Learning outcomes

The course examines the sources of law in Middle and Modern Ages, in the widest area of political and institutional european history. The course follows the gradual formation, ripening and decline of the medieval law experience, progressively replaced by the modern one, well-grounded on the differ-ent values of an alternative law society. The course aims at providing the necessary instruments to understand the essential historical law perspective, through the comparison between techniques of medieval and modern disciplines, so deeply different from roman and contemporary values and prin-ciples. At the end of the course, students should be able to understand the evolution of European Legal History and value the deep influence of legal history on the contemporary legal experience.

Program

PART I - MEDIEVAL LEGAL EXPERIENCE: THEMES AND PROBLEMS
Introductory notions: legal experience; fundamental characteristics of medieval law.
High Middle Ages: Roman-barbarian law; personality of law; territorial customs; feudal law.
Late Middle Ages: commune and statutory law; University and legal science; sources of law and legal systems; concept of 'ius commune'. The transition to the Modern Age: the pragmatic legal system.
PART II - CHARACTERS OF MODERN LEGAL EXPERIENCE
Legal Humanism; national rights; modern state; French experience; André Tiraqueau; 'ordo iuris' in the Early Modern Age; Great European Courts; rationalization of law; law and centralized sovereign power.

TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Lectures on the main topics of the subject matter to be integrated with the materials provided to the students by the teacher and available in the e-learning platform.

CONTENTS OF THE COURSE:
- History of Law between 'continuity' and 'discontinuity';
- The concept of legal experience;
- The problem of interpretation;
- The Justinian’s Compilation and his reception in the Western European Countries;
- 'Lex' and 'consuetudo';
- 'Iurisdictio';
- The Church and the Law;
- Medieval universities;
- ‘Dominium directum' and 'dominium utile’;
- The fundamentals of humanistic education;
- Humanism and Encyclopaedism;
- André Tiraqueau between 'mos italicus' and 'mos gallicus'.

TEXTBOOKS
- Attending students
Notes from lessons and the following textbook:
- P. GROSSI, L’ordine giuridico medievale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995 (or reprints).
- G. ROSSI, Incunaboli della modernità. Scienza giuridica e cultura umanistica in André Tiraqueau (1488-1558), Torino, Giappichelli, 2007 (excluding chapter VIII).

- Non-attending students
Both of the following textbooks:
- P. GROSSI, L’ordine giuridico medievale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995 (or reprints).
- G. ROSSI, Incunaboli della modernità. Scienza giuridica e cultura umanistica in André Tiraqueau (1488-1558), Torino, Giappichelli, 2007.

Examination Methods

Oral exam.
Students who successfully pass the written exam must take the oral exam. Marks are expressed in thirtieths.

Attending students must demonstrate that they have achieved sufficient knowledge on the main topics of the course.
Non-attending students must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the textbooks.
ERASMUS students are requested to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course in order to properly plan their study. The exam is held in Italian.

Teaching materials e documents

•   programma e testi consigliati (ita)   (octet-stream, it, 18 KB, 10/16/18)