OVERVIEW

The course “Legislative drafting”, established at the University of Genoa in the A.Y. 2012/13, is one of the very few on this topic within the Italian academic system. Beside a theoretical framework of constitutional law, the course has a strong practical imprint, having as its object the practical study of legislative drafting guidelines, an indispensable skill especially for the lawyers who work in the civil service.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

In the light of teaching students how to become a professional drafter in the Civil Service, in the constitutional bodies or in the EU institutions/international organisations, learning outcomes are the following: (a) learning legal rules concerning legislative drafting and the role played by relevant bodies, apparatuses and procedures in the legislative drafting process; (b) understanding those controversial issues concerning legislative drafting from a perspective of constitutional law; (c) developing a multi-disciplinary approach in studying legislative drafting.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Attending and actively participating to classes, and individual study will allow students to:

• Identify legislative drafting rules;

• Understand their rationale and the relevant constitutional issue;

• Apply these rules in legislative drafting;

• Analyse a piece of legislation from the point of view of its legislative drafting quality; 

• Critically evaluate the effectiveness of these rules in the broader context of the Italian form of government and state;

• Develop the ability to legislative drafting, starting from a "political" input;

• Develop one's imagination and creativity, critical reflection, strategic thinking, problem solving with particular reference to contexts of innovation and evolving creative processes, ability to transform ideas into actions, self-awareness (P.S. TRANSVERSAL SKILL that allows the achievement, overcoming the exam with a grade of at least 30/30, an OPEN BADGE - OB)

PREREQUISITES

In order to deal with the contents of this course without difficulty, it is essential that students possess the knowledge of constitutional law (and in particular regarding the system of sources of law and the legislative procedure) already acquired during the course of Constitutional Law I.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of 36 hours (6 CFU).

During the lessons, after the illustration of the main guidelines, some practical exercises will be carried out, guided by the Professor. In particular, it will be the students' task to draft a bill.

Near the end of the course, if a sufficient number of students interested in participating are registered, the Professor will organize:

a) a meeting in Genoa with some regional councillors and officials at the Council of the Liguria Region;

b) a meeting in Rome with some parliamentarians and parliamentary officials at the Chamber and the Senate.

It is possible to carry out an internship at the Council of the Liguria Region.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. Introduction

2. Fundamentals of Constitutional Law: the system and process of formation of the sources of law

3. Sources, bodies, apparatus and procedures on legislative drafting

4. Legislative drafting guidelines

5. The Technical-Regulatory Analysis (ATN), the Regulatory Impact Analysis (AIR) and the Regulatory Impact Assessment (VIR)

6. Simplification of legislation

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For students who attend classes:

• E. Albanesi, Teoria e tecnica legislativa nel sistema costituzionale. Seconda edizione interamente rivista e aggiornata. Prefazione di Paolo Carnevale, Editoriale scientifica, Napoli, 2019, pp. 316

For students who do not attend classes:

• E. Albanesi, Teoria e tecnica legislativa nel sistema costituzionale. Seconda edizione interamente rivista e aggiornata. Prefazione di Paolo Carnevale, Editoriale scientifica, Napoli, 2019, pp. 316

• E. Albanesi, Strumenti di traduzione assistita e gestione del multilinguismo istituzionale nel processo legislativo europeo. Prospettive di diritto costituzionale, in Osservatorio sulle fonti, 2022, n. 2, pp. 337-355

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ENRICO ALBANESI (President)

SIMONE PITTO

ELEONORA CECCHERINI (Substitute)

MARCO MARAZZINI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Tuesday 17 September 10:30 AM (sharp)

Class schedule

LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam, with three/four open questions, with which to verify the students' awareness of the constitutional issues that characterize the process of legislative drafting s as well as, more specifically, the knowledge of the guidelines concerning legislative drafting.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam aims to ascertain the actual achievement of the expected learning outcomes. In particular, the theoretical questions aim to ascertain the students' ability to identify guidelines for legislative drafting; to understand their rationale and the relevant constitutional issues; to apply these rules in the actual drafting of bills; to analyse a piece of legislation from the point of view of its drafting quality; to critically evaluate the effectiveness of these rules in the broader context of the Italian form of government and state. Active participation during teaching is obviously desirable to allow the teacher to get to know the students right from the lessons in view of the evaluation during the exam.

Students with a disability or SLD certification may request the use of compensatory measures (e.g. additional time, concept maps and diagrams, modifications in the written/oral mode) during the examination, following the procedure indicated in the guidelines (p. 5) published here 

Exam schedule