00222 - Constitutional Law

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the analysis of the Italian Constitution. The understanding of the constitutional text and its implications involves the studying of: basic notions of the general theory of law, fundamental constitutional principles, sources of law, human rights, constitutional powers, individual rights in the judicial process, local and regional governments, relations between the Italian law system and the European/International legal systems.

Course contents

1. Legal systems and constitutional law. - 2. The State. - 3. The State and the other legal systems. Constitutional law and International law. - 4. Constitutional law and the EU Law. - 5. Sources of law. - 5.1 Theoretical aspects. - 5.2 Sources' rules of production and enactment. - 5.3 The legal source system. - 5.4 The normative acts. - 5.5 The Constitution. - 5.6 Legislative statutes. - 5.7 European sources. - 5.8 Delegated legislation. - 5.9 The regional legal sources. - 5.10 Executive acts. - 5.11 The normative facts. - 6. Fundamental rights. - 7. The organization of political powers. - 8. Ballots, referenda and other forms of direct democracy. - 9. The Parliament. - 9.1 The origins of the first parliaments. - 9.2 The bicameral governments. - 9.3 Organizations and procedures. 9.4 The functions. - 9.5 The power of dissolution. - 10. The Head of the State. - 11. The Government . - 12. The regional and local government. - 13. The public administration. - 14. The individual rights and the judicial process. - 15. The judicial review. - 16. The Italian legal system and its evolution.

Readings/Bibliography

For students who are regularly attending classes, the exam is based on the following textbook:


1) A. Barbera, C. Fusaro, C. Caruso, Corso di diritto costituzionale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2024 and the case law analyzed in class.

 

For students who are not attending classes, the exam material should be integrated with three chapters taken, at the student's choice, from: A. Morrone, Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Padova, Cedam,

Students who are required to integrate up to 3 credits should prepare on the following texts:

1) Fifteen cases (three paragraphs for each chapter) taken, at the student's choice, from A. Morrone (ed.), Il diritto costituzionale nella giurisprudenza, Padua, Cedam, 2024;

2) The chapters "Constitution," "Separation of Powers," "Security," and "Constitutional Justice" taken from: C. Caruso, C. Valentini (eds.), Grammatica del costituzionalismo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021.

Students who need to integrate  from to 4 to 6 credits must take the exam on:

A. Morrone, Fonti normative, Bologna, il Mulino, 2022.

Teaching methods

Class Timetable

Classes will be held (in-person) in Fall Semester, according to the schedule published here:

https://corsi.unibo.it/magistralecu/Giurisprudenza-Ravenna/orario-lezioni

Constitutional Law course will participate in the experimental teaching promoted by the University of Bologna. One lesson per week will be held exclusively online via Teams platform. The lecture will be devoted to tests and simulations conducted through the direct participation of students. In particular, together with the teacher, students will be asked to practice multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The latter will be of two types: one of a notionistic nature and the other focusing on a practical case related to a part of the program explored in class. The online lecture aims at preparing students for the written part of the exam (see later). The simulations will be self-checked by the students during the lecture, with simultaneous frontal explanation by the teacher.

In addition, to promote interactivity and class participation, in-person gaming tests will be organized via kahoot platform. Students will be divided into teams, called to compete against each other on multiple choice questions. Students in the winning team will be entitled to a plus for the final exam.

 

Assessment methods

Final Exam

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

The final exam consists of a written part and a subsequent oral part with the teacher and his teaching assistants.

The written part consists of answering 18 multiple-choice questions, a notional open-ended question, and an open-ended question on a practical case (the student will have to propose a legal solution to the case presented).
The outcome of this test is preparatory to the oral test (insufficient students are not admitted to the oral test). If successful, the student is admitted to the oral test. The grade obtained at the written test, expressed in thirtieths, is indicative and not binding with respect to the final grade, to be assigned at the outcome of the oral test.

The written exam, lasting one hour and thirty minutes, will be held on the day set for each examination call, starting at 10 a.m. Only the Constitution may be used during the written test, provided it is not commented or annotated from doctrine and/or case law.

The oral test will be held immediately after the written test and will consist of an interview with the lecturer and his assistants on the topics that were not covered in the written test. The first part of the interview will take place in front of a committee composed of teaching assistants; the second part will take place with the lecturer. The evaluation will take into account knowledge of institutional profiles, the ability to analyze doctrinal and jurisprudential orientations, make connections between the various parts of the program and develop critical arguments, as well as clarity of exposition.
The exam grade takes into account the overall performance of each candidate.
For attending students only, who have taken part in the didactic experiment, a partial test aimed at verifying the learning of the first half of the program is planned. The partial will consist of a written test (18 multiple-choice questions, one answer to a notional question, one answer to a question on a practical case) and will take place in December, at the end of classes. Successful completion of the test will allow exemption from testing knowledge of this part of the syllabus in the next appeal and will give the student direct access to the oral test during the winter session. The oral test will cover only the remaining part of the program. The grade obtained in the written exoneration is a guideline but not binding criterion for the final evaluation.

The assignment of the grade in the written test will follow these criteria:
18 multiple-choice questions: max 18;
1 open-ended notional question: max 8;
1 open-ended question on a practical case: max 4.
Grading in the oral examination will follow the following criteria:
- sufficient or little more than sufficient preparation on the topics covered, poor critical ability, difficulty in using technical-legal language → 18-21; - fair or fairly good preparation on the topics covered, fair critical ability, good use of technical-legal language → 22-25; - good or more than good preparation on the topics covered, good critical ability, mastery of technical-legal language → 26-29; - substantially comprehensive preparation on the topics covered, excellent critical ability, full mastery of technical-legal language → 30-30L.

Final Thesis

The thesis topic is given after a talk with the Professor. The time and date for the assignment of the thesis will be established by the Professors at the beginning of the course. The editing modalities will be fixed in accordance with the Professors. The final thesis will be delivered to the Professor one month before the delivery to the administration office.


Note for Socrates/Erasmus students

Incoming students - Socrates/Erasmus students are required to study only the textbook A. Barbera, C. Fusaro, C. Caruso, Corso di diritto costituzionale, Bologna, il Mulino, 2024. The exam will consist of an oral examination.

Teaching tools

Case Law

Decisions of Corte costituzionale may be found on the official website of the Corte costituzionale (www.cortecostituzionale.it ) and on the website Consulta on-line (www.giurcost.it [https://www.unibo.it/en/teaching/course-unit-catalogue/course-unit/2022/www.giurcost.it] ).

Legislation

Legislation may be consulted at the webpage www.normattiva.it [http://www.normattiva.it.%20/] . 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, 2021;
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, 2022;
4) P. Costanzo (ed.), Testi normativi per lo studio del diritto costituzionale italiano ed europeo, vol. I, Profili organizzativi, and vol. II, Situazioni soggettive, Torino, Giappichelli, 2019;
5) A. Mattioni (ed.), Codice costituzionale, Piacenza, La Tribuna, 2022.
6) L. Mezzetti (ed.), Codice di diritto pubblico, Torino, Giappichelli, 2022.

For an updated commentary on the Italian Constitution, see F. Clementi, L. Cuocolo, F. Rosa, G.E. Vigevani (ed.), La Costituzione italiana. Commento articolo per articolo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021, vol. I and II.

For the comparative public law and EU law sections, students may refer to: A. Morrone (ed.), Costituzioni e diritto europeo, Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, 2014; G. Cerrina Feroni, A. Torre, T.E. Frosini (ed.), Codice delle costituzioni, Torino, Giappichelli, 2009, volume I; E. Palici di Suni Prat, F. Cassella, M. Comba (ed.), Le costituzioni dei paesi dell'Unione Europea, Padova, Cedam, 2001; P. Biscaretti di Ruffia (ed.), Le costituzioni di dieci stati di democrazia stabilizzata, Milano, Giuffrè, 1994, volume I; Id., Le costituzioni di sette stati di recente ristrutturazione, Milano, Giuffrè, 1996, volume II.

Office hours

See the website of Corrado Caruso