Those European Courts: a Venn diagram

Last month, "Court in the act: how many European Courts are there?"here, this Kat bemoaned the confusion caused by there being so many courts that have the word "European" in them. He has since discovered that, in this anxiety, he is not alone.  From the website of one of our readers, fellow blogger Kuan0 (self-described as "half lawyer, half geek, mainly harmless") comes some visual help on a grand scale in her post "Europe, EU, EEA, EFTA, Council of Europe, Convention 108 - which countries are in which? - Venn diagram (as at 1 September 2013)".

The IPKat is happy to share Kuan0's handiwork with you.  It displays the overlap (or absence of overlap) of these noble institutions like this:


If you click through to here, you will find the keys and explanations that make it all so sensible.  Well done, Kuan0, and thanks!
Those European Courts: a Venn diagram Those European Courts: a Venn diagram Reviewed by Jeremy on Sunday, September 14, 2014 Rating: 5

11 comments:

  1. Is the picture correct? CoE should cover all EU and EEA states, right?
    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_European_Bodies

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  2. I agree that it's helpful but doesn't seem quite correct. The nesting of the boxes implies that there are EU countries that are not in the EEA; and that there are EU and EEA countries that are not in Europe.

    I think the dark blue box representing Europe should enclose everything except Uruguay (the 1 at top left). The pink box should be inside that and the green box should be inside the pink one.

    Useful additions would be the Eurozone and European Patent Convention member and extension states.

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  3. Yes, the diagram is correct, the CoE is indicated as containing all EU (28) and EEA (a further 3) states.

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  4. It's a standard form for presenting Venn-diagram information. The numbers represent the size of the region indicated in the diagram (i.e. the cardinality of the relevant set). The fact that one set is not drawn inside another doesn't mean that it isn't a strict subset.

    In general, for Venn diagrams, one must choose between regular shapes (in this case rectangles) and having all shape containment relations strict. The software Kuan used as a starting point creates diagrams with regular shapes.

    It may well be possible to draw a rectangular diagram with better containment, but in general it isn't, so you simply have to read empty regions as being empty sets.

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  5. Shouldn't you have waited for the outcome fo the Scottish independence referendum before publishing this? It may soon be hopelessly out of date.

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  6. Kuan appears to be keeping it up to date when there are more minor changes than that. I suspect Scottish independence (if it happens) won't take effect instantly.

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  7. Should be easy to update. Simply have a new box for Scotland floating off on its own down the plughole.

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  8. Many thanks for the blog post, Jeremy, and to Francis for explaining how the Venn diagram works - you need to look at the numbers inside the diagram first, then refer to the table. Or find a country in the table, then see which coloured number's column it's under to find which country groupings it belongs to, in the diagram.

    Eurozone and European Patent Convention member and extension states - if and when I have the time.

    I generally only update the diagram as from the effective dates of changes. We shall see about Scotland...

    And by the way it's "her" post - I'm female.

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  9. Thank you, Kuan. I assumed that you must have been a "he" because the only Kuan I have ever come across -- the pre-eminent Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew (real name Harry) -- was also a man.

    I do apologise for any offence caused and confirm that, in the blogpost above, I have now reassigned your gender.

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  10. There must be a prize for an adaptation adding the Eurovision group. I'm sure a glittery shape should be selected.

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  11. Now I know the difference between a Venn and Euler diagram.
    http://blog.stevemould.com/venn-vs-euler-diagrams/

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