88045 - Comparative Legal Systems

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)

Learning outcomes

The objective of the course is to provide students with the following basic knowledge of the comparative method in order to achieve both practical and theoretic purposes; the knowledge of the different systems of sources, of the organization of various forms of State and Government and of the diverse Constitutional Courts. According to the objective of the course, the student will in particular learn the regulation of the institutional structures, with special attention to the sources of law, to the evolution of the forms of State and Government and to the protection provided by the different Constitutional Courts. Furthermore the student will be able to apply the above-mentioned knowledge to European, international and institutional studies.

Course contents

1900: The Century of Comparative Law

Comparative Law as a Science and the 5 Trento Theses

Comparative Methodology 

Study of Foreign Law

Different Levels of Comparison (Macro and Micro-Comparison)

Case Selection and Models

The Targets of Comparative Law

Legal Families

Form of State and Form of Government

Criteria for the Classification ofthe  Forms of Government

The Parliamentary Form of Government

The Presidential Form of Government

The Semi-presidential Form of Government

Electoral Formulas: Majority and Proportional

Territorial Distribution of Powers: Federalism; Devolution; Regionalism and State of Autonomies

The Concept of Constitutional Adjudication

Models of Judicial Adjudication

Individual Complaints before Constitutional Courts

Functions, Composition and Structure of Constitutional Courts

Supranational/International Adjudication

Readings/Bibliography

M. Bogdan, Concise Introduction to Comparative Law, 2013 (Chapter 2 “The uses of comparative law”, pp. 15-26; and Chapter 3, “Some problems connected with the study of foreign law”, pp. 29-41)

M. Bussani, U. Mattei (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Law, Cambridge, CUP, 2012 (“The Jewish legal tradition”, pp. 278-294 and “The Islamic legal tradition”, pp. 295-312)

R. David, J.E.C. Brierley, Major Legal Systems in the World Today: An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Law, Third edition, Stevens, 1985 (Introduction)

V. Ferreres Comella, The Constitution of Spain: a Contextual Analysis, Oxford, Hart, 2013 (Chapter 8 “The constitutional role of courts”, pp. 201-234)

G. Frankenberg, “Critical Comparisons: Re-thinking Comparative Law”, in Harvard international law journal, Vol. 26, 1985, p. 411-455 (available on line)

H.P. Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World, 2014 (Chapter 7, “A Common Law Tradition”, pp. 236-283)

R. Hirschl, Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law, 2014 (Chap. 2 “How Universal is Comparative Constitutional Law”; Chapter 6, “Case Selection and Research Design in Comparative Constitutional Law”)

S. Ragone, “The Inter-American System of Human Rights: Essential Features”, in Transformative Constitutionalism in Latin America: the Emergence of a new Ius Commune, Oxford, OUP, 2017, pp. 279 – 300.

M. Rosenfeld, “Constitutional Adjudication in Europe and the United States: Paradoxes and Contrasts”, in International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2004, pp. 633-668 (available on line)

Basic materials will be available in S. Bagni, M. Nicolini, G. Pavani, F. Rosa (eds.), Materiali essenziali per un corso di Diritto costituzionale comparato, Filodiritto Editore, Bologna, 2016

Additional texts, articles, cases and materials will be provided and/or recommended during the course.

Teaching methods

The course will be based on both lectures concerning comparative matters and more interactive methods. In addition to the recommended texts, also judgments by different supreme or constitutional courts and legislation or amendments will be used as case studies, as well as academic articles and newspapers, where appropriate.

Students are expected to engage in the discussions in class, dealing with the developments of constitutional and public law. They are supposed to actively participate in the sessions and are encouraged to pursue independent research activity.

The syllabus will be addressed entirely during the course. Traditional lectures will be often combined with PPT presentations and the consultation of legal texts. Specific readings and topics will be discussed with the students in the classroom.

Assessment methods

FULL-TIME STUDENTS: 3 partial written exams during the course; 1 final oral exam on the last part of the syllabus.

For full time students who fail or do not take 1 of the 3 partial exams, the final oral exam will concern both the final part of the syllabus and the one of the failed/not taken one.

For full time students who fail or do not take 2 or 3 partial exams, the final exam is the same as the one for non full time students.

 

NON FULL-TIME STUDENTS: 1 final written and 1 oral exam on the entire syllabus.

 

Teaching tools

Slides, case law, legal texts, scholarship.

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ragone