Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

Module I of the course unit provides a basic understanding of the foundations of constitutional law in national, comparative, supranational and international perspective. The course unit starts with the presentation of the concept of constitution in the Western legal, political and philosophical tradition. In doing so, it addresses its main features, like division of powers, forms of government, federalism, fundamental rights, electoral systems, and constitutional adjudication. In a second step it expands the analysis to non-Western constitutional patterns, such as Islamic constitutions and one-party constitutions. Thereby, it explores particularities, main elements and conflicts that might arise in constitutional law from a comparative perspective. Finally, it focuses on the most advanced frontier of constitutional law, namely on the development of constitutionalism beyond the borders of the nation state. In particular, it concentrates on the question as to whether the establishment of new continental or even global forms of legal and institutional integration is destined to change the traditional concept of constitution. 

Module II of the course unit addresses the concept of legal (and constitutional) principle and its connections with the use of reasonableness as a legal standard. In this perspective, it studies the role played by constitutional principles and reasonableness as a constraint for the legislature and administration (reasonableness of legal sources), both in general and taking into special account its main developments in different legal traditions. It also considers the role played by principles and legal reasonableness as constraint for the judiciary (legal reasoning), once again both in general terms and focusing on some main developments in different contexts. In the last part, it focuses on the role played by principles and legal reasonableness in connection to some (relatively) recent topics in the legal debate, especially the issue of legal subjectivity. 

After attending this course unit, the students are expected: 

• to have a good knowledge of the main contents of the course unit; 
• to have developed a keen awareness of the existence of different constitutional traditions and of their most specific characteristics; 
• to have a sufficient understanding of the most advanced frontiers of constitutionalism, also within the post-national constellation; 
• to be able to compare different constitutional texts, traditions and systems, taking into special account how they develop specific issues, concepts, principles and standards. 

The course unit in “Principles of Constitutional Law” is made up of two distinct Modules, the first taught by Professor Sergio Dellavalle, the second by Professor Riccardo Perona. 

Module I covers the first half of the course unit. It provides a basic understanding of the foundations of constitutional law, in particular with reference to its main contents both in Western and in some non-Western legal and historical traditions. It also addresses the question of the constitutional dimension of EU law as well as of cosmopolitan law, thus contouring the most challenging new developments of constitutionalism beyond the borders of the nation state. 

Module II covers the rest of the course unit and provides some deepening and further developments of the general contents examined in the first part, concentrating on the different features of the concept of legal (and constitutional) principle and exploring its connection with the standard of legal reasonableness. 

A final exam will be held to evaluate both Modules. 

Module I 

The contents of the concept of constitution. 

The Western constitutional tradition: autocracy vs. democracy. 

The division of powers as the first means for the limitation and control of public power. 

The main forms of government: parliamentary system, presidential system, and semi-presidential system. 

Federalism (and regionalism) as the second means for the limitation and control of public power. 

The taxonomy of fundamental rights: civil, political and social rights; individual and collective rights; first, second and third generation rights. The rights of non-human beings. 

Electoral systems: plurality system; majoritarian system; proportional system. 

The nation as the community of citizens vs. the nation as expression of ethnicity. 

Systems of constitutional adjudication; competences of constitutional courts. 

Non-Western constitutional traditions: East-Asian constitutions; Islamic Constitutions; One-Party Constitutions. 

Postnational constitutionalism: supranational organizations; global governance; cosmopolitan constitutionalism; global economic constitutions. 

Module II 

1) The concept of legal principle: origins and discussions in the legal and constitutional theory. Legal principles and constitutional principles. 

Constitutional principles and the concept of the Rule of Law in the Western tradition and modern constitutionalism: reasonableness as a legal standard. 

2) Constitutional principles as constraints for the legislature and administration: the reasonableness of the normative order. General features and related principles. 

Basic developments of the reasonableness control in the common law and civil law traditions. 

Normative pluralism and globalization. 

3) Constitutional principles as constraints for the judiciary: legal reasoning, legal interpretation and argumentation. 

Characteristics of legal reasoning in the civil law and common law traditions. 

Legal reasoning and new technologies. 

4) Constitutional principles and the protection of fundamental rights: rationality and legal subjectivity. 

Fundamental rights and human rights. Generations of rights. 

Rights and standing of non-human beings. 

Along with more traditional lectures, the course encourages the interaction among the students as well as between the students and the lecturers. 

A written will be held to evaluate both modules. 

The exam will be held using an online form (created with Google Forms). 

On the officially scheduled day (“Appello”), students will be required to attend the exam in presence at the University with their personal computer. The link to access the online form will be shared at the beginning of the session and the students will have one hour to submit their answers. 

Students will be able to access the form only by using their institutional UniTo email account (@edu.unito.it). The form will contain ten (10) true-false/multiple-choice questions, as well as two (2) essay questions, concerning all the contents and materials of Module I and Module II. Each essay question will have a size limit of 400 words. 

After answering the questions, the student will have to click on "submit" ("invia") to complete the exam. Any submission after the deadline will not be considered. Students will be able to submit their answers just one time, so answers should be chosen carefully before submission. 

In addition to the ordinary exam dates, an extraordinary exam session with the same procedure laid down above will be held around mid May. In order to take this extraordinary exam, students have to enroll by logging into the Campusnet website of the course unit and sign up under “Appelli”. 

Module I: 

1. a PDF file, entitled “Dellavalle - Principles of Constitutional Law - Module I”, with the contents of Module I; 

1. a PowerPoint presentation, entitled “Dellavalle - Principles of Constitutional Law - Module I -; Slides”, containing slides with the main contents of Module I that will be used during the lectures; 

1. nine (9) PowerPoint presentations with audio, entitled “Dellavalle - Principles of Constitutional Law - Module I - Part I [to Part IX] - Slides + Audio”, which integrate the slides above mentioned under 2) with the content of the PDF file above mentioned under 1). 

Module II: 

1. a set of nine (9) scientific articles covering the essential issues addressed in the Module; 

1. a set of reading guides designed to help the student focus on the key aspects of the most complex articles; students are also strongly encouraged to attend the lectures, that will provide the conceptual tools necessary to fully understand the articles and their connections. 

 All teaching materials can be downloaded either from Campusnet or from Moodle.