Advocate-General

Advocate-General

an officer who assists the COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Advocate-Generals are not members of the Court but are selected in much the same way and have to be equally qualified. It is a peculiarly European office, so does not have an obvious analogy in UK procedure. The Advocate-General will appear at the hearing and may ask questions of parties. Thereafter in open court the Advocate-General will deliver an opinion on the legal position. Thereafter the matter is considered by the Court without the Advocate-General. As the Court does not sometimes express detailed judgments, again in the continental tradition, the opinion, if followed, is a useful indication of the possible reasoning of the Court and is accordingly published along with the decision in the official reports.