This is an edited version of the Sir Thomas More Lecture that the Hon. James Spigelman delivered at Lincoln’s Inn in London in December. _____________________ Thomas More lived in an era when Europe was called Christendom. The Catholic Church, under the monarchical, albeit not hereditary, authority of the papacy exercised legislative, executive and judicial power over most of the territory over which the European Union exercises such authority today. The matters that are now regarded as appropriate for such supra-national jurisdiction are primarily economic. In the sixteenth century, the centralised institutions were little concerned with trade or competition policy and…