Course 2021-2022 a.y.

The course starts with a historical outlook of the concepts of ‘civil liberties’ and ‘fundamental rights’, to then focus on the mechanisms envisaged for their protection at both the national, the supranational and the international levels. The main topics of the course are:

• Concepts and conceptualizations of rights from an historical and comparative perspective.
• The protection of fundamental rights in the national context, with example from within and outside Europe.
• The protection of fundamental rights in the EU context.
• The interplay between the EU and the ECHR.
• The interplay between the EU, the ECHR and national systems as far as the protection of fundamental rights is concerned.

• Understand fundamental rights and civil liberties in their historical and geographical context.
• Understand how fundamental rights impact the design of a multilevel legal order.
• Identify the mechanisms envisaged by both domestic and European Union law for the protection of fundamental rights.
• Understand the interplay between national and European case law on the protection of fundamental rights.

• Critically assess how rights are protected in the context of the European multilevel legal orders.
• Critically evaluate potential conflicts deriving from the interplay between national and European mechanisms for the protection of rights.
• Combine (national and European) legal materials with a view to build legal arguments concerning the balancing between competing rights and conflicting interests. 

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

The learning experience of this course includes, in addition to face-to-face lectures:

• The discussion of case studies, which are developed throughout the course with a view to deepen the understanding of the topics addressed in the course.
• Group assignments, which are designed to promote students’ ability to build legal arguments in the context of the European multilevel legal system.
• Moreover, students are encouraged to engage in class discussion, to bring and share their personal understanding of the topics.
• The course may also include guest speaker’s talk, aimed at providing students with an insight on specific problems concerning the protection of fundamental rights in Europe.

Students will sit a written exam, which consist of an open question, to be completed in 1 hour.

The open questions will count for 70% of the final grade, and are designed to test how students master the interplay between national and European case law on the protection of fundamental rights as well as to prove their ability to critically assess the protection of rights in the context of the European multilevel legal order.

Attending students will also be asked to present a group-assignment in class. The group presentation will count for the 30% of the final grade.

A further 5% will be awarded for active class participation.    

Students will sit a written exam, which consist of multiple-choice questions and open questions, to be completed in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Multiple choice questions will count for 30% of the final grade of the and are designed to test the understanding of fundamental rights in an historical perspective as well as the ability to identify the mechanisms envisaged by both domestic and European Union law for the protection of fundamental rights.

The open questions will count for 70% of the final grade, and are designed to test how students master the interplay between national and European case law on the protection of fundamental rights as well as to prove their ability to critically assess the protection of rights in the context of the European multilevel legal order.

• T.R.S. ALLAN, The Sovereignty of Law: Freedom, Constitution and Common Law, OUP, 2013, chapter 8.
• G. LETSAS, A Theory of Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, OUP, 2009, chapters 1,2, and 4.
• E. SPAVENTA, EU Fundamental Rights, in Barnard and Peers Eu Law, OUP second edition 2017, chapter 9.
• E. SPAVENTA, A Very Fearful Court? The Protection of Fundamental Rights in the EU after Opinion 2/13, (2015) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 35-56.
• Case-studies discussed in class and uploaded on the Bboard platform.
• Other teaching materials are announced before the start of the course and indicated into the Bboard platform.

• T.R.S. ALLAN, The Sovereignty of Law: Freedom, Constitution and Common Law, OUP, 2013, chapter 8.
• G. LETSAS, A Theory of Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, OUP, 2009, chapters 1,2, and 4.
• E. SPAVENTA, EU Fundamental Rights, in Barnard and Peers Eu Law, OUP second edition 2017, chapter 9.
• E. SPAVENTA, A Very Fearful Court? The Protection of Fundamental Rights in the EU after Opinion 2/13, (2015) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 35-56.
• Other teaching materials are announced before the start of the course and indicated into the Bboard platform