A new historical and sociological account for the broad definitional power of law in the European Union polity.

Introduction; Part I. Unity through Law. Inventing Europe's 'Integration Programme': 1. Three treaties, one community. Institution-building and legal strategies to unify Europe; 2. The force of a weak field. The transnational field of European law and the formation of Europe's polity; 3. The 'Van Gend en Loos' moment and the making of Europe's integration program; Part II. Jurisprudence, Code, Constitution: Europe's Building Blocks: 4. 'Jurisprudence'. Transnational esprit de corps and the Court's perpetual constitutional momentum; 5. 'The code'. The formation of the Acquis Communautaire and the legal objectification in Europe; 6. 'Constitution'. Treaties' fragmentation and Europe's constitutional fetishism.

Antoine Vauchez is a Research Professor at the Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique, Université Paris 1-Sorbonne/CNRS.