the understanding of freedom of movement of persons as a fundamental freedom .Originally the term was used only in connection with economically active persons, i.e. workers, self-employed persons and legal entities that have benefited from freedom of establishment in Member States of the European Union. Later, thanks to the European Union citizenship, the freedom of movement was extended to all EU citizens, including the non-working such as students, retirees or family members of citizens of the member states. Also the family members coming from the third countries were provided with the rights concerning free movement. The purpose..