98731 - INTERNATIONAL LAW AND SUSTAINABILITY

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students have a broader and deeper legal knowledge of the contemporary legal issues related to market regulation, and the consequences of economic agents' behaviour, both under the international and the national legal framework.

Course contents

The course will address:

• The “what”, “who” and “where” of contemporary international environmental law:
  • What does international environmental law deal with?
  • Who makes international environmental law?
  • Where is international environmental law made and where is it applied?
• The origins and evolution of international environmental law;
• The sources of international environmental law;
• The institutional contexts (MEAs);
• Accountability, liability, responsibility and dispute settlement;
• Interactions with other bodies of international law, with special regard to international human rights law, international economic law and the laws of warfare.

Throughout the course, the law governing the utilization of transboundary water resources will be given special attention in order to show the practical functioning of international environmental law.

Other specific substantive areas of international environmental law will be illustrated, with special regard to the marine environment, biodiversity and the fight against climate change.

Readings/Bibliography

E. Hey, Advanced Introduction to International Environmental Law (Edward Elgar, 2016)

A.M. Tanzi, The Consolidation of International Water Law: A Comparative Analysis of the UN and UNECE Water Conventions (Editoriale scientifica 2017)

Further readings and digital materials (PowerPoint presentations) will be provided by the lecturer during the course and uploaded on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

Lectures delivered by the teacher and interactive seminars with individual assignments.

For Legal Studies students: mandatory attendance at 70%, according to the Legal Studies Course regulation.

Assessment methods

The course is designed for students who attend classes.

The final examination will be composed of a written preliminary part, and then an oral examination.

The two parts of the examination will be entirely carried out on the same day. At the end of the written test, the tests will be corrected and the results published.

Students failing the oral exam will have to repeat the written test.

A. Written test: a multiple–choice test consisting of 15 questions, with a duration of 20 minutes, having the following structure:

Each question will have four (4) possible answers, only one being correct.

- A right answer involves 1pt.

- A wrong or missed answer involves 0 pt.

- The written test is passed by attaining 9 points, that is by answering correctly at least to 9 questions.

Success in the written test is required to take the oral examination.

B. Oral test: consisting of 3 or more questions.

The oral exam will follow the alphabetical order of the admitted students.

The mark will be given considering the following elements:

- knowledge of institutional profiles;

- the ability to analyse international practice and case law;

- the ability to link the different parts of the course programme;

- the ability to elaborate critical arguments;

- the accuracy of verbal exposure and property of language.

The final vote will be the average of the marks obtained in the written and oral tests.

Students who have given a presentation in class (on a topic chosen by the lecturer) will be asked a question about that presentation during the oral exam.

Office hours

See the website of Attila Massimiliano Tanzi