00222 - Constitutional Law (A-C)

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9232)

Learning outcomes

The constitutional law course is focused on the analysis of the main features of the organization, funcions and aims of the State, through the study of the Italian Constitution and of the constitutions of other liberal democratic legal systems.

Namely, the course will concern the knowledge of the institutions related to the basic notions of the constitutional science, legal theory, fundamental principles, sources of law, fundamental rights, constitutional organs, constitutional guarantees, the regional form of state, the relationship between the Italian legal system and the European and International legal systems.

Particular attention will be given to the study of the sources of law, through the analysis of the theory of normative acts and normative facts, the several types of law-making instruments, normative antinomies resolution, the issues related to constitutional justice.

Learning constitutional law and the constitutional approach to legal issues represents the formative basis for all the other law courses and political studies.

Course contents

1. Legal systems and constitutional law. - 2. The State. - 3. The State and the other legal systems. Constitutional law and International law. - 4. Constitutional law and the EU Law. - 5. Sources of law. - 6. Fundamental rights. - 7. The organization of political powers. - 8. Ballots, referenda and other forms of direct democracy. - 9. The Parliament. - 10. The Head of the State. - 11. The Government . - 12. The regional and local government. - 13. The public administration. - 14. The individual rights and the judicial process. - 15. The judicial review. - 16. The Italian legal system and its evolution.

Readings/Bibliography

1) All students must adopt all the followig textbooks: 

    1. A. Barbera, C. Fusaro, Corso di diritto costituzionale, Bologna, il Mulino, V edizione 2020;

    2. A. Morrone, Fonti normative, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018;

    3. A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Padova, Cedam, VIII edizione 2020.

    4. A. Morrone (a cura di), Costituzioni e diritto europeo, Napoli, Editoriale scientifica, in corso di pubblicazione.

    La prova scritta si svolgerà su uno dei casi del volume di A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Cedam, VIII edizione 2020.

 

The written exam will be based on one of the cases examined in A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, VIII edizione 2020.

 

 

Collecting law texts (recommended)

To improve their preparation, students may consult a public law code.

Other tools for the study of the sources of law

The most recent public law legislation and the world constitutions can be found online, on the Italian Parliament website (www.parlamento.it), and on the website www.confinder.richmond.edu/; the historical constitutions can be found on www.dsg.unito.it/dircost/index2.htm, or www.dircost.unito.it.

The case-law of supreme courts can be found online at: Corte costituzionale, www.cortecostituzionale.it; Euroepan Court of Justice, http://curia.europa.eu; European Court of Human Rights, www.echr.coe.int.

The debate on the main issues of Italian, European and International constitutional law can be followed on the forum of the journal “Quaderni costituzionali”: www.forumcostituzionale.it, or directly on the website of the italian association of constitutionalists, www.associazionedeicostituzionalisti.it. The constitutional court case-law can be found also at: www.giurcost.it.

 

2) Students that need to obtain less than 12 credits should follow this program:

from 11 to 6 credits: whole program, as outlined above (point 1);

from 5 to 2 credits: the textbooks at n. 2 (Morrone, Diritti, principi e fonti del diritto) and 3 (Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza);

1 credit: only 7 cases, selected by the student from the textbook A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Padova, Cedam, VI ed., 2016.

 

3) Erasums students , only the textbooks at n. 1 (Barbera-Fusaro) and 3 (Morrone)

Teaching methods

rhetoric and computer technology 

Assessment methods

Registration

In order to sit the exam all students are required to register on the electronic list from the faculty website.

Students who will not register will not be allowed to sit the exam.

Students who will have registered but will not be present on the day of the exam without a justification (to be communicated in advance to the Professor) will not be allowed to sit the exam on the next scheduled date.

 

Final Exam
Final exam consists of a written part and a general oral exam, led by the professor and his assistants. The written part consists of a short essay concerning one of the topics from the casebook A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Padova, Cedam, 2016. In order to be allowed to sit for the oral exam, it is not required to pass the written part, which nevertheless will be taken into consideration in the evaluation of the student.

The written exam will take place on the same day of the general exam, as scheduled in the exam session, from 9.00 am to 11.00 am, after the identification of the registered students and just before the oral part. During the written exam student are allowed to use a plain text of the Constitution (not annotated). 

The oral part will take place after the written part.

The final grade will consider the results of each part of the exam.

The attendance to classes and tutoring sessions will also be taken into consideration.

Teaching tools

In order to support and improve the exam preparation, the course offers weekly tutoring sessions, starting in october. Tutoring sessions are open to all students who are attending the classes. On request, the Professor will personally admit students who are not attending the classes.

Mock exams will be planned during the month of november, in order to support the preparation of the written exam. Times and venues will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/docenti/andrea.morrone http://campus.unibo.it/ http://www.collegio.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Morrone