OVERVIEW

The lectures aim to offer a suitable knowledge of the main elements of public law in a comparative perspective, and they pay specific attention to: 1) political regimes and their historical evolution; 2) organization of local autonomies and emergence of multi-level governance; 3) systems of government (especially in the liberal- democratic regimes); 4) constitutional guarantees.

UN SDG: 16.3 (Rule of law and access to justice)

UN SDG: 16.6 (Develop effective, accontable and trasparent institutions)

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student will acquire:

- an appropriate knowledge of the forms of state in their historical evolution, with particular regard to the democratic and Socialist State,

- an adequate knowledge of the systems of government in the Democratic State (in particular the parliamentary, presidential, semi-presidential and directorial systems),

- the methodology and appropriated competences to deal critically and comparatively with the issues of Constitutional Law,

- the proper vocabulary for illustrating and discussing researches in the field of Comparative Constitutional Law

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student will acquire:

-        identify the different forms of state and systems of government and illustrate how they work;

-        analyze and explain the modalities of the relations between the central state and the local authorities in the various models of federal and regionalized state;

-        deepen the rules and principles about rights and duties present in the constitutional texts and their pratical consequences;

-        understand the mechanisms of guarantee of the Constitution and their working, especially the role played by the bodies in charge of the constitutional review;

-        correctly apply comparative methodologies in the critical examination of the main issues of constitutional law;

-        read and critically examine, with autonomy of judgment, scientific articles of comparative constitutional law, Constitutions, sentences of the Constitutional Courts.

-        expose and argue using the legal-constitutional language correctly researches in the field of comparative constitutional law.

PREREQUISITES

Even in the absence of an official prerequisite, it is advisable to have already taken or to prepare at the same time at least the exam of "Public Law".

During the course the teacher will however explain in a synthetic way those concepts that will be developed in a comparative key.

TEACHING METHODS

The lessons are frontal and remotely for a total of 54 hours equal to 9 CFU supported by slides to facilitate learning. During the lessons, the main theoretical notions of comparative constitutional law will be presented and analyzed also through the examination of the constitutional texts and judgments of the Constitutional Courts.
Attendance is not mandatory, however those who ensure the attendance of at least 2/3 of the lessons will be able to bring to the exam a topic of their choice which will constitute the first exam question. In addition, lectures, conferences and conventions on the subject may also be an integral part of the course, which in this case will be reported by the teacher during the course and via AulaWeb. Also on AulaWeb it will be possible to attach texts of judgments, legislative acts or suggested reading of essays aimed at deepening the topics covered in class. At the request of the students it will be possible to deepen in seminar form some topical topics related to teaching.

Non-attending students will have to integrate their preparation with additional readings and texts that will be communicated in class.

The remote lessons will take place on the TEAMS channel. The TEAMS code: ha0t6cg eventually news will be communicated via aulaweb

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Forms of state and types of state: federal and regionalized;

The different comcepts of Constitution and the ideology of constitutionalism. Outlines of comparative methodology.

The constitutional discipline of rights and duties and the system of sources of law in the countries studied.

The systems of government in the liberal-democratic regimes; general principles and analysis of some contemporary democratic experiences: presidential government (USA), semi-presidential government (French Fifth Republic, Weimar Republic and brief outlines of the other experiences), parliamentary government (United Kingdom, brief outlines of French Third and Fourth Republic, Spain, Germany), directorial government (Switzerland).

The main models of constitutional justice.

The main electoral systems and their impact on the dynamics of the systems of government, in particular on the relations between the executive and the legislative powers.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following volume is recommended:

A. Di Giovine e altr., Lezioni di diritto costituzionale comparato, Le Monnier, last ed., in particular the Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 (only Spain and Switzerland), 18.

The students who won't pledge the minimum required attendance the lectures shall add the following chapters: 8, 9, 10, 22.

Or:

T.E. Frosini (a cura di), Diritto pubblico comparato. Le democrazie stabilizzate, il Mulino, last ed., in particular the Chapters: 1 (only par. 1), 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10.

The students who won't pledge the minimum required attendance the lectures shall add the following chapters: 6, 7, 11.

We also recommend the following volume as a support to the lectures:

L. Cuocolo, Costituzioni, Egea, 2021.

Attending students will have to focus the preparation on lecture notes, slides and material provided from time to time on the Aulaweb platform.

Non-attending students must complete their preparation by studying the Chapters indicated in addition to those indicated for attending students.

The above-mentioned volumes are recommended as reference texts, but the students are also allowed to use other university texts of Comparative Constitutional Law, provided that such texts encompass the whole specified programme and have been published in the last 5 years.

During the lessons, other readings could be pointed out for foreign students and/or for people interested in deepening the items in question.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MARIA ANGELA ORLANDI (President)

ARISTIDE CANEPA

FEDERICO DELFINO (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The lesons are scheduled in the second term. February 2024.

TEAMS Code: ha0t6cg.

The timetable of all lessons is available on EasyAcademy.

Class schedule

L'orario di tutti gli insegnamenti è consultabile all'indirizzo EasyAcademy.

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral and in Italian.
At least three topics related to the course will be discussed, starting from the general concepts and progressively entering into detail.
Those who ensure the attendance of at least 2/3 of the lessons will be able to bring to the exam a topic of their choice that will constitute the first exam question.
For particular situations, at the motivated request of the student, the exam may be written.
In the case of a written exam, this will consist of three open questions, on topics at different levels of depth.
The Examination Commission is designated by the Department Council and, unless impeded, it is chaired by the lecturer in charge of the course.
For foreign students who request it, it will be possible to take the exam in written form in English or French.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

First of all, the student should demonstrate: the knowledge of course topics, a suitable order in the presentation of the subjects, competence in the technical language.
A preferential evaluation will be conferred to the following skills: tha ability to realaborate in a critical way the acquired information and the concerned topics; and the possible expression of personal considerations, duly reasoned and justified, according to the acquired data and comparative methodology.

FURTHER INFORMATION

TEAMS platform online lessons channel: v. Aulaweb

Students with “Special Needs”: the compensatory/dispensative tools recognized by the Department coordinator, Prof. Aristide Canepa, and by the University Service for students with special needs are applied. It is suggested to contact by Prof. Canepa and the lecturer of this course at the beginning of the lectures.