A. Introduction to comparative law
1. What is comparative law? 2. Legal families in the world: mapping the main world legal systems and the criteria for their definition; dynamism and static nature of classifications: “legal systems never are, always become” 3. Comparative law methodology: 3.1 Legal formants. 3.2. Legal transplants. 3.3. Legal process analysis 3.4. Law in the books v. law in action 4. Some practical examples in which the comparative methodology is applied
B. Civil law in Europe
1. The birth of the civil law and of the “university model” 2. The emergence of the jus commune 3. The era of the Great Courts 4. The age of codification 5. The Napoleonic civil code: its genesis and application 6. The Prussian Allgemeines Landrecht of 1794 7. The Historical School, the Pandectist School and the German Bürgerliches Gesetzuch of 1900 7. The Italian civil code of 1865: the reception of the French model in Italy 8. Legal transplants in Italy and the civil code of 1942. 9 The sources of private law in civil law systems.
C. The common law model in Europe
1. The birth of the common law. 1.1 The Norman Conquest of England. 1.2 Creation of the writs system. 1.3 The impossibility of a further extension of the writ system and the birth of the “actions on the case”. 1.4 “Remedies precede rights”: the inductive mentality of the English lawyer. 1.5 The creation of the Westminster Courts. 1.6 The Inns of Court as an alternative institution to universities.
2. The evolution of an Equity jurisdiction. 2.1 The new appeals to the King. 2.2 The role of the Chancellor. 2.3 “Equity follows the Law”: the relationships between Equity and common law. 2.4 Typical Equity Remedies. 2.5 The trust.
3. The education of English lawyers. 3.1 English legal literature. 3.2 Year Books and Reports. 3.3 The importance of William Blackstone and the success of his “Commentaries”.
4. The Judicature Acts 1873-75. 4.1 The unification of the two jurisdictions. 4.2 The abolition of the writ system. 4.3 The reorganization of the Courts system.
5. Sources of law in modern English law. 5.1 The doctrine of “stare decisis”. 5.2 The statutes. 5.3 The Law Commission. 5.4 The importance of legal scholarship and of universities.
D. European private law in fieri
1. the theory of the gradual convergence between civil law systems and common law systems in Europe 2. The problems of harmonization of European private law
E. The Common law in the United States
1. Suitability of the common law system in the first colonies. 1.1 Divergences and convergences with respect to the English matrix. 1.2 The federal structure. 1.3 The written Constitution. 1.4 The judicial review.
2. The American lawyer. 2.1 The “Langdell Reform” and the birth of the American law schools. 2.2 The case-method. 2.3 Legal scholars and the importance of law reviews: the “right to privacy” and the seminal article by Warren and Brandeis.
3. The legislation. 3.1 The welfare state. 3.2 The so-called "orgy of statute making". 3.3 A common law for the age of statutes. 3.4 The current structure of sources of law.
4. Racial discrimination from the Civil War to present times 4.1. The 1865 amendments to the Constitution 4.2. The principle of equality before the judges: Plessy v. Ferguson and the principle "Equal but separate". 4.3. Brown v. Topeka Board of Education and the overcoming of the old principles 4.4. Towards a substantial principle of equality in the inter-state relations: the Civil Rights Act of 1964
C. The common law in India
1. Hindu law and Vedic tradition. The sources of law. The laws of Manu. The caste system 1.1. The Islamic invasion of India 1.2. The domination of the British Raj and the common in India 1.3. Gandhi and non-violence principle 1.4. The 1950 Constitution 1.5. The principle of equality today 1.6. English as the language of Indian law.