36
History of Mediaeval and Modern Law
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The educational objective of the course is the acquisition of knowledge about the history of Italian Law from the Medieval Age to the present.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, students will be able to present the organisation of legal sources chronologically, from the early Middle Ages to the Republican Constitution; the development of legal science i.e. legal schools, scholars and authors, literary genres and the main legal works; main items and issues of legal culture over time; the interconnections between legal knowledge and other cultural expressions, such as literature and visual arts.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Students must demonstrate their ability in interpreting legal texts by placing them within their historical and social contexts, and in the cultural milieu in which they were developed. This is to be achieved through the mastery of the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for the interpretation of historical and legal sources. They must demonstrate an awareness of the relativity of legal solutions and their transformation over time.
ADDITIONAL EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgment:
Students will be able to understand and critically discuss the results of scholarly studies in the field of history of law and will be able to integrate information from different sources, relating it to acquired knowledge.
Communicative skills:
The student will be able to communicate clearly and comprehensibly the basics of the discipline, be able to extract and synthesize relevant information, be able to communicate effectively and with the correct terminology both orally and in written form, and be able to summarize and disseminate information.
Learning skills:
Students will be able to understand and comment on a scholarly text in history of law and update the acquired skills by following scientific advances in the field.
Course Prerequisites
General knowledge of the main events and processes of medieval, modern and contemporary history,
Teaching Methods
Frontal lectures characterized by strong interactivity will be used during which the active participation of students is required, as well as thematic in-depth studies on items proposed to the students, who in small groups will have to discuss, analyze and report back to the classroom on the results achieved.
Activities will be organized in:
16 hours: frontal lectures
12 hours: active learning
8 hours: exercises
Assessment Methods
The final examination will take place exclusively orally on the basis of the bibliography indicated for attending and non-attending students. However, the formative and summative assessment may involve different and combined methods (written test, individual interview, written work, group presentation, etc.), which will be explained to the students at the beginning of the course and will be jointly agreed according to the teaching requirements of the course, in accordance with the regulations in force.
The examination will be designed to assess
1. the level of knowledge of the course contents (for attending students) and of the reference bibliography (for all);
2. the ability to apply the knowledge acquired to put a legal text in its context;
3. the ability to use technical terminology correctly.
The final evaluation is expressed in 30ths: excellent (30 and lode/ 30) excellent (29-27) good (26-23) sufficient (22-18) insufficient (< 18).
The evaluation will result from the average of the evaluations defined according to the following criteria:
1. consistency of presentation
2. completeness of information
3. correct use of specialist terminology
4. ability to apply analysis procedures.
Language of the examination: Italian, possibly English.
Texts
a text of your choice from the following
A. Padoa Schioppa, Storia del diritto in Europa. Dal medioevo all’eta contemporanea, Bologna, Il Mulino 2007.
AAVV, Tempi del diritto. Età medievale, moderna, contemporanea, Torino (solo se SECONDA o TERZA EDIZIONE)
AAVV, Le danze di Clio e Astrea. Fondamenti storici del diritto europeo, a cura di Aldo Andrea
and a text of your choice from a list to be provided at the beginning of the course.
During the course, the professor will provide slides and transcripts of sources to support the lessons and exam preparation.
There is no distinction between attending and non-attending students.
Contents
Title: Legal Cultures and the History of Law in Italy
This course explores the development of Italian law from the early Middle Ages to the present day. It illustrates the organisation of legal sources chronologically, from the early Middle Ages to the Republican Constitution. It also examines the development of legal science in relation to the main political, social and economic transformations in Italy and internationally. This includes legal schools, scholars and authors, literary genres and the main legal works. The course also explores themes and issues that characterise legal culture over time (e.g. human rights, international law and legality). It also examines the interconnections between legal knowledge and other cultural expressions.
Great importance will be given to the literary dimension of legal texts, with an examination of genres, correlations, and influences on contemporary intellectual production. The intertwining of law and literature will be examined using examples from the Divine Comedy, the Decameron, and other texts from a later period. The relationships between law and the history of art and images will also be highlighted. These insights will demonstrate the international dimension and multifaceted influences of the knowledge developed within Italian legal currents and institutions, as well as its strategic importance for a full understanding of European past and present culture.
Focus will be on:
1. Introduction to the course: Law in historical perspective and its sources
2. The legal science of the medieval schools and their texts
3. Roman-Canon Law and statutory or other particular laws
5. Doctrine and jurisprudence between the 15th and 17th centuries
6. National rights and common law in the states of modern Europe
7. Jusnaturalism
8. The Enlightenment and the Law of Revolutions
9. Codification
Course Language
ITALIAN