Sociology of Law is aimed at studying the interactions between law and society, highlighting how law can affect social behaviours and, vice versa, how social changes can shape the evolution of the law.
The course of Sociology of Law is aimed at providing some tools for studying law following an approach which is not only technical and formal but also critical, broadening the training of the contemporary jurist, who will increasingly have to operate in a national and international context in constant and rapid evolution.
In the first part of the course the historical development of this discipline will be traced. In the second part, major institutional concepts will be analysed with reference to the social context (national and supranational) in which the same concepts are applied. Students will then be guided in the analysis of judgments or other material provided. Some lessons will be dedicated to illustrate the methodology used by the empirical sociology of law in the analysis of legal phenomena.
Students will then be offered to participate in a mock trial: this part of the course is aimed to give them the opportunity to increase their communicative-relational and problem-solving skills, working on legal materials, improving their attitude in examining and analysing critically the conflicting arguments and understanding the reasons leading to the solution of the case.
At the end of the course, students are expected to prove an appropriate knowledge regarding the issues and topics covered.