The course is meant to provide the basic conceptual tools needed to understand the fundamental outline of the German legal system, through a consideration of “key concepts” of the German legal language, and a primer of the casuistic method.
1) Notes teken from the lectures;
2) Uwe Wesel, Fast alles, was Recht ist. Jura für Nicht-Juristen, 9. Aufl. München 2014, 3-124 (Verfassungsrecht, Staatsrecht);
3 )A recent or most recent edition of BGB
Learning Objectives
Knowledge: Acquisition of critical knowledge about the “grammar” and structure of the German legal culture and legal system in their fundamental traits.
Ability: ability to comprehend German legal texts and critically grasp their fundamental traits.
Expected results: sensitivity to the theoretical and historical-philosophical component of the concepts of jurisprudence and its related methodology.
Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
Teaching consists in 48 hours of lectures. Particular attention will be paid to treating the key concepts in connection with, on one hand, the historical and philosophical dimension, and, on the other hand, the argumentative and methodological dimension, through an examination and critical analysis of judgments of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the German constitutional Court. Students will be given the relevant materials, in particulars the texts of the judgments treated during the lectures and texts concerning pilot cases with solutions.
Further information
Students of the Italian and German degree course can take the exam. They are required to attend the lectures and to sign.
Type of Assessment
The final oral exam aims to assess the level to which students have acquired a critical knowledge of the essential traits of the German legal culture, whose achievement is the goal of this course. The final exam will consist initially of general questions. The colloquium will them proceed to test the students’ acquired knowledge and their capacity to use them in a critical articulated way.
Course program
The course is meant to provide the conceptual tools needed to understand the “grammar”, i.e. the fundamental lines of the German legal system, through an exemplar consideration of “key concepts” of the German legal language. The course will present the traditional components of the German legal culture and its related legal system, namely, public law, private law, and criminal law, through an exemplar outline from a systematic and historical point of view of such key concepts as: Verfassung/Grundgesetz, Menschenwürde, Grundrechte, praktische Konkordanz/Abwägung, Rechtsstaatsprinzip, Sozialstaatsprinzip, Wehrverfassung, Notstand/Ausnahmezustand (constitutional law); Verwaltung, Verwaltungsverfahren; Amtshaftungsrecht; Entschädigungsrecht (administrative law); Person, Eigentum, subjektives Recht, Vertrag, Schuldverhältnis, Delikt, Ehe, Kindeswohl, Erbschaft (private law); Handlung, Tatbestandsmäßigkeit, Schuld; Gesetzlichkeitsprinzip (Bestimmtheitsgebot, Rückwirkungsverbot, Analogieverbot) (criminal law). Moreover, the course will provide an introductory knowledge of the casuistic method of solving legal problems.