Insegnamento a.a. 2018-2019

The course offers an overview of the main constitutional developments of the western world, and it covers the following topics:

1. General Introduction: sources of law, constitutions, constitutional amendments constitutional statutes, ordinary statutes, law decrees, legislative decrees and delegated legislation, bye-laws and regulations.
2. Forms of State and Forms of Government: Forms of State and Transitions to Democracy. Forms of Government. Electoral laws. Federalism, Regionalism and Devolution in a comparative context.
3. Constitutional Justice: composition, role and functions of Constitutional and Supreme Courts. The fundamental aspects of American and European models of constitutional review. Classification of Court judgments and analysis of decision-making techniques.
4. The legal system of the European Union: system of legal sources and the relationship between European law and domestic legislation; the institutional structure; the evolution of the case law of the CJEU and domestic courts.
5. Individual rights: Political, economic and civil rights and related safeguards in a comparative context.
6. Finally, a class-specific special part is indicated to students at the beginning of the course by the class instructor.

• Identify the main elements characterizing constitutional assets throughout Europe and North America.
• Explain the approach of different legal systems to individual rights and constitutional justice.
• Discuss the impact of major historical and philosophical events, such as the French Revolution, on the development of the constitutional structure of States.

• Explain the aims of combining a diachronic and synchronic approach to legal knowledge.
• Apply basic comparative methods to their understanding of public law.
• Develop skills in legal reasoning.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)

• We often have distinguished public law scholars hosted at Bocconi and therefore we take this opportunity for them to give talks to our class on specific topics.
• Case studies in the field of public law means examining judgments handed down by Constitutional and Supreme Courts.

The common assessment method for all classes is:

• An end-of-term written exam consisting of 20 multiple choice questions which counts for 10 points

1. short essay which counts for 10 points
2. flash questions (i.e. definition in 4-5 sentences of a legal institute) which count for 5 points each.

The end-of-term exam format is the same for attending and non-attending students, but the content is different (see section 6, Teaching Materials). Other assessment methods for attending students are class-specific and explained in detail at the beginning of the semester. As a general rule, attending students are expected to ensure regular class attendance and to actively participate in class discussions and teamwork. Please note that there is only one written final exam every academic year at the end of the course semester; students have to sit oral exams in all other sessions. Students from previous academic years can only sit the written or oral exam as non- attending students.

The common assessment method for all classes is an end-of-term written exam consisting of 40 multiple choice questions and 1 short essay.

• The end-of-term exam format is the same for attending and non-attending students, but the content is different (see section 6, Teaching Materials). Other assessment methods for attending students are class-specific and explained in detail at the beginning of the semester. As a general rule, attending students are expected to ensure regular class attendance and to actively participate in class discussions and teamwork.
  • Please note that there is only one written final exam every academic year at the end of the course semester; students have to sit oral exams in all other sessions. Students from previous academic years can only sit the written or oral exam as non- attending students.

• A workbook with articles, cases and other materials is uploaded on the Bboard platform at the beginning of the course.
• Class notes.

• The textbook for non- attending students is the following: G.F. FERRARI (eds.), Introduction to Italian Public Law, Milano, Giuffrè, 2008.