Course program
The course will focus on the in-depth study of a subject which is crucial for constitutional law: the relationship between the permanence of the constitution and the need for change in the legal system.
This issue will be examined in three parts and from two different perspectives.
In the first part of the course, theoretical issues will be addressed which concern, on the one hand, the textual amendment of the constitution and, on the other, the constitutional changes that translate into tacit constitutional amendments or into ruptures or suspensions of the constitution. In this regard, some of the most well-known theories will be addressed and discussed. They will be analyzed in a broader historical-constitutional context and in the light of some paradigmatic questions.
In the second part of the course, the constitutional relationship between stability and change will be analyzed with reference to fundamental rights. In this regard, both theoretical understandings and the guarantees inscribed in the Italian Constitution will be discussed. Particular attention will therefore be paid to social rights and related guarantees.
In the third part, these issues will be addressed from the point of view of the city, the relationship between the center and urban/social peripheries, as well as the urban declinations of public order. Relevance will be given to the constitutional perspective on housing rights and smart cities, also in consideration of regulatory developments and case-law.
Prerequisites
Preparatory exam: ISTITUZIONI DI DIRITTO PUBBLICO.
At the beginning of the course and for the final examination students must have already acquired the knowledge of the fundamental notions of Italian public law.
Books
To prepare the exam, the study of ALL the texts listed below is required (to be updated at the beginning of the second semester).
a) G. AZZARITI, Appunti per le lezioni. Parlamento, Presidente della Repubblica, Corte costituzionale, Torino, Giappichelli, ultima edizione;
b) A.A. CERVATI, S.P. PANUNZIO, P. RIDOLA, Studi sulla riforma costituzionale. Itinerari e temi per l’innovazione costituzionale in Italia, Torino, Giappichelli, 2001, only pages 1-191;
c) A. BALDASSARRE, voci “Diritti inviolabili” e “Diritti sociali”, in Enciclopedia giuridica, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, vol. XI, 1989, rispettivamente pages 1-43, pp. 1-34;
d) E. OLIVITO, Il diritto costituzionale all’abitare: spunti teorico-dogmatici e itinerari giurisprudenziali, in Politica del diritto, 3/2016, pages 337-422;
e) E. OLIVITO, (Dis)eguaglianza, città e periferie sociali: la prospettiva costituzionale, in Eguaglianza e discriminazioni nell’epoca contemporanea, Napoli, Editoriale scientifica, 2021, pp. 555-637;
f) F. PIZZOLATO, Città e diritti fondamentali: le ambivalenze della politicità dei diritti, in Istituzioni del federalismo, n. 1/2022, pp. 155-186.
Frequency
Attendance is not mandatory.
For attending students, discussions or study groups will be organized in presence.
Exam mode
Oral final examination on the syllabus as resulting from the textbooks indicated.
For the purposes of the final assessments, the following elements will be taken into consideration: positive assessment of the participation in study groups (for attending students); presentation and critical reasoning skills, legal language skills (for all students).
Lesson mode
The course will take place in presence.
The e-learning website of Sapienza and the interactive involvement of attending students through study groups or discussions on current issues will support the frontal teaching.