LAW AND HUMANITIES
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
There are no admission requirements.
Assessments are based on a written multiple-choice test.
The exam mark is based on a grading scale from 1-30.
The exam lasts approx. 50 minutes.
The aim of the test is to assess that students have become familiar and have properly understood the learning material supplied.
The mark will consider the students' ability to correctly answer the questions administered. The maximum mark assigned is 30/30 cum laude; the laude will be given to students who provide the correct answer to an additional question in the test.
Law is occasionally perceived as something that is far removed from everyday life; nor would it appear to have much in common with the study of modern languages.
The course in Law and Humanities (although the name comes from the Anglo-Saxon tradition, lessons are held in Italian) aims, on the contrary, to provide a basic legal grounding and to prove that law – i.e. “the art of what is good and fair” - is intimately engaged with the human condition and has many points in common with its highest forms of expression, including, for example, theatre and cinema. The course has been designed to provide a captivating approach to law, without overlooking the need for a rigorous and sound approach: it targets students enrolled in Intercultural and Interlinguistic Mediation who are unlikely to work in the legal profession but might come across topics of legal nature in their future profession.
Some points of contact between law and language are exemplified below:
- law and literature use language as their means of expression; language, like law, is a normative system that the collectivity complies with;
- law and the arts are subject to interpretation; “interpretation” is at the core of both “translating” and applying legal norms;
- literature, theatre and film often refer to issues relating to justice: analysing the art productions that focus on these topics enables a full understanding of the ‘humanity’ of law.
The course in Law and Humanities touches upon the many points that the law and the other arts have in common: it is designed to engage students as they learn the basic legal concepts by examining the relationship between law and language, while also developing the themes of justice and punishment in selected literary works and the cinema.
The course’s final aim to provide knowledge of fundamental legal principles, while allowing their interpretation based on the specific skills held by students enrolled in a humanities programme.
Although this is a single course, it is constituted of two parts.
The first part (lessons are held Monday mornings from 9.00 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.) aims at illustrating, through examples drawn from literature and the humanities, the legal foundations and principles that might prove useful to students during their degree programme and in their future profession. We will more specifically dwell upon private law and its sources, law of contract and extra-contractual responsibility, family law, the legal arrangements in place for the protection of incapacitated adults, personality rights. The course will also touch upon the rights and freedoms provided by the Constitution: individual freedom, collective freedom, social rights, economic freedom, constitutional duties, fundamental rights in the European context.
The second part of the course (taught on Thursday afternoons, from 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.) will illustrate the links between law, language and the “highest” forms of human expression, more specifically literature, theatre and cinema. For the latter, films focusing on justice-related issues will be screened and commented, and some will see the participation of highly qualified non-academic speakers (magistrates, lawyers, etc.).
A) : Students enrolled in the first year for academic year 2019/20 (10 credits, 60 hours)
1) Students not attending lessons:
First part:
- Raffaele Caterina, Elementi di diritto civile, Giappichelli Editore, 2018, pp. 1 – 144 (except for the boxes highlighted in grey, with the excerpts of sentences);
- Carlo Colapietro - Marco Ruotolo, Diritti e Libertà, Giappichelli Editore, 2014, from page 3 to page 141, except for the appendix on case law;
- for the legal references provided in the texts, students are encouraged to consult an updated version of the Italian Civil Code and of the Italian Constitution.
Second part:
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, pages 1 – 360.
2) Students attending lessons: [this status requires students to attend at least 80% of the course].
First part:
- Raffaele Caterina, Elementi di diritto civile, Giappichelli Editore, 2018, pages. 1 – 144 (except for the boxes highlighted in grey, with the excerpts of sentences);
- Carlo Colapietro - Marco Ruotolo, Diritti e Libertà, Giappichelli Editore, 2014, from page 3 to page 141, except for the appendix on case law;
- for the legal references provided in the texts, students are encouraged to consult an updated version of the Italian Civil Code and of the Italian Constitution.
Second part:
- notes taken during lessons;
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, the following sections only: from page 1 to page 34, from page 161 to page 198, from page 221 to page 245, from page 269 to page 360 [i.e. Chapters: I (Dante), VII (Dostoevsky), IX (Collodi), XI (Gide), XII (Kafka), Appendix (Havel)].
As an alternative, 30 attending students will be able to actively participate in the Drama Seminar on "Law and Theatre" that will be held the last weekend in November at Villa del Grumello (Como) or, if this venue is unavailable, at Villa Cagnola (Gazzada, Varese); these students will still have to study the two texts for the first part of the course (“Caterina” and “Colapietro”) but will be exempted from reading the text by Cattaneo . During the drama seminar, students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5, and will design and prepare a small theatre piece (20-25 minutes) on a legal/literary topic to be agreed with the professor (for further information please read this article in Varesenews.it: “30 studenti x 30 e lode: Diritto e Teatro si incontrano all’Università dell’Insubria” at the link http://www.qtime.it/13546-30-studenti-x-30-e-lode-diritto-e-teatro-si-in... )
B) Students enrolled in previous academic years (6 credits, 35 hours)
For second- and third-year students (enrolled before academic year 2019/20) this is a 35-hour course and provides 6 credits. These students will only attend the lessons on Thursday afternoons. The examination will assess knowledge of the following:
1) Students not attending lessons:
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, pages 1 – 360.
2) Students attending lessons (80% of lessons):
- notes taken during lessons;
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, the following sections only: from page 1 to page 34, from page 161 to page 198, from page 221 to page 245, from page 269 to page 360 [i.e. Chapters: I (Dante), VII (Dostoevsky), IX (Collodi), XI (Gide), XII (Kafka), Appendix (Havel)].
A) : Students enrolled in the first year for academic year 2019/20 (10 credits, 60 hours)
1) Students not attending lessons:
First part:
- Raffaele Caterina, Elementi di diritto civile, Giappichelli Editore, 2018, pp. 1 – 144 (except for the boxes highlighted in grey, with the excerpts of sentences);
- Carlo Colapietro - Marco Ruotolo, Diritti e Libertà, Giappichelli Editore, 2014, from page 3 to page 141, except for the appendix on case law;
- for the legal references provided in the texts, students are encouraged to consult an updated version of the Italian Civil Code and of the Italian Constitution.
Second part:
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, pages 1 – 360.
2) Students attending lessons: [this status requires students to attend at least 80% of the course].
First part:
- Raffaele Caterina, Elementi di diritto civile, Giappichelli Editore, 2018, pages. 1 – 144 (except for the boxes highlighted in grey, with the excerpts of sentences);
- Carlo Colapietro - Marco Ruotolo, Diritti e Libertà, Giappichelli Editore, 2014, from page 3 to page 141, except for the appendix on case law;
- for the legal references provided in the texts, students are encouraged to consult an updated version of the Italian Civil Code and of the Italian Constitution.
Second part:
- notes taken during lessons;
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, the following sections only: from page 1 to page 34, from page 161 to page 198, from page 221 to page 245, from page 269 to page 360 [i.e. Chapters: I (Dante), VII (Dostoevsky), IX (Collodi), XI (Gide), XII (Kafka), Appendix (Havel)].
As an alternative, 30 attending students will be able to actively participate in the Drama Seminar on "Law and Theatre" that will be held the last weekend in November at Villa del Grumello (Como) or, if this venue is unavailable, at Villa Cagnola (Gazzada, Varese); these students will still have to study the two texts for the first part of the course (“Caterina” and “Colapietro”) but will be exempted from reading the text by Cattaneo . During the drama seminar, students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5, and will design and prepare a small theatre piece (20-25 minutes) on a legal/literary topic to be agreed with the professor (for further information please read this article in Varesenews.it: “30 studenti x 30 e lode: Diritto e Teatro si incontrano all’Università dell’Insubria” at the link http://www.qtime.it/13546-30-studenti-x-30-e-lode-diritto-e-teatro-si-in... )
B) Students enrolled in previous academic years (6 credits, 35 hours)
For second- and third-year students (enrolled before academic year 2019/20) this is a 35-hour course and provides 6 credits. These students will only attend the lessons on Thursday afternoons. The examination will assess knowledge of the following:
1) Students not attending lessons:
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, pages 1 – 360.
2) Students attending lessons (80% of lessons):
- notes taken during lessons;
- Mario A. Cattaneo, Suggestioni penalistiche in testi letterari, Giuffrè Editore, 1992, the following sections only: from page 1 to page 34, from page 161 to page 198, from page 221 to page 245, from page 269 to page 360 [i.e. Chapters: I (Dante), VII (Dostoevsky), IX (Collodi), XI (Gide), XII (Kafka), Appendix (Havel)].
Face-to-face lectures.
The overall teaching activities include 60 hours of face-to-face lectures (35 hours for second- and third-year students) aimed at achieving the teaching aims stated.
Thursdays at the end of the lessons, in Como. The professor is always available by e-mail (giorgio.zamperetti@uninsubria.it).
The professor also has a Facebook page dedicated to curricular and extra-curricular activities: Giorgio Law Humanities. Students wishing to take part, feel free to add him on Facebook.
Professors
Borrowers
-
Degree course in: INTERCULTURAL AND INTERLINGUISTIC MEDIATION