Course 2021-2022 a.y.

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

• General Introduction: sources of law, constitutions, constitutional amendments, constitutional statutes, ordinary statutes, law decrees, legislative decrees and delegated legislation, bye-laws and regulations.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Individual rights: Political, economic and civil rights and related safeguards in a comparative context.

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 systems 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 final written, closed book exam is based on the attending program and consists of a mix of closed questions.

This assessment method is aimed at verifying students' substantive knowledge of the main elements of the relevant constitutional systems, as well as the approach of different legal system towards individual rights.

The final written, closed book exam is based on the non-attending program and consists of a mix of closed questions.

This assessment method is aimed at verifying students' substantive knowledge of the main elements of the relevant constitutional systems, as well as the approach of different legal system towards individual rights.

Assigned readings, class notes and slides.

All the chapters of G.F. Ferrari (ed.), Introduction to Italian Public Law, Giuffrè, Milan, 2018 (with the exception of chapters 6, 7, 9 and 12).