Philosophy of Law and Legal Information Technology
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
Philosophy of law: - Knowledge of the fundamental concepts of legal theory, acquaintance with the main theories of law and of with the state of the art with respect to ongoing academic debate; - Ability to rework the topics covered in the lessons and to apply theoretical knowledge to concrete situations; - Use of appropriate language in the presentation of problems and in the argumentation for or against a certain choice.
Legal informatics: - 1. Knowledge and understanding The course aims to provide students of sociology of law and philosophy of law with a correct approach to the use of technologies by the jurist ("Legal informatics"), with particular attention to practical use computer and networking for professional purposes, in court, in the typical activity of a law firm or notary, for the corporate lawyer and an understanding of IT-legal issues. Attention will also be devoted to IT-legal issues related to philosophical and sociological problems. 2. Application of knowledge and understanding The acquired notions will be of immediate theoretical and practical use to improve the relationship between the user and the technologies used, and will allow a more accurate understanding of all aspects of a constantly evolving field, especially from a sociological and philosophical point of view. 3. Formulation of judgments The Course will provide students with the ability to choose at any time the correct use of the technologies and the environment in which they will operate, with independent evaluation approaches (and not necessarily linked to the product or software "most used" ") And with constant practical attention to a use of technologies that is useful in the future professional context. 4. Communication skills The course will give students the opportunity to present complex technological and IT-legal issues with language properties and with clarity. 5. Learning skills The course aims to provide students with a concrete improvement in their IT-legal skills with a very rapid learning curve and with the possibility of immediately using the notions learned, even outside the university context.
Legal informatics: - 1. Knowledge and understanding The course aims to provide students of sociology of law and philosophy of law with a correct approach to the use of technologies by the jurist ("Legal informatics"), with particular attention to practical use computer and networking for professional purposes, in court, in the typical activity of a law firm or notary, for the corporate lawyer and an understanding of IT-legal issues. Attention will also be devoted to IT-legal issues related to philosophical and sociological problems. 2. Application of knowledge and understanding The acquired notions will be of immediate theoretical and practical use to improve the relationship between the user and the technologies used, and will allow a more accurate understanding of all aspects of a constantly evolving field, especially from a sociological and philosophical point of view. 3. Formulation of judgments The Course will provide students with the ability to choose at any time the correct use of the technologies and the environment in which they will operate, with independent evaluation approaches (and not necessarily linked to the product or software "most used" ") And with constant practical attention to a use of technologies that is useful in the future professional context. 4. Communication skills The course will give students the opportunity to present complex technological and IT-legal issues with language properties and with clarity. 5. Learning skills The course aims to provide students with a concrete improvement in their IT-legal skills with a very rapid learning curve and with the possibility of immediately using the notions learned, even outside the university context.
Expected learning outcomes
Philosophy of law: At the end of the course, the student will be familiar with the main issues of legal theory, and learned adequate argumentative skills at a conceptual level and also acquired skills necessary for a deeper understanding of the philosophical dimension of the main regulatory problems in law.
Legal informatics: At the end of the course the student who has successfully learned the subject will have an in-depth knowledge of the course topics, with the acquisition of a reasoning method suitable for dealing with more specific and complex IT-legal issues than the institutional notions.
Legal informatics: At the end of the course the student who has successfully learned the subject will have an in-depth knowledge of the course topics, with the acquisition of a reasoning method suitable for dealing with more specific and complex IT-legal issues than the institutional notions.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Lesson 1: Presentation of the course. Which philosophy? Analytical philosophy vs. continental philosophy. Analytical philosophy of law as an analysis of legal language. The pillars of the analytical method. Distinction between descriptions and prescriptions and Hume's law.
Lesson 2: Philosophers' Philosophy of Law vs. of the jurists (Bobbio). Philosophy of law as meta-jurisprudence: levels of discourse. Philosophy of law as a conceptual laboratory. The field of investigation: general theory of law plus political law.
Lesson 3: Philosophical analysis as the unmasking of ideologies: collapse of the myth of the jurist-scientist. Descriptive meta-jurisprudence vs. prescriptive. Legal knowledge as a legal practice and as "know-how", not just knowledge of notions. Impact of the theory of law as an "abstract" discourse on the daily life of law.
Lesson 4: Uses of the term "Law". "Law" in an objective sense: possibility of definition and need for definition (impact on sources and validity). Approaching the definition of "law": private owners vs. publicists. Juxtaposition of private individuals: law as a set of norms. Legal norms such as general and abstract commands. Problems. Approaching the definition of "law": the theses of the publicists. Law as a set of sources: social institutions; norms as a partial and derivative aspect. Concern for the effectiveness / effectiveness of the rules and public authorities. Santi Romano: three elements of law: society, order, organization. Institutionalism. Institutions as concrete and visible facts. Identification of the state with people, territory and government (sovereignty). Legal pluralism and overcoming of statism. Extreme decision making.
Lesson 5: Problems of institutionalism. Example of robbery and "mugging": possibility of different juridical qualifications of empirically observable facts. Cases of apparent legitimacy. Hans Kelsen and the norm as a qualifying scheme: attribution of legal significance to facts. Territory, people and sovereignty as an area of validity of the rules. Normativism is not identified with imperativism. Non-legal institutions. Spontaneous coordination vs. organization. Critique of imperativism. Rules of conduct vs. rules that confer powers. Non-violable rules. John Searle: brute facts vs. institutional facts. Validity vs. effectiveness: usefulness to distinguish. H.L.A. Hart and the problem of sovereignty: criticism of the habit of obedience. Difficulty of imperativism: continuity of law and permanence of the rules over time. Problem of the legal (constitutional) limits to the legislative authority. International law as a true law or as a "positive morality".
Lesson 6: Where are the legal rules found? Possible answers. The codes. Provisions and standards. Need for interpretation. Interpretation as an activity and as a result. Standards without provision. Plurality of possible interpretations. Second answer: observe behaviors. "Law in books" vs. "Law in action". Legal realism. Problems in interpreting behavior (habits). External and internal views on standards. Differences between habits and behavior according to rules. Judge's point of view vs. of the lawyer. O.W. Holmes and the point of view of the "bad man".
Lesson 7: The internal point of view on norms: criteria of conduct and reasons for criticism. Thesis on custom: material element and psychological element (Bobbio). Beyond Bobbio: psychological element vs. legality: official opinions and sources of the legal system. What rules are legal? Theories on the essential (differential) characters of legal norms: Hobbes, commands vs. advice and birth of legal positivism. Thomasius: honestum, decorum, justum. Kant: heteronomy vs. autonomy. In summary: heteronomy, exteriority, coactivity. Problems. "Regression to infinity" of coactivity. Kelsen and the pure science of law. Shifting the problem from the norm to the legal system. Material characters (content) vs. formalities of the standard. Transformation of norms into hypothetical judgments. Causality vs. imputation. Reversal between primary norm and secondary norm.
Lesson 8: Kelsen: "fragments of norms" and complete norms. The "fundamental rule". Critique of reductionism and monism: Hart. Rules that impose obligations and rules that confer powers. Hartian criticisms of the theories of nullity as a sanction and of fragments of norms. Kelsen: Static Sorts vs. dynamic (legal) systems. Norms and meta-norms. Productive concatenation. Possibility of antinomies. Validity of a rule as belonging to the legal system, as mandatory and as existence.
Lesson 9: Criticisms of validity as belonging to the legal system and as existence. Examples of invalid rules belonging to the legal system. Existence as mere acceptance. Norms as meanings, not as entities. Criticisms of the Kelsenian hierarchical model: contemporary systems as a network of sources and (previous) jurisprudence; validity as a question of degree; lack of clear and exhaustive lists of sources.
Lesson 9: The problems of the fundamental norm and its uselessness in identifying the sources. Hart and the norm of recognition: differences with the fundamental norm. Three types of secondary norms: of recognition, of change and of judgment, as a solution to the uncertainty, static and inefficiency of social pressure. Existence of a system and "pathological conditions". Scarpelli's criticisms of the Hartian norm of recognition. The insufficiency of descriptions of social facts. The need to choose a definition of "law".
Lesson 10: Possible definitions of "law": natural law, legal positivism, legal realism. Three distinct concepts: validity, effectiveness, justice. Ancient natural law: Augustine. Natural law after the Second World War: Gustav Radbruch. Bobbio and natural law as a meta-ethical position. Ethical cognitivism. Separation between justice and validity: legal positivism and legal realism. Forms of juridical positivism. Hart and five positivistic historical theses. Bobbio: legal positivism as a method, as a theory (statism) and as an ideology (legalism). Differences. Theoretical legal positivism: five dogmas (coactivity; imperativism; supremacy of the law; completeness and coherence; mechanical interpretation). The "school of exegesis".
Lesson 11: Criticisms of statism and legalism. Legalism vs. "Führerprinzip". Legal obligation vs. moral obligation. Inclusive and exclusive positivism. Methodological legal positivism: law as a social fact? Criticisms of Scarpelli and Hume's law.
Lesson 12: the main theories of justice and ethical dilemmas. Summary.
Legal Informatics:
The Course aims to present an approach to the proper use of technologies by the jurist, in order to significantly improve students' legal-computer skills and to enable independent evaluative procedures useful in the future professional context.
Program:
1. The technological society, sensors and law, technological control and liquid surveillance
2. The rights of information technology and the violation of rights
3. The legal regulation of information technology
4. European Union, the digital society and law
5. Cyber threats and cybersecurity
6. The jurist of the future and legal informatics
7. Legal tech and legal design
8. The regulation of artificial intelligence
9. Digital minors and family tech
10. Technological crime.
Lesson 2: Philosophers' Philosophy of Law vs. of the jurists (Bobbio). Philosophy of law as meta-jurisprudence: levels of discourse. Philosophy of law as a conceptual laboratory. The field of investigation: general theory of law plus political law.
Lesson 3: Philosophical analysis as the unmasking of ideologies: collapse of the myth of the jurist-scientist. Descriptive meta-jurisprudence vs. prescriptive. Legal knowledge as a legal practice and as "know-how", not just knowledge of notions. Impact of the theory of law as an "abstract" discourse on the daily life of law.
Lesson 4: Uses of the term "Law". "Law" in an objective sense: possibility of definition and need for definition (impact on sources and validity). Approaching the definition of "law": private owners vs. publicists. Juxtaposition of private individuals: law as a set of norms. Legal norms such as general and abstract commands. Problems. Approaching the definition of "law": the theses of the publicists. Law as a set of sources: social institutions; norms as a partial and derivative aspect. Concern for the effectiveness / effectiveness of the rules and public authorities. Santi Romano: three elements of law: society, order, organization. Institutionalism. Institutions as concrete and visible facts. Identification of the state with people, territory and government (sovereignty). Legal pluralism and overcoming of statism. Extreme decision making.
Lesson 5: Problems of institutionalism. Example of robbery and "mugging": possibility of different juridical qualifications of empirically observable facts. Cases of apparent legitimacy. Hans Kelsen and the norm as a qualifying scheme: attribution of legal significance to facts. Territory, people and sovereignty as an area of validity of the rules. Normativism is not identified with imperativism. Non-legal institutions. Spontaneous coordination vs. organization. Critique of imperativism. Rules of conduct vs. rules that confer powers. Non-violable rules. John Searle: brute facts vs. institutional facts. Validity vs. effectiveness: usefulness to distinguish. H.L.A. Hart and the problem of sovereignty: criticism of the habit of obedience. Difficulty of imperativism: continuity of law and permanence of the rules over time. Problem of the legal (constitutional) limits to the legislative authority. International law as a true law or as a "positive morality".
Lesson 6: Where are the legal rules found? Possible answers. The codes. Provisions and standards. Need for interpretation. Interpretation as an activity and as a result. Standards without provision. Plurality of possible interpretations. Second answer: observe behaviors. "Law in books" vs. "Law in action". Legal realism. Problems in interpreting behavior (habits). External and internal views on standards. Differences between habits and behavior according to rules. Judge's point of view vs. of the lawyer. O.W. Holmes and the point of view of the "bad man".
Lesson 7: The internal point of view on norms: criteria of conduct and reasons for criticism. Thesis on custom: material element and psychological element (Bobbio). Beyond Bobbio: psychological element vs. legality: official opinions and sources of the legal system. What rules are legal? Theories on the essential (differential) characters of legal norms: Hobbes, commands vs. advice and birth of legal positivism. Thomasius: honestum, decorum, justum. Kant: heteronomy vs. autonomy. In summary: heteronomy, exteriority, coactivity. Problems. "Regression to infinity" of coactivity. Kelsen and the pure science of law. Shifting the problem from the norm to the legal system. Material characters (content) vs. formalities of the standard. Transformation of norms into hypothetical judgments. Causality vs. imputation. Reversal between primary norm and secondary norm.
Lesson 8: Kelsen: "fragments of norms" and complete norms. The "fundamental rule". Critique of reductionism and monism: Hart. Rules that impose obligations and rules that confer powers. Hartian criticisms of the theories of nullity as a sanction and of fragments of norms. Kelsen: Static Sorts vs. dynamic (legal) systems. Norms and meta-norms. Productive concatenation. Possibility of antinomies. Validity of a rule as belonging to the legal system, as mandatory and as existence.
Lesson 9: Criticisms of validity as belonging to the legal system and as existence. Examples of invalid rules belonging to the legal system. Existence as mere acceptance. Norms as meanings, not as entities. Criticisms of the Kelsenian hierarchical model: contemporary systems as a network of sources and (previous) jurisprudence; validity as a question of degree; lack of clear and exhaustive lists of sources.
Lesson 9: The problems of the fundamental norm and its uselessness in identifying the sources. Hart and the norm of recognition: differences with the fundamental norm. Three types of secondary norms: of recognition, of change and of judgment, as a solution to the uncertainty, static and inefficiency of social pressure. Existence of a system and "pathological conditions". Scarpelli's criticisms of the Hartian norm of recognition. The insufficiency of descriptions of social facts. The need to choose a definition of "law".
Lesson 10: Possible definitions of "law": natural law, legal positivism, legal realism. Three distinct concepts: validity, effectiveness, justice. Ancient natural law: Augustine. Natural law after the Second World War: Gustav Radbruch. Bobbio and natural law as a meta-ethical position. Ethical cognitivism. Separation between justice and validity: legal positivism and legal realism. Forms of juridical positivism. Hart and five positivistic historical theses. Bobbio: legal positivism as a method, as a theory (statism) and as an ideology (legalism). Differences. Theoretical legal positivism: five dogmas (coactivity; imperativism; supremacy of the law; completeness and coherence; mechanical interpretation). The "school of exegesis".
Lesson 11: Criticisms of statism and legalism. Legalism vs. "Führerprinzip". Legal obligation vs. moral obligation. Inclusive and exclusive positivism. Methodological legal positivism: law as a social fact? Criticisms of Scarpelli and Hume's law.
Lesson 12: the main theories of justice and ethical dilemmas. Summary.
Legal Informatics:
The Course aims to present an approach to the proper use of technologies by the jurist, in order to significantly improve students' legal-computer skills and to enable independent evaluative procedures useful in the future professional context.
Program:
1. The technological society, sensors and law, technological control and liquid surveillance
2. The rights of information technology and the violation of rights
3. The legal regulation of information technology
4. European Union, the digital society and law
5. Cyber threats and cybersecurity
6. The jurist of the future and legal informatics
7. Legal tech and legal design
8. The regulation of artificial intelligence
9. Digital minors and family tech
10. Technological crime.
Prerequisites for admission
This is an introductory course to some fundamental legal and legal-philosophical concepts. No previous knowledge of law or philosophy is required.
The same holds for the Legal Informatics section of the course.
The same holds for the Legal Informatics section of the course.
Teaching methods
Philosophy of law: frontal lessons (42 hours) with the use of PowerPoint presentations and active involvement of the students, who will be encouraged during the lesson and at its end to discuss the topics presented and ask questions.
Legal informatics: Teaching information will be uploaded to the Course's ARIEL site, which is recommended to be consulted regularly. Teaching consists of 20 hours of classroom lectures given by the Professor.
Legal informatics: Teaching information will be uploaded to the Course's ARIEL site, which is recommended to be consulted regularly. Teaching consists of 20 hours of classroom lectures given by the Professor.
Teaching Resources
For attending students: C. Luzzati, "Questo non è un manuale. Percorsi di filosofia del diritto. Vol. I", Giappichelli, Torino 2010. More material uploaded on the course's ARIEL website will be added.
For non-attending students, the following will be added to the volume indicated for attending students: M. Jori-A. Pintore, "Introduzione alla filosofia del diritto", Giappichelli, Torino 2014, chapters I, II, III, IX, XI, XII (Filosofia e teoria del diritto; Definizioni e concetti giuridici; Concetto di diritto; Interpretazione; Giustizia; Giustificazione della pena).
Legal Informatics:
G. Ziccardi, Diritti digitali - Informatica Giuridica per le nuove professioni, Raffello Cortina, 2022.
For non-attending students, the following will be added to the volume indicated for attending students: M. Jori-A. Pintore, "Introduzione alla filosofia del diritto", Giappichelli, Torino 2014, chapters I, II, III, IX, XI, XII (Filosofia e teoria del diritto; Definizioni e concetti giuridici; Concetto di diritto; Interpretazione; Giustizia; Giustificazione della pena).
Legal Informatics:
G. Ziccardi, Diritti digitali - Informatica Giuridica per le nuove professioni, Raffello Cortina, 2022.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Philosophy of law: the final exam takes place in oral form in exam sessions, with a question consisting of at least three questions on three different parts of the program. This applies to both attending and non-attending students. There are no intermediate tests.
Legal informatics: The final test will consist of an oral examination during the examination session. It will consist of at least three questions on three different parts of the program.
For attending students there will be a final test based on a multiple-choice test. Regarding the test for attending students, Professor Giovanni Ziccardi will give information in class.
For any doubts or information, please contact the Professor at the e-mail address: [email protected]
Legal informatics: The final test will consist of an oral examination during the examination session. It will consist of at least three questions on three different parts of the program.
For attending students there will be a final test based on a multiple-choice test. Regarding the test for attending students, Professor Giovanni Ziccardi will give information in class.
For any doubts or information, please contact the Professor at the e-mail address: [email protected]
Modules or teaching units
Filosofia del diritto
IUS/20 - PHILOSOPHY OF LAW - University credits: 6
Lessons: 42 hours
Professor:
Zorzetto Silvia
Informatica Giuridica
IUS/20 - PHILOSOPHY OF LAW - University credits: 3
Lessons: 21 hours
Professor:
Ziccardi Giovanni
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)
Reception:
thursday 10:30 - 11:30 (send an email to [email protected])
Dipartimento "Cesare Beccaria"
Reception:
Every day subject to previous appointment by email required
Department / OnLine Teams or by other Platform up to Students' request