Course 2025-2026 a.y.

30611 - GENERAL JURISPRUDENCE

Department of Law

Course taught in English
28
BGL (9 credits - I sem. - OB  |  IUS/20)
Course Director:
DAMIANO CANALE

Classes: 28 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 28: DAMIANO CANALE


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The expression “General Jurisprudence” usually refers to theoretical study of law, which tries to answer questions such as “What is law?”, “What distinguishes law from other social phenomena?”, “How is it the case that laws provide guidance to human behavior?”, etc. Traditionally, such questions have been approached through the lens of state law as it has developed in Western legal systems. However, this perspective increasingly fails to account for today’s legal realities. Although state law is still central to our lives, its regulatory function is intertwined with that of supra-national and international legal sources. At the same time, the forms of legal regulation and planning appear highly diversified and cannot be reduced to traditional, black letter law. Not to mention that different legal traditions tend to provide different answers to the question “What is law?”, to the point of casting doubt on the very idea that legality can be reduced to a set of universal features common to all polities that ever existed and will exist in the future. The course aims to reconstruct these different constellations of problems in order to provide students with a critical understanding of contemporary law, legal systems, and the forms of legality characterizing them. In addition, students will be introduced to the philosophical foundations of human rights, considered in light of the broader theoretical questions posed by general jurisprudence.

CONTENT SUMMARY

General Part

  • What Is General Jurisprudence All About?

  • Legal Monism and Its Crisis

  • Forms and Aspects of Legal Pluralism

Special Part

  • The Contemporary Idea of Human Rights

  • Justifying Human Rights

  • The Challenge of Relativism to Human Rights

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

General Part:

  • Provide an overview of the main problems in general jurisprudence.

  • Illustrate the foundation and evolution of state law over the past three centuries.

  • Explain the transformation of legal systems in the age of legal pluralism.

Special Part:

  • Identify the core idea of human rights and the challenges related to their foundation.

  • Illustrate the various strategies used to justify human rights, along with their limitations.

  • Address the challenge of relativism in relation to human rights claims.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

General Part:

  • Use theoretical legal vocabulary and assess the different current standpoints on the nature of law.
  • Properly apply the legal concepts characterizing State law and discuss their implications.
  • Argue in favor and against the pluralistic conceptions of legality.

 

Special Part:

  • Compare different theoretical accounts of human rights, and assess their pros and cons.
  • Discuss the challenge posed by moral, social and political relativism to the very idea of human rights, and design a possible answer to it.

Teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Collaborative Works / Assignments

DETAILS


Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
   x x
  • Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
 x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

 

Assessment will be based on four components:

 

  1. Midterm Exam – 40%

  2. Group Assignment and Presentation – 20%

  3. Final Exam – 30%

  4. Participation in Class Discussions – 10%

 

As for the group assignment, attending students will be divided into groups, and each group will be asked to analyze and discuss a case related to the course content. The case discussion will serve to assess students’ ability to apply the knowledge acquired during the course and to adopt a critical perspective on the issues raised by the selected case. The best group projects will be presented and discussed in class.

Both the midterm and final exams will be conducted in written form.

  • The midterm exam will consist of three open-ended questions.

  • The final exam will consist of two open-ended questions.

These written exams will be used to evaluate students’ understanding of key legal concepts, their ability to analyze theoretical issues, and their capacity to address real or hypothetical scenarios.

 


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

The assessment of non-attending students will be based on a final written exam. The exam will consist of five open-ended questions covering both the general and special parts of the course.

The exam is designed to assess the student's:

  • understanding and knowledge of the textbook and teaching materials,

  • mastery of the relevant legal concepts, and

  • ability to analyze the theoretical and practical legal issues addressed in the course.


Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

General Part:

 

Lecture notes and course reader uploaded on the Balckboard Platform.

 

Special Part:

 

Nickel, James. Making Sense of Human Rights, 2nd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2007, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Bix, Brian. 2023. Jurisprudence: Theory and Context, 9th ed. Sweet & Maxwell. Chapters 1-9.

 

Tamanaha, Brian. 2021. Understanding Legal Pluralism, Oxford University Press. Pages 1-18, 55-96, 129-168.

 

Nickel, James. 2007. Making Sense of Human Rights, 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12.

Last change 27/05/2025 16:56