It is suggestable to attend and pass the exam of Roman Law.

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the complexity of a European vision of law. The unit seeks to select some of the main legal phenomena in the history of Western Legal Tradition, providing the students with the information and skills needed to understand the historical roots of civil and common law. The course will try to extend the historical understanding of students as regards other legal systems, and developing in particular a critical overview of European legal traditions. The student will have an adequate knowledge of the main profiles of the European legal experience between the Middle Ages and the contemporary era. The student will be able to: - analyze legal phenomena from a historical-legal point of view; - develop a comparative legal history approach; - be accustomed to concepts useful to understand in a better way current legal trends and changes (global and transnational law, pluralistic legal mind etc.). The student will understand major terms and concepts in order to communicate appropriately her/his ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the field of legal history and legal culture.

The course will be held only in English. For students not enrolled in the IECoLS curriculum, an English level of at least B2 is required.

The course deals with some basic aspects of European legal history. Following the comparative legal history approach, it will present some key-elements: 1) Introduction. Why and how legal history can contribute to the training of the IECOLS student. The concept of historicity. Understanding different legal contexts; 2) Customary Legal Orders; 3) Ius Commune and Roman Law tradition; 4) Canon Law; 5) Common Law: British and American developments; 6) Legal Humanism; 7) Legal Reason; 8) Codification processes

A/ Tamar Herzog, A Short History of European Law. The Last Two and a Half Millennia, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2018, pp. 1-289
Further information / additional materials

The course is taught 100% in English

• Interactive lessons. Students will be provided by powerpoints so that they can follow and interact, giving their opinions about the issue investigated in class.

• The exam will be held in English and in oral form with questions to verify the student’s knowledges about the topics covered during the lessons and in the study texts suggested for the preparation of the exam. The examination will evaluate in particular the following profiles with the weightings of the overall assessment: - content knowledges and understanding = 60% - making judgments and critical thinking = 20% - property of language and communication skills = 20%

English