00236 - Comparative Public Law

Learning outcomes

The course's aims relate to:

· make students familiar with the basic aspects of contemporary constitutionalism in Western democracies, countries in transition to democracy and beyond;

· show them that, by revealing how other systems address similar problems, comparative constitutional law gives us a better purchase on our own legal system and legal culture;

· push them to evaluate the foundations of individual legal systems: the assumptions, choices and values that have formed them;

· provide them with a critical understanding of the strengths and limits of constitutional law in regulating social and political processes.

Course contents

The course consists of a general and a special part.

Topics of the general part are: forms of state and forms of government; the constitution and its dynamics; the liberal democratic State; federalism and regionalism; the constitutional protection of human rights; authoritarian and hybrid regimes.

Topics of the special part are: focus on some concrete constitutional experiences, focus on the Israeli constitutional system as a case study.

Readings/Bibliography

• GIUSEPPE DE VERGOTTINI, Diritto costituzionale comparato, decima edizione (Padova, Cedam, 2022). Parte seconda, cap. III sezioni I e VI, and parte terza, cap. II sezioni II e III, are excluded.

• LEONARDO PIERDOMINICI, Evoluzioni, rivoluzioni, involuzioni. Il costituzionalismo israeliano nel prisma della comparazione (Padova, Cedam, 2022)

• On-line materials

Teaching methods

The course will be developed through lessons and conferences, also held by visiting foreigner professors, with use of slides and internet resources.

First semester lessons will be held following the directives described in the University website.

Students are kindly encouraged to attend lessons and actively participate to the discussions.

Attending students will be invited to prepare a brief oral exposition, in groups or alone, on topics suggested by the professor and then orally explained in the classroom.

Assessment methods

The final exam will consist of an oral examination.

Criteria of evaluation:

• knowledge of the institutional program

• ability to critically analyze legal doctrine and case-law

• ability to make connections between different parts of the program

• ability to develop a critical thought

• accuracy in the exposition

• ability to use legal jargon properly

Teaching tools

All the information about the course will be published in the moodle website: lessons, slides, seminars and other relevant events, useful links to comparative law materials.

Office hours

See the website of Leonardo Pierdominici