98350 - Legal Laboratory (Italian-Spanish Double Degree in Law)

Learning outcomes

The Workshop introduces students to the topic of legal reasoning through seven didactic units that are inherent to a theoretical-legal reflection prior to any course in positive law. Legal reasoning and legal interpretation, besides connecting conceptually and practically, are the prerequisite for any “problem solving” operation conducted within the legal system.

Course contents

The aim of the workshop is to activate key competences for the jurist-in-training: from text comprehension to interpretation, up to judicial reasoning, in the awareness that the modes and models of reasoning, before concerning law, invest the mechanisms of human thought in general.


The course is divided into 7 Units, each dedicated to a macro-theme:

1. What is meant by reasoning: deductive and non-deductive reasoning
2. The fallacies of reasoning
3. What is ‘judicial syllogism’
4. Evidential reasoning and its pitfalls
5. Justice and truth
6. Theories and techniques of legal interpretation7. Outlines of "predictive justice"

 

Readings/Bibliography

The lessons will be recorded and uploaded to Virtuale.

If students feel the need, the following text is recommended as supplementary reading:

D. Canale, G. Tuzet, La giustificazione della decisione giudiziale, Giappichelli, Turin 2020.

The study of this text is not a prerequisite for admission to the qualifying examination.

Teaching methods

The Legal Laboratory course is taught asynchronously. There will be no classroom lectures and no lecture schedule.

Once enrolled in the Laboratory on Virtuale, students will be able to access the lectures according to their needs in the form of videos on the Virtuale platform.

At the end of each unit, there will be a self-assessment test consisting of multiple-choice questions. The purpose of the test is to verify the learning of the basic contents of the teaching unit without affecting the final outcome of the course.

The Legal Laboratory is included in the study plan for first-year students of the LMCU in Law in Bologna. Therefore, only students in these circumstances or those who, coming from another university, are required to make up the 3 CFU credits required by the course will be awarded a pass.

The lessons will be available on Virtuale progressively, starting from 3 October 2025, and until completion, by the end of the (first) academic semester.

Assessment methods

The course ends with a final test, consisting of 30 multiple-choice questions and valid for the purposes of passing the examination (pass/fail). Each correct answer is equal to 1 point; each incorrect or not given answer is equal to 0 points.

Eligibility is achieved with a minimum score of 18/30.

If you fail the final test, you may take a new test one week later.

The student does NOT need to be present to take the final test, but it is sufficient to register for the examination, following the normal Almaesami procedure. If the test is passed on Virtual by 9.00 a.m. on the day of the appeal, the aptitude will be recorded. Verification will be done remotely, within two days from the date of the appeal. The grade will then appear on the CV.

ERASMUS STUDENTS: The workshop (3CFU) is not recommended for Erasmus students.

Teaching tools

See section: ‘Teaching Methods’.

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Vida