A.Y. 2016/2017

Constitutional Law

Course syllabus (first part)

The course consists of two parts: the first devoted to set the Italian constitutional system in the European legal area; the second focused on a list of court cases from both the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union (and also from the national Court), with the aim of reconstructing the system of fundamental right protection in the same context. Moreover, in the second part, we will examine some current topic (as Brexit in UK; electoral system in Italy), and the relationship between Central State and Regions.

The scope of the course is to give a comprehensive overview of the interactions between the Italian constitutional system and those of the European Union and of the Council of Europe. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the Italian Constitutional Court and to the degree of protection granted to rights by courts at the different levels. The use of court cases in the lectures will facilitate students to deal with first-hand materials, most of which available in multilingual versions. In particular, classes focused on decisions of the Italian Constitutional Court will operate both on texts in Italian and in their English translations, when available, facilitating students in acquiring familiarity with vocabulary and practice useful for their perspective academic and professional careers.

Students will be involved to actively participate to class discussions of the cases, also by selecting for each class a small group of discussion leaders in charge of presenting the case to the class.

Date / Topic / Bibliography
I part – The Italian constitutional system in the European legal area
Democracy and constitutionalism between national and supranational dimension
Wed 15 March, 12-14 / Introduction to the course: Structure and Vocabolary.
Constitutional review of legislation: a comparative overview.
Thur 16 March, 8-10 / The Italian Constitutional justice. The hybridization of the classical Kelsenian model
Wed 22 March, 12-14 / Italian Constitutional Court: composition and functions (I part)
Thur 23 March, 8-10 / Italian Constitutional Court: composition and functions (II part)
The interaction of domestic constitutional law with European and international law
Fri 24 March, 8-10 / The Europeanpath of theItalianConstitutional Court. A premise: relationshipbetweenitalianlegalsources and europeansources
Wed 29 March, 12-14 / The Europeanpath of the ItalianConstitutional Court: the idea of controlimiti
Thur 30 March, 8-10 / The rank and the function of ECHR in the Italian Legal order
Dialogue among Courts in Europe
Wed 5 April, 12-14 / Courts in dialogue: whichCourts?
Thur 6 April, 8-10 / Courts in dialogue: the preliminaryreferences by ItalianConstitutional Court
Wed 12 April, 12-14 / Courts in dialogue? The ECtHRas a subsidiaryjurisdiction. The Protocol no. 16 to ECHR and he priorinvolvement of the Strasbourg Court
Conclusion on the I part
Wed 19 April, 12-14 / Summary of first part. Questions and doubts.
Thur 20 April, 8-10 / Written test on the I first part