Classes will initially deal with the fundamental notions of law and of legal order, as well as with the general features of the sources of the law, both from a declamatory and from an operative perspective. The course will proceed with the analysis of the main features of some contemporary models, in particular the “civil law” and the “common law” legal families, and of  the historical events that contributed to their creation, in a comparative perspective. Some lectures will be devoted to a general overview of other conceptions of the law and the social order too: the Indian legal system, the Far East (particularly China and Japan), Africa and Madagascar, the Muslim and the Eastern European post-Socialist countries.
The aim and the instruments of comparative law as a science will be explained to the students in the final classes, so as to introduce them to the methodology that will be applied in some of the second and third years courses.

The course explores the institutional dimension of legal and political orders belonging to the Western legal tradition. The first part of the course examines from a theoretical and historical perspective the definitions of constitution and the processes of constitution-making and constitution-amending. The course then analyses the structure of governments by looking at the form of government (parliamentary government, presidentialism, semi-presidentialism) and the territorial allocation of powers (federalism and regionalism). The last part of the course covers the organization of the judiciary models of organization and of judicial reviews of legislation.  

The course will provide a philosophical inquiry into different theoretical issues arising in connection with law, by discussing the nature of law and legal systems, examining the philosophical foundations of law, the relation between law and morality, and the major issues in argumentation theory as identified by the typical legal philosophical method. The course will provide students with the basic tools for critical thinking, by reflecting on the nature of truth in argumentative contexts, and by teaching the difference between valid and invalid – and sound and unsound – arguments.

The course deals with the history of Roman private law starting from the Twelve Tables (V century B.C.) until the Justinian’s Age (6 century A.D.). Roman private law provides students with an understanding of the foundations of the systems of private law in Europe. The study of Roman private law provides as well an opportunity to achieve a concrete knowledge of the principles which made up the legal systems of the Western legal tradition and beyond.

The course aims at providing the students with a theoretical and practical understanding of the functioning of the legal framework and the institutions of EU law. Students will be trained to assess the relevance of legal arguments with reference to a number of case studies drawn from the case law European judicial institutions. The course will focus on the institutional framework of the EU, the law-making process and sources of law, judicial protection and the relationship with the national legal systems. Finally, the course will briefly describe the role of the EU in the international legal context.

The course aims at introducing students to the fundamental concepts of private law as established in the western legal tradition. Focusing on the areas which are mostly influenced by the E.U. law, the course will provide an introduction to the rules and principles governing private relations within markets and society.

The course aims to provide students with a general knowledge of legal informatics and with some basic computer skills that are particularly necessary for the consultation of legal databases.

The course offers students the opportunity to examine Western egal tradition in a broad perspective of comparative legal history, together with the opportunity to understand the long process of development that has led to the legal issues of our time. The study of law in a historical and comparative perspective provides a solid background both for the practice and scholarship of all fields of law.

The course will introduce students to the basic microeconomic principles underlying the analysis of the market economy. The course will show students how different legal settings and institutions determine the working of the market as a coordination mechanism for the allocation of resources.

The course aims to grant students a basic understanding of how the law of the international community works, and provide them with an in-depth knowledge of the most important rules and principles governing the international behaviour of States.

The course analyzes the field of private law within Western legal families through the use of the comparative method. It will analyze both national legal systems (civil law and common law) and supranational law, in particular EU law, as well as some relevant cases of soft law instruments. It will focus on a selection of topics concerning property, torts, and contract law, in order to highlight the relationship among legal formants (statutory, judicial, doctrinal) and between the law in the books and the law in action. This will allow the evaluation of the degree of convergence or divergence among the various legal systems.

The criminal law course will be organized in three parts, in order to provide in-depth knowledge of:  1. The constitutional principles and the basic concepts of criminal law, the structure of the main institutions and criminal categories, punishability and different kinds of penalties from a comparative perspective; 2. The developments occurred in European criminal law both in the legislation and in the case-law as well as their influence on our criminal law and criminal justice system; 3. The fundamental principles of international criminal law.

The course explores the structure and the techniques of protection of fundamental rights in Europe with an approach combining theoretical insights and empirical analysis. It opens with an overview on the nature and the structure of fundamental rights, and the key issues emerging in their protection. It then goes to the techniques of judicial protection and constitutional interpretation (categorization, proportionality). In the last part, the course situates the protection of fundamental rights in the context of the European Union and the European Convention of Human Rights addressing a range of challenges concerning the relationship between fundamental rights and market regulation, the margin of appreciation doctrine and the interactions between constitutional, supranational and international courts.

The course firstly aims at providing students with a general knowledge of the sources of labour law (constitutional provisions, statute laws, collective agreements, and employment contracts). Moreover, the course is intended to analyse and discuss the most important notions and concepts of European Union and international labour law, paying particular attention to some standards which are considered as fundamental by both these legal system, such as the fight against discrimination at the workplace, the attempt to eradicate child labour and to protect young workers, and the recognition of social protection.

The course provides an overview on European and international company law. After a general introduction to European law and company law in a comparative perspective, the course investigates the following topics: the freedom to establish of companies in the EU, the harmonisation programme of the European company law, and the European business organizations.

The course aims at introducing the fundamental rules and principles related to public administration and its relationship with private parties. The principles of administrative action will be examined, in the light of the distinction between discretionary and non-discretionary power. Moreover, the practical implementation of the general principles will be analyzed, with particular reference to the different steps of administrative procedures and to the basic rules about judicial review, from a supra-national (European and global) and comparative view. In this perspective, the problem of the possible opportunity of codification of EU administrative procedure will be posed.

While the characteristics of civil disputes are similar in any developed legal system, civil litigation presents significant differences worldwide, especially when comparing common and civil law traditions or, better said, the US-American system on the one hand, and all the other legal systems on the other. In the current legal framework, the course Civil Litigation aims to offer essential expertise on how to approach and solve cross-border civil litigation in the world-wide judicial area.

The aim of this course is to encourage students to acquaint themselves with the fundamental features of criminal proceedings, and the differences and similarities among several European systems of criminal procedure (common law and civil law systems). Particular attention will also be paid to trans-national proceedings and international cooperation in criminal matters, from the EU perspective.

Written dissertation

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge of the main legal instruments enabling businesses and consumers to engage in economic transactions in the global markets. Legal issues concerning negotiation, and execution and enforcement of contracts will be addressed from an EU and an international perspective in the areas of business-to-business and business-to-consumer relations, having regard for both conventional and digital schemes of trading.

The aim of the course is to provide a critical understanding of the sources of international private law, the problems posed by their coordination, the principles underlying the interpretation, and the determination of the applicable rules to legal problems that hold connections to more than one State. The course also aims to provide a thorough and a practical knowledge of the main legal instruments in this field at international, European and national level.

The course provides an introduction to the doctrines, public policies, and economic theories that inform competition/antitrust law in the European Union and the United States.

The course is intended to provide students with an understanding of fundamental economic and financial concepts and their relationship with the law and regulation. Having set out the basic economic and operational features of global financial markets (capital, banking and shadow banking markets), the course will deepen both the goals of financial regulation (namely, efficiency, competition, stability and investors’ protection), and the regulatory strategies to pursue those goals, especially focusing on the contents of EU regulation.

By the end of the course, students will have achieved the following knowledge and skills: to use a wide range of databases, online dictionaries and legal resources, and to be familiar with linguistic corpora; to debate on a familiar legal subject; to make clear presentations, developed in a systematic way; to sustain an animated discussion; to identify supporting arguments and diversified points of view; to present and respond convincingly to complex argumentative structures; to use legal language with confidence and in an accurate way by choosing the appropriate register according to the circumstances; to understand audio extracts on legal subjects, such as interviews, conferences and debates, adapted to the B2b / C1 level, as well as to process the information received through the techniques acquired during the course; to understand a variety of legal texts adapted to the B2b / C1 level, such as journalistic, academic or regulatory texts, as well as the ability to read norms and regulations by applying analytical reading strategies; to accurately articulate motivational letters, legal advice, requests, by using at the same time the appropriate layout.

The courses for the second foreign language (level B1) aim to provide students with the following knowledge and skills: 1) oral comprehension: can understand the gist of a clear speech in standard language; can follow a lesson on a field of interest as long as the explanation is clear and well structured; can understand simple technical information for the use of everyday devices; can understand the main points delivered on television, radio news or recorded audio material, provided they are delivered in standard language. 2) Reading: can read straightforward texts on a personal field of interest; can scroll through lengthy texts in search for specific information and find information to carry out specific tasks; can understand instructions for the use of devices, provided they are written in a straightforward way. 3) Speaking: can produce a narration and a clear and simple description; can summarise the plot of a book or a movie by describing personal impressions; can develop an argument with sufficient clarity or make a brief exposition prepared previously. 4) Writing: can write linear and cohesive texts such as descriptions, reports of experiences or stories, expressing also feelings and impressions; can write essays or short and simple reports on topics of personal interest; can summarise or report information in writing with good security.

In Italy or abroad.