Comparative and European Law and Religion

The links between law and religion are increasingly involving, in the heterogeneous European context, identity issues, representative of the historical and juridical traditions of each national system. At the same time, the attention paid to the religious factor by the European Union law has increased in importance with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, accompanied by the continued development of the ECHR jurisprudence on the protection of religious freedoms and convictions. The course aims to analyze, with a critical approach, tensions and convergences in the juridical discipline of the religious phenomenon posed by some of the most significant member countries of the Council of Europe, both with reference to differences and similarities between individual States and with reference to regulatory choices and jurisprudential outcomes elaborated in the European Union law.

1) Knowledge and comprehension.
A formation of general culture and general juridical culture is required in order to develop an understanding of the specific legal notions of Comparative and European Ecclesiastical law.
2) Application abilities.
Acquisition of the indispensable tools for the use of the concepts and the legal institutes learned, according to the various cases that may arise, with the ability to face and solve problems also on new or non-customary issues, which arise in the field of Comparative Ecclesiastical Law, in an interdisciplinary perspective.
3) Autonomy of judgment.
Acquisition of conscious autonomy of judgment with regard to the understanding and interpretation of normative sources and jurisprudence, as well as to the identification of the preferable solutions in individual cases, in relation to Comparative Ecclesiastical Law.
4) Communication skills.
Acquisition of the vocabulary and of the general and specific technical-juridical language of Comparative Ecclesiastical Law, of expository, communicative and argumentative capacities typical of the legal professions, such as to be able to easily communicate with both specialists and non-specialist subjects.
5) Ability to learn.
Acquisition of skills for the adaptation of knowledge in relation to the variability of the legal and jurisprudential framework, typical of the legal sector in general and of Comparative Ecclesiastical Law in particular.