Insegnamento a.a. 2019-2020

General part:

• Law and the state.
• National laws and private international law.
• Rules, principles, and (families of) legal systems.
• Civil law and common law.
• European law.
• Private and public law.
• Sources of law.
• Uniform law: the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
• Soft law and trends of supranational law: Principles of European Contract law (PECL), Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC).

Special part:

• Natural persons and legal entities.
• Contracts.
• Consumer protection.
• Torts and civil liability.
• Property.

• Illustrating the general principles and rules applicable to the most important branches of private law.
• Identifying the main differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions in the field of contract, tort and property.
• Describing the relevant issues related to international contracts.
• Explaining the impact that legal rules can produce in the market and their influence on the behavior of businesses and consumers.

• Using the terminology of private law both in civil law and in common law jurisdictions.
• Assessing legal rules from a social and economic point of view.
• Drawing up a document dealing with legal issues and presenting it orally.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

• Guest speakers intervene during classes to deliver a talk on their own field of expertise.
• Exercises consist in the consultation of printed and/or electronic legal resources.
• Case studies are illustrated and discussed in class.
• Group assignment consists in drawing up a memorandum supported by a PwP presentation.
• Interactive class activities consists in discussing the afore-mentioned memoranda and peer evaluating them.

• Attending students must take two partial exams: partial and end-of-semester. Each of them consists of 27 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions. For each multiple choice question, four possible answers are given, only one of them being the right one. Each right answer is awarded 1/30 point; no penalty for wrong or missing answers is given. Answers to open ended questions will be evaluated up to 2/30 points each. The registered grade is the average between the grades of the two partial exams.
  • The program of each partial exams for attending students is comunicated in class.
  • For students who actively participate in classes, the average may be increased by 1/30 points and, on top of that, up to 2/30 points for group assignments.
  • Students failing to pass either of the two partial exams, have to take a general exam, consisting of 27 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions. For each multiple choice question, four possible answers are given, only one of them being the right one. Each right answer is awarded 1/30 point; no penalty for wrong or missing answers is given. Answers to open ended questions are evaluated up to 2/30 points each.
  • The program of the general exam for attending students is indicated in the section on teaching materials for attending students (see below). Exams are purported to verify that students have achieved a certain knowledge of the general principles and rules applicable to the most important branches of private law, the main differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions in the field of contract, tort and property, the relevant issues related to international contracts, the impact that legal rules can produce in the market and their influence on the behavior of businesses and consumers.
• Group assignments are purported to verify that students have achieved the necessary skills and abilities to use the terminology pertaining to private law both in civil law and in common law jurisdictions, to assess legal rules from a social and economic point of view, to drawi up a document dealing with legal issues and to present it orally.

• Non-attending students must take two partial exams: partial and end-of-semester. Each of them consists of 27 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions. For each multiple choice question, four possible answers are given, only one of them being the right one. Each right answer is awarded 1/30 point; no penalty for wrong or missing answers are given. Answers to open ended questions are evaluated up to 2/30 points each. The registered grade is the average between the grades of the two partial exams.
• The program of the partial exam for non-attending students is the following: Sirena, Introduction to Private Law, 2nd edn, il Mulino, 2020, Chapters 1–8. The program of the end-of-semester partial exam is the following: P. SIRENA, Introduction to Private Law, il Mulino, 2019, Chapters 9–12; G. Iudica-P. Zatti, Language and Rules of Italian Private Law. An introduction, Cedam, last ed., Chapters 5, 9–25. The parts of the text that are printed in a smaller font and indented can be read for sake of information but must not be covered for evaluation purposes.
• Students failing to pass either of the two partial exams have to take a general exam, consisting of 27 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions. For each multiple choice question, four possible answers are given, only one of them being the right one. Each right answer is awarded 1/30 point; no penalty for wrong or missing answers is given. Answers to open ended questions are evaluated up to 2/30 points each.
• The program of the general exam for non-attending students is is indicated in the section on teaching materials for non-attending students (see below).
• Exams are purpoted to verify that students have achieved the knowledge of the general principles and rules applicable to the most important branches of private law, the main differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions in the field of contract, tort and property, the relevant issues related to international contracts, the impact that legal rules can produce in the market and their influence on the behavior of businesses and consumers.

Attending students are responsible for the teaching material discussed in class and available on the Bboard platform, as well as for the following parts of P. Sirena, Introduction to Private Law, 2nd edn, il Mulino, 2020: Ch. 3, Ch. 4 (paras 1–3, 5 and 6), Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7 (paras 1–2.2), Ch. 8, Ch. 12. The parts of the text that are printed in a smaller font and indented can be read for sake of information but must not be covered for evaluation purposes.

Non-attending students are responsible for both the following textbooks:

• P. SIRENA, Introduction to Private Law, 2nd edn, il Mulino, 2020, Ch. 1-12. The parts of the text that are printed in a smaller font and indented can be read for sake of information but must not be covered for evaluation purposes.
• G. IUDICA, P. ZATTI, Language and Rules of Italian Private Law. An introduction, Cedam, last ed.: Ch. 5, 9–25.