The course - which is part of the Jean Monnet Module 'COLTECH' - aims to deepen the knowledge of the constitutional principles and sources of law that today govern new technologies.
ATTENDING STUDENTS
They will be able to take the exam on the notes, and on the materials in Simoncini A: Introduction to Constitutional Regulation of Technology - with Appendix on Cases and Materials, Florence, forthcoming, 2020.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
The textbook Simoncini A: Introduction to Constitutional Regulation of Technology - with Appendix on Cases and Materials, Florence, forthcoming, 2020, is available on Moodle.
Learning Objectives
This programme will equip students with a thorough and crucial understanding of the key constitutional questions and dilemmas concerning the regulation and governance of new technologies. Students will develop a sophisticated sense of how technology interacts with law, but also a sense of how law and technology are operationalised in legal practice.
Students will acquire the listed capacities and knowledge:
To analyze the evolving relationship between law and technology.
To find out how digital advances affect different actors within society and identify the problems facing the jurist.
To examine the multilevel legal system in which Italy is located and the growing role of different regulators in shaping the regulatory response to technological developments.
To anticipate future developments in digital technology and innovation and potential responses both at national and European level.
Prerequisites
Constitutional law (General) and Private law I shall be already taken.
Teaching Methods
The course will be structured into:
face to face lectures;
seminars and conferences;
workshops on moot cases.
Practical in class activity on case-law will concern real cases on law and technology.
This activity will be conducted either through seminars or by innovative teaching methods, such as debate and flipped classroom.
Studens will familiarize with:
legal notions;
jurisprudential conflicts;
constitutional adjudications of European and Italian cases.
Further information
Students willing to attend the course are invited to enroll in the list available on-line throught the Moodle platform during the first week of the course.
For the thesis is necessary to attend: Diritto costituzionale avanzato; informatica giuridica; diritto pubblico avanzato.
Type of Assessment
For all students, attending and non-attending, the exams will be held in oral form. Attending students will be evaluated also considering the active participation during the course and specifically the work done in solving moot cases. Attending students are expected to attend at least 75% of the lectures.
Non attending students. The assessment takes into account the ability to organise knowledge in a discursive way, the ability to reason critically and the quality of exposure, the competence in the use of vocabulary, thei capacity to understand legal texts and case-law.
Indicatively, the oral exam will consist of three questions. The evaluation will be expressed in thirties within this range:
The evaluation will be expressed out of thirty according to the following grading bands:
- 18-23: the student shows sufficient knowledge of the topics and does not make gross errors or has no serious gaps.
- 24-26: in addition to the above requirements, the student shows a good knowledge of the topics, manages to organize a good quality speech, demonstrates an adequate vocabulary and exposes linearly the topics.
- 27-30: in addition to the above requirements, the student responds brilliantly with critical ability; knows how to make links and links between topics; demonstrates that she knows not only the constitutional principles of reference but also makes references to the most relevant case-law cited in the sources analyzed/provided.
Course program
With law often playing catch up to ever-changing technology, the study of how law interacts with science and technology is more complex now than ever before.
The course aims to provide the basic knowledge of constitutional principles applicable to emerging technologies.
The course will be divided into three parts. The first will analyze the main methodological and cultural aspects concerning the relationship between technology and law, as well as the relevant constitutional principles in the field of technology (the substantial aspects of regulation and regulatory subjects).
The second part will cover the analysis of the methods and forms of the regulation of new technologies in the Italian, European and international context and the impact that the latter have on fundamental freedoms. The third part is devoted to the examination of practical cases involving the regulation of technologies and their constitutional implications (e.g. protection of freedoms).
The following topics will be addressed during the course:
framework of the constitutional principles engraved by the use and development of new technologies;
substantial and methodological profiles relating to the regulation of new technologies (at national, European and international level) and their impact on fundamental rights;
practical profiles relating to the regulation of new technologies and aspects related to the protection of fundamental rights affected by the use of the same technologies.