24331 - History of Medieval and Modern Law

Learning outcomes

Shelley’s poem Ozymandias is about the ruins of the statue of a giant king that stands in the middle of the desert, upon whose pedestal run the words ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’, while just sand lies all around. Legal history pursues the aim of blowing the sand away and understanding, as far as law and jurisprudence are concerned, the ‘works’ of kings and emperors, of the Church as well as of citizens and parliaments, jurists and judges in European history. At the end of the course, students will be able to master a general outline of the evolution of different sources of law, of legal science and of some institutions in a time span that goes from the 5th to the early 17th century. Through the analysis of the Medieval and Modern juridical order, students will come to learn that countless different experiences can lie behind positive law, and thus grow more sensible jurists.

Course contents

Lectures will focus on two main topics. First, they will deal with the development of law and jurisprudence in the western world, from the age of Justinian to the triumph of Ius Commune, down to its crisis at the beginning of Modern Age. The problem of sovereignty will be the second subject to be addressed: in this field the legacy of Roman law does not stand alone, as it interlocks with the different notion of sovereignty shared by Germanic peoples, with the development of Empire’s and Church’s universalism and eventually with the birth of the modern State. Special regard will be given to the English experience, from Magna Carta to the development of the British constitution in the 17^th and 18^th century.

Part One:

- The decline of the Roman Empire

- The legacy of Roman law

- The Longobards and their law

- How Roman law was transformed in the early Middle Ages

- Birth and institutions of the Carolingian Empire

- Law around 1000 AD

- The feudal system

- Church and Empire from the Ottonians to Worms

- The renaissance of Roman law

- Irnerius and the Glossators

- The birth of a new Canon law

- From Glossators to Commentators

- The system of Ius Commune

- The fight around sovereignty in the late Middle Ages

- The crisis of Ius Commune

- The modern school of natural law

Part Two:

- The Common Law system

- Magna Carta and the birth of English constitutionalism

- Crown and Parliament from the Middle Ages to 17^th century

- New models of sovereignty from Restoration to Glorious Revolution

- Constitutional monarchy or parliamentary monarchy?

- The dawn of the Prime Minister and of the cabinet system

Readings/Bibliography

Adriano Cavanna, Storia del diritto moderno in Europa, I. Le fonti e il pensiero giuridico, Milano, Giuffrè, 2005, pp. 21-251, 319-337, 479-546, 555-610 (please do take note that this is the First Volume of Cavanna’s textbook)
and
Ugo Bruschi, Rivoluzioni silenziose. L’evoluzione costituzionale della Gran Bretagna tra la Glorious Revolution e il Great Reform Act, Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna, Maggioli Editore, 2014, pp. 43-261
are both required reading.
Students attending classes may replace Cavanna's textbook with their notes.

Students who already took the Medieval and Modern Legal History exam in another course and are in need of additional credits are kindly requested to get in touch with Dr Bruschi, providing the following information: number of additional credits required and syllabus of their previous course.

Teaching methods

Teacher-centred class. A seminar approach will be possible whenever dealing with primary sources, provided that students are willing to get more involved.

Assessment methods

As a rule, exams will consist of an oral test. Students will be assessed on all the topics dealt with in the required reading as well as during classes (for those who attended them). Classes will be held from late February to early May: students enrolled in the first year cannot take their exam before the end of May. Students need to register for their exam on the Almaesami website.

The outcome of the exam will be assessed according to the following criteria. Students mastering with skill and perspicacity the evolution of law and jurisprudence from the Middle Ages to Modern Age and who will also know relevant data, such as historical figures, events and chronology, will be excellently graded (final mark between 27 and 30 hons.). Students who will prove sufficient knowledge of the topics dealt with and of just more important facts will get decent marks (between 22 and 26). Rote learning will lead to pass the exam (final mark between 18 and 21) only if learners show minimum knowledge of key subjects. Students showing serious gaps in their information, or unable to capture the historical and juridical sense of the topics dealt with, will fail the exam.

 

Teaching tools

Teaching material will be available on Virtuale. Students are strongly advised to subscribe to the mailing list
ugo.bruschi.Storia_del_Diritto_Medievale_e_Moderno_2021-22
through www.dsa.unibo.it. The mailing list will be used in order to circulate useful information, such as urgent notices about classes. Students are asked to refrain from replying to the messages sent through the mailing list, as replies sometimes get lost. Instead, they should write directly to Dr Bruschi (ugo.bruschi@unibo.it).

Students with learning disabilities (DSA) are more than welcome to contact Dr Bruschi in order to work out the best way of studying and/or taking the exam.

Office hours

See the website of Ugo Bruschi