OVERVIEW

Institutions of Private Law covers the fundamentals of the legal discipline applicable to relations between private individuals.  It is a preparatory course for all the private law subjects of the Degree Course. It provides indispensable notions for building the skills of all our students, both those who aspire to work in private enterprises or in the Public Administration, and those who intend to prepare to enter the profession of employment consultant or to continue their studies in one of the LM courses to which the three-year SLIPA degree provides access.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course concerns basic notions of private law – such as sources, rights, actions, subjects - and also general rules on property, obligations, contracts and torts. It aims to bring the students to learn basic legal language and reasoning and some concepts, teaching them a knowledge to deepen in progress, in more advanced courses.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Attendance at lectures, individual study and participation in other training activities offered during the course will enable the student to:

• Identify the relevance of legal protection;
• Understand the importance of identifying, interpreting and applying rules suitable for resolving conflicts between private parties;
• Describe the functioning of the system of private law;
• Understand the location, meaning and application issues of the provisions relating to some relevant institutes of civil law (subjects of law, property, obligations and contracts, civil liability).

In particular, the expected learning outcomes are that the student

• is able to express himself/herself in appropriate technical legal language;
• by reading a normative text or a judgment relating to private law issues understands its meaning and prescriptive scope.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific requirements

TEACHING METHODS

The course is delivered in the form of face-to-face lectures, for a total of 54 hours (equal to 9 CFU), during which the main theoretical notions of private law will be presented and analysed, but in which a number of practical cases drawn from the most recent case law will also be proposed and discussed.

From time to time, scholars or practitioners may be invited to lecture on topics of particular interest and topical interest in order to enable students to acquire a greater awareness of the applicative dimension of the subject.

Students with valid certifications for Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), disabilities or other educational needs and having complied with Unige procedures (described here) who need compensatory measures to prepare the exams or during the exams are invited to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course to agree on any teaching methods that, in accordance with the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning styles. For requesting Unige services for students with disabilities and other information, please visit https://giurisprudenza.unige.it/serv_disabili. For further information, please visit https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa and contact the Department's disability liaison officer (isa.fanlo@unige.it).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

In the first part, the teaching aims to impart basic notions, enabling students to understand and make their own the technical legal vocabulary and some abstract categories (such as that of legal person), dwelling in particular on

• private law and its sources;
• legal situations, active and passive; types of legal acts; private autonomy; goods as the object of rights; the acquisition and loss of rights; legal circulation and publicity;
• the judicial protection of rights: types of action and types of trial; the principles of civil action and the system of evidence;
• The subjects of law: natural persons and organisations. Personality rights.

In the second part, the teaching examines some areas of civil law, namely:

• property and real rights; 
• obligations; 
• the general discipline of contracts; 
• the discipline of certain typical contracts (such as sales, mandate, mortgage, contract, lease, franchising, etc.);
• non-contractual liability;
• market regulation with regard to competition and consumer protection in contracts with professionals.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Textbook for attending students:

• V. Roppo, Diritto privato. Linee essenziali, VIII ed., Giappichelli, 2024, chapters 1-42 (excluding the following parts: chapter 33, paragraphs 20 to 26; chapter 35, paragraphs 12 to 23; chapter 36), for a total of 537 pages.

Textbook for non-attending students:

• V. Roppo, Diritto privato. Linee essenziali, VIII ed., Giappichelli, 2024, chapters 1-42, for a total of 590 pages.

The constant use of an up-to-date civil code is essential, especially for individual study aimed at preparing for the exam. To this purpose, we recommend: Codice civile e leggi collegate, a cura di G. De Nova (last ed.).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination takes place exclusively in oral form (3/4 questions that can cover the entire programme). In addition to knowledge of the individual institutes, the student's ability to connect the notions and to reason about applicable cases and rules is also appreciated.

There is NO so-called roll-call skipping: in the event of a negative result, the examination may therefore also be taken in the immediately following roll-call.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination tends to verify that the student is able to find his or her way around the private legal system, is familiar with its main categories and institutes and how they function, and has acquired the ability to identify and apply specific rules to concrete cases. By means of general theoretical or more specific questions, it is verified whether the student is able to:

• identify and define legal concepts using appropriate technical language;
• understand and interpret rules;
• identify and apply appropriate regulatory provisions to resolve conflicts between private individuals.

Students having a valid certification of disability or Specific Learning Disorders (DSA) and having complied with Unige procedures (described here) may request the use of compensatory measures during the exams (e.g. additional time and/or concept maps). In any case, for further information, please contact the Department’s disability liaison: Isa.Fanlo@unige.it

FURTHER INFORMATION

For information write to the teacher at luca.oliveri@unige.it