05896 - Judiciary Regulation System

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing knowledge about:

a) the role of the judicial power in States with democratic and liberal tradition

b) the structure of the administration of justice in Italy

c) the organization and the jurisdiction of the Italian judicial offices

d) the anomaly of our Country in comparison to the other democratic States, with particular reference to Europe, notwithstanding the recent judicial and constitutional reforms.

Course contents

The course aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of the functioning of the Italian judicial system, in a comparative and historical perspective. The interest in the functioning of the justice system is not the exclusive prerogative of legal studies but increasingly involves scholars from different disciplines: from economists to statisticians, from political scientists to organizational experts, from mathematicians to computer scientists (one can consider, for example, the potential of artificial intelligence in the justice sector). Thanks to the multidisciplinary approach and the contributions of different disciplines, real improvements in the functioning of the justice system will be possible.

 

The course focuses, in the first part, on the characteristics of judicial institutions and judicial organization, referring to the roles of the main players in the judicial process: the judge, the prosecutor, the police, and the legal profession. The first part provides students with the basic concepts and notions.

 

The second part, on the other hand, analyses more in detail the characteristics of the judicial and prosecutorial offices of the ordinary jurisdiction. With respect to these offices (and their functioning), a number of current topics of particular interest will be identified for further study, with the collaboration of the lecturer. On these topics, students will be encouraged to participate in research and class discussions. Some topics will include, e.g., the Palamara case; the evaluation of magistrates; the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate; justice and artificial intelligence.

 

Course topics will be contextualized in a historical and comparative perspective in order to highlight both the main trends common to major Western democracies and the peculiarities of the Italian judicial system.

Readings/Bibliography

Main text:

G. DI FEDERICO (a cura di), Ordinamento Giudiziario. Uffici giudiziari, CSM e governo della magistratura, BUP, Bologna, 2019.

Additional readings:

- G. DI FEDERICO, Il pubblico ministero: indipendenza, responsabilità, carriera separata da quella del giudice, in G. Di Federico (a cura di), Manuale di Ordinamento Giudiziario, Cedam, Padova, 2004, pp. 415-452; 

- S. ZAN, Il sistema organizzativo della giustizia civile in Italia: caratteristiche e prospettive, in Quaderni di Giustizia e organizzazione, Comiug, n. 1;

- D. CAVALLINI, Analisi della disciplina e prime riflessioni sui profili ordinamentali della Procura europea, in Diritto di Difesa (pp. 1-15), 14 May 2021;

- F. CONTINI, Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of Humans. Law and Technology Interactions in Judicial Proceedings, in https://lthj.qut.edu.au/article/download/1478/910;

Further readings will be indicated at the beginning of the course.

Course programs regarding previous years can be found in the past editions of the Student Web Guide (please, check the relevant year).

Teaching methods

The method will be ex cathedra. A few seminars may be organized on specific issues, with the participation of judges, prosecutors and experts.

Assessment methods

Oral exam. Students attending the course are given the possibility to replace the oral exam with a written paper on a specific topic agreed with the lecturer.

Teaching tools

Slides and further documents may be used during the course to analyse specific subjects. They will be available in the virtual space of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Cavallini