ECCLESIASTIC LAW
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
The knowledge offered by the private law and, above all, constitutional law courses in the first year is useful. The interdisciplinary nature of ecclesiastical law will make it necessary to anticipate some content that will then be adequately deepened in subsequent courses.
The course can be well taken in conjunction with the Canon Law and Comparative Law of Religions course, of which it is a complement.
Oral exam at the end of the course.
All students, in addition to the contents of the lectures, will study the following volumes:
- A. Ferrari, Religious Freedom in Italy, Carocci, Rome, ult. ed.
- J. Ratzinger, J. Habermas, Ethics, Religion and the Liberal State, Morcelliana, Brescia.
Students also attending Canon Law will choose one of the following alternatives, in addition to the contents of the lectures:
a) A. Ferrari, Religious Freedom in Italy, Carocci, Rome, ult. ed.
- J. Ratzinger, J. Habermas, Ethics, Religion and the Liberal State, Morcelliana, Brescia.
b) Silvio Ferrari, Strumenti e percorsi di diritto comparato delle religioni
- J. Ratzinger, J. Habermas, Ethics, Religion and the Liberal State, Morcelliana, Brescia.
Non-attending students will agree the examination programme with the lecturer.
The course aims to provide students with a knowledge of Italian law on religious freedom. In contemporary globalised societies where religious identities and rights play a relevant role also for the purposes of social cohesion, the analysis of state rights (starting from Italian law) in religious matters appears crucial for the full understanding of both the issues related to the application of fundamental rights and socio-political dynamics. Knowledge of the norms of ecclesiastical law will then be flanked by the study of their concrete application, thus inviting students to become familiar with concrete cases that will allow them to test the metabolisation of the contents learnt. Class discussion around court cases and specific issues will then allow students to develop argumentative skills to justify their positions.
These modes allow the application of the Dublin descriptors and in particular: 1. knowledge and understanding; 2. applying knowledge and understanding and 3. making judgments and 4. communication
In the academic year 2023-2024 the course will be divided into two parts: a general part and a legal clinic. The general part will provide the basic contents of the subject with the aim of achieving an analytical and synthetic overview of the Italian system of the sources of the right to religious freedom, with particular attention to the constitutional system. The first part of the course will then deal with some more specific topics (the relationship between religious freedom and freedom of expression; religious practices and minors: circumcision; religious practices and animal rights: ritual slaughter; the question of places of worship).
The legal clinic is aimed at drafting the denominational statute of the Jewish religious association Bet Hillel. Students will thus be led to engage in a 'concrete' activity that will lead them to an effective application of the principles studied.
In the first part of the course, the flipped classrooms method will be experimented with alongside lectures. Students will then be invited to approach jurisprudential 'sources', progressively becoming familiar with the reading and analysis of judgments from different jurisdictions.
Seminars and meetings with experts on specific topics will also be organised.
In the second part of the course the legal clinic will require the active involvement, also in small groups, of all participants, also in relation to the activity of drafting the statute.
The teacher receives students in the Manica Lunga room on Monday from 3 to 4.30 p.m. and is always available at: alessandro.ferrari@uninsubria.it
A study trip to Morocco to participate in a United Nation Context will be organised for March 2023. The trip will be particularly useful not only to experience some of the working methods of the United Nations but also to compare what has been learnt in the course with the contemporary reality of a Muslim-majority country with an important history. Participation in the project will be assessed with additional credits decided by the Department Council.