THE LEGITIMACY OF TRANSNATIONAL LEGAL INSTITUTIONS - COMPLIANCE, SUPPORT, AND THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE

Theory: We use competing propositions from the literature on instituti onal legitimacy and compliance to trace the sources of acceptance of, or the propensity to comply with, judicial decisions. Hypotheses: Gene rally, institutions with a store of legitimacy are more successful at evoking acquiescence to their decisions. We expect willingness to acce pt an unpopular decision to be most prevalent among those who are stro ngly committed to the institution itself, who perceive the Court as us ing fair procedures to make its decisions, who are strongly attached t o the rule of law, and who are neutral about the issue on which the Co urt has made a decision. Methods: Regression analysis of items from a survey of the mass publics in the twelve member-states of the European Union in fall 1992. Results: The European Court of Justice does not h ave an extensive store of good will among ordinary citizens of the Eur opean Union. Few people are willing to accept a Court of Justice decis ion they find objectionable. There is, however, a moderately strong re lationship between legitimacy-i.e., diffuse support-and acceptance. Pe rceptions of procedural justice play little role in the process, altho ugh basic legal values (e.g., attitudes toward the rule of law) contri bute to acceptance within some countries. In general, our research dem onstrates that legitimacy is important for acceptance and probably for compliance; and that the European Court of Justice must tend to what may be an emerging shortfall of legitimacy for the high bench of the E uropean Union.