european-union
How can you have a &quot;quorum of 11&quot; when the Grand Chamber requires 15 judges?
<p>Nigel Foster. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eu-law-directions-9780198816539?cc=ca&amp;lang=en&amp;" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>EU Law Directions</em> 6 ed. 2018</a>. p. 60</p>
<blockquote>
<h3>2.5.1 Composition and organisation</h3>
<p>The CoJ presently consists of 28 judges, one for each member state (as from 1 July 2013) and 11
Advocates-General (AGs) (as from 7 October 2015) (Article 252 TFEU), nominated and appointed
by unanimous agreement by the governments of the member states for a renewable period of six
years.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Court can sit as a full court with a quorum of 17 judges, a Grand Chamber of 15 judges with a
<strong>quorum of 11</strong> to hear cases involving either member states or Union institutions, or in chambers of
three or five judges and of which there are 10 in total.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Alina Kaczorowska-Ireland. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/European-Union-Law-Alina-Kaczorowska-Ireland/dp/1138845892/ref=dp_ob_title_bk" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>European Union Law 4 ed. 2016</em></a>. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EAY9DAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA98&amp;ots=xMaN2o4vJg&amp;dq=grand%20chamber%2015%20quorum%2011&amp;pg=PA98#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">p. 98</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3aypA.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3aypA.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<ol>
<li><p>Both text-books imply that the Grand Chamber requires 15 judges. See Foster – isn't the &quot;quorum&quot; 15? How can there be a &quot;quorum of 11&quot;?</p>
</li>
<li><p>See Alina – If you have a chamber of 5 judges, how can quorum be 3? If quorum is 3, then you have a chamber of 3, not 5!</p>
</li>
</ol>

<blockquote>
  <p>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum" rel="nofollow noreferrer">quorum</a> is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So the Grand Chamber is 15 members, if at least 11 turn up they can conduct their business, if 10 or less turn up, they can’t. Similarly, there are 28 judges in the full court of which 15 need to turn up.</p>

<p>Quorum are <em>extremely</em> common - they allow the business of the body to proceed even if some of their members are sick, or on holiday, or stuck in traffic, or slept through their alarms etc.</p>
