The role of the courts in any
constitutional set up is controversial. The strongest role for the court is one
of the ultimate interpreter of the constitution, a role which for instance was
famously adopted in the USA by the Supreme Court in Marsbury v Madison. Other courts have inferred the equivalent
authority, as with the ECJ in the case of Costa v ENEL, in its authority over
interpreting the Treaty of the EU. Of the many factors that led to the result
of the referendum on membership of the EU, resistance to this judicial claim of
authority was one element.
