03639 - Regional Law

Learning outcomes

The student will acquire a solid knowledge of the founding principles of the Italian Regional law through a deeper understanding of sources of law, the regional form of state and government. On the basis of the given criteria the student will be able to distinguish regional form of state from federal, confederate or unitary experiences, also referring to historical and comparative data.

Course contents

The course will address the study of Italian regional and local authorities, according to the constitutional changes introduced by constitutional statutes n. 1/1999, n. 2/2001, n. 3/2001.

The course of Regional Law Course has a twofold purpose:

1) The federalizing processes, also in light of comparative experience, both in a centripetal and centrifugal sense, up to the extreme hypothesis of secession.

2) the regional legal system analysis, exploring the structure and the functions of the territorial subjects in which the Italian Republic is ordered, in light of the constituent model and the amendments introduced by Constitutional Revision Laws Nos. 1 of 1999, 2 of 2001, 3 of 2001;

3) learning, through the analysis of cases handled by the Constitutional Court, relevant legislation and case law. 

The Program specifically focuses on:

1. General concepts and comparative experiences: centralized state, federal state, regional state, confederation of states.  2. The evolution of Italian regionalism from the constituent model to the "reform" of Title V of Part II of the Constitution. 3. Unity of the Republic and territorial pluralism. Constitutional autonomy of regions, provinces and municipalities. 4. The source of regional laws. Regional statutes. State and regional legislative competences. Legal sources of local governments: local statutes and regulations. 5. The regional form of government: constitutional model and regional variants. 6. Basic regional organs. The President of the region, the Regional Council, the Regional Council, the Council of Autonomies. 7. Allocation and organization of administrative functions. 8. The special regions. Differentiated regionalism. 9. Institutional relations. State, regions and the European Union. State, regions and local authorities. 10. Financial autonomy. 11. State and Regions before the Constitutional Court.

Readings/Bibliography

The exam is based on the following textbook:

R. Bin G. Falcon (a cura di), Diritto regionale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018, pp. 408

Teaching methods

Class Timetable

Classes will take place during the first semester, according to the schedule that will be published subsequently.

This year special attention will be devoted to differentiated regionalism and its controversial implementation.

The course will be highly interactive. Theoretical issues will be confronted with practical cases and historical evolution of the italian constitutional system

Assessment methods

The students learning will be verified through a final exam, testing the formative outcomes of the course.

The final exam consists of an oral exam, focused on the course contents. The first part of the exam will be led by teaching assistants, while the second part by professor.

The final grade will consider the results of each part of the exam.

The assessment will take into account the general knowledge of the main topics of the course, as well as the ability to analyze case law and its theorical implications, the critical approach and and argumentative clarity.

By way of example, the following criteria will be used to assess the final grade (that will be out of 30/30):
- sufficient or barely sufficient knowledge of the programme, limited reasoning ability, some difficulties in using technical and legal language → 18-21/30; - fairly good knowledge of the programme, adequate critical reasoning ability, sound use of technical and legal language → 22-25/30; - comprehensive knowledge of the programme, notable reasoning ability, good command of technical and legal language → 26-29/30; - extensive knowledge of the programme, very good reasoning ability, and ability to fully master technical-legal language → 30-30L/30.

Teaching tools

Case Law

Constitutional Court's decisions may be found on the official website of the Court (www.cortecostituzionale.it) and on the website Consulta on-line (www.giurcost.it). 
Legislation

Legislation may be consulted at the webpage www.normattiva.it [http://www.normattiva.it] .To better prepare for the exam, students may consult a public law code.

For example:

1) M. Bassani, G. Bottino, M. Della Torre, V. Italia, G. Ruggeri, A. Zucchetti (ed.), Leggi fondamentali del diritto pubblico e costituzionale, Milano, Giuffrè, 2016;
2) L. Califano, M. Rubechi (ed.), Guida ragionata alla Costituzione italiana, Rimini, Maggioli, 2019;
3) A. Celotto (ed.), Costituzione annotata della Repubblica italiana, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2015;
4) P. Costanzo (ed.), Testi normativi per lo studio del diritto costituzionale italiano ed europeo, Torino, Giappichelli, 2019;
5) L. Mezzetti, M. Belletti (ed.), Codice costituzionale, Torino, Giappichelli, 2012.

Office hours

See the website of Corrado Caruso

See the website of Francesca Minni