Abstract

In this essay I will analyse the question of dual preliminarity in five foreign experiences: France, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Spain. The priority granted to one of the two preliminary questions, as we shall see, can have different origins. In the French and Belgian cases, the priority criterion is established by the legislative formant (to be understood in a broad sense, as it can also refer to super-primary legislation), while in the Austrian, German and Spanish cases the reference formant is the judicial one. After clarifying what is meant by dual preliminarity and analysing the case studies I shall offer some brief final reflections on the trends present in comparative law.