The ECJ used to be a neutral court for the UK – it no longer is

In the UK, the ECJ had been called a foreign court in the Brexit debate. However, the term comes from Switzerland. The notion of a foreign court was used to refer to an international court that includes judges from other states. However, this notion is fallacious, argues Carl Baudenbacher (LSE). The decisive factor is whether a court is neutral. If a state belongs to an international organisation, the international court in question is neutral towards that state. This applies to the ICJ, for example, regardless of whether a state provides a judge or not. The ECJ, on the other hand, is not neutral for post-Brexit Britain and for Switzerland; it is the court of the other party and thus not impartial.