The course aims to provide the student with adequate knowledge of the constitutional organization of European supranational law, understood not only as the EU-ECHR "constitutional law" but also with reference to the common constitutional traditions and to the circulation of different juridic models and legal tools. This objective is closely associated with the target of the degree course, which aim at a “solid knowledge of the elements of the national and European legal culture".
The course describes the fundamental features of European constitutional law, focusing mainly on the following issues: 1) the European supranational legal system (as well as the EU's hybrid nature); 2) its institutional organization; 3) its system of sources and therefore also the relationships between the EU legal sources and national legal sources. The course also aims to highlight the process of mutual contamination between the supranational legal level and the levels of national systems that is fed by the dialogue between the courts, by the common constitutional traditions, by the circulation of legal models due to the diffusion of the comparative method in doctrinal and judicial arguments.
For attending students:
The political origin of the communities; the peculiarities of the European legal system with respect to the federal state model and the confederation model; the European institutional structure seen as a form of government, in comparison with the state models of form of government; the democratic deficit and its various implications; the multilevel framework of sources and the limitations of national sovereignty; the relations between the ECHR-EU-national states and the dialogue between the courts. Brexit and the conflict between supremacy of EU law and parliamentary sovereignty. (the teaching material, as already specified, will be provided during the lessons)
For non-attending students:
the European institutional system; functions of the European institutions; the democratic deficit of the European institutions; the impact of the sources of European law in constitutional national laws; the EU sources; the relationships between supranational sources and national sources; the protection of rights in the European system; the Nice Charter; the dignity and other principles of the Charter; the ECHR; accession to the EU and the ECHR; historical outlines of European constitutional law; constitutional implications of the "fiscal compact"; Brexit. (see the suggested book)
Non-attending students: F. Politi, Diritto costituzionale europeo, Giappichelli, Torino, 2018, p. 199.
Attending students:
online articles and papers provided in class
Lectures and methods inspired by the legal clinics. The second part provides for the direct involvement of students, as individuals or in small groups (depending on the number of students attending) who will carry out short research activities on specific cases or aspects related to the topics addressed in the first part of the lessons. The results of these individual micro-projects will be discussed together.
The exam is aimed at ascertaining the knowledge of the topics covered in the program. It can be partially different for attending students, who, in the second part of the lessons, have the opportunity to develop more specific research topics agreed with the teacher and that they will themselves be examined, as an alternative to the standard examination program for non-attending students.
For attending students, an optional on-going test is therefore planned in order to ascertain the level of learning of the general part, addressed in the first part of the course and which will make it possible to focus the examination in the appeal on specific topics addressed by each student in a group or individually during the second part of the lessons. The in itinere test will consist of a written test with closed questions and open questions on the general part and will allow the student to be awarded up to a maximum of 15 points out of 30. The exam will be held orally.
for non-attending students and for attending students who do not take the on-going test, the entire program will be the subject (see the study text indicated); for attending students it will instead deal with the specific themes and cases, always different, faced by each in the second part of the lessons (in this case the oral exam will have a weight of 15 points, and also the possible "Lode")