The role that the ECJ plays for European integration has been much discussed by political scientists. Less is known about how case law develops. In this article, I give a historical-institutionalist account, arguing that path-dependency explains its course. Litigants provide positive feedback in this process, aiming to strengthen their rights by transferring legal arguments from one area to the next, leading to a convergent interpretation of the different freedoms. The paper traces this development, analyzing how legal arguments were transferred from goods markets to the free movement of workers and citizenship, as a result of positive feedback to a distinct legal interpretation. I discard alternative explanations that explain case law by drawing on the preferences of Member states or judges.

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