Research at the Law Faculty of Leiden University is concentrated in six Faculty research programmes, in which researchers from different (legal) disciplines work together. This focus was determined by the idea that it was particularly at the areas of intersection between the various disciplines that important research questions can be found.

Most staff members of the Department participate in the research programme Securing the rule of law in a world of multilevel jurisdiction and its sub programmes Trias Europea and The protection of fundamental rights in an integrating Europe.

1. Trias Europea: The significance of the constitutional framework of the Lisbon Treaty for the institutional balance of governmental powers in the Netherlands-EU relationship and among EU institutions
Coordinator: prof. dr. W.J.M. Voermans

This sub-programme focuses on the institutional balance between state powers in the relationship between the Netherlands and the EU and between the EU institutions themselves.  A study will be made of how the European Union – originally established as a more or less traditional international organisation – is developing into a new independent legal order which, on many fronts, exhibits similarities with a sovereign state.  This development will be followed in a limited field: on the one hand that of the development of the institutional balance between the institutions of the Union themselves (horizontal spread of power) and on the other hand the development of the relationship between the Union and the (institutions within the) member states (vertical spread of power).

2. The protection of fundamental rights in an integrating Europe
Coordinator: prof. dr. R.A. Lawson

The process of European integration is on the one hand characterised by strongly increased mobility and the formation of a European legal area, and on the other hand by the large number of players involved in the formation and safeguarding of the law: organisations such as the Council of Europe and the European Union, but also diverse bodies which are active within these organisations. What influence does this process exercise on the effective observance of fundamental rights and freedoms, as these finally gain shape in the national legal order? How do supranational supervisory bodies respond to one another’s activities?  Is the observance of fundamental rights guaranteed now that greater authority is transferred to the European Union and legislation is increasingly at EU level in a growing number of policy fields – such as criminal law, migration and international civil law.
Or do the development of the classical community rules (such as the ‘four freedoms’ and the non-discrimination principle) and the establishment of an ‘Area for Freedom, Security and Justice’ offer more opportunities for human rights to be realised? 

From within our Department, several research and networking groups have been established.

• LEGSA (Leiden Expert Group on State Aid)

• NES (Network European Subsidies) - in Dutch