6065 - INTRODUCTION TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM II
BIEM
Course taught in English
• Sources of law: Constitutions, Constitutional statutes, ordinary statutes, law decrees, legislative decrees and delegated legislation. Constitutional amendment.
• Forms of State and forms of government. Electoral laws.
• Federalism, Regionalism and Devolution in a comparative context. Functional and structural asymmetry with particular reference to special and ordinary regions in Italy, the regional system adopted in Spain and the devolution process in the United Kingdom.
• 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 ECJ and domestic courts. The relationship between the European Union and sub-national entities. Towards a European Constitution.
• Constitutional and Supreme Courts: composition, role and functions. The fundamental aspects of American and European models of constitutional review. Classification of Court judgments and analysis of decision-making techniques.
• Political, economic and civil rights and related safeguards in a comparative context.
Detailed Description of Assessment Methods
• Those attending lectures will sit a final written exam at the end of the course semester. The written exam consists of 30 multiple choice questions and 3 short essays.
• Those who do not attend lectures or fail the written exam have to take a general oral exam.
• 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.
1. General Part
• J.O. Frosini, L. Pegoraro, The Italian Constitution. Text and Notes, 2nd edition, CLUEB, Bologna, 2007.
• Excerpts from American and European public law textbooks and journals as indicated at the beginning of the course.
2. Special Part
• G. Pasquino, The Powers of Heads of Government, CLUEB, Bologna, 2006 (including the essay by J.O. Frosini, The Prime ministerial executive and the Israeli feint in a comparative context).