The individual has become visible throughout Europe and within its institutions as a potential or actual rights holder. He or she is no longer defined as visible or invisible in law by the nation state alone. In today s Europe, he or she establishes identity that is, the rights to entry, residence, work, family life, and protection from expulsion through a multilayered legal structure involving the nation state, the EU, and the Council of Europe and all their political, administrative, and judicial arenas. In this remarkable study Elspeth Guild examines the ways in which law in Europe defines the status of the individual and his or her entitlements as regards identity.