LEGAL LOGIC AND ARGUMENTATION
The Logic and legal argumentation course is a legal philosophical subject (IUS/20) intended to provide law students with interpretative and argumentative skills required to practice any legal profession. To that end, the course’s objectives are: 1) to provide the students an introduction to basic logical concepts; 2) to enable students to master the main interpretative and argumentative techniques employed in legal reasoning; 3) to enable students to analyze complex legal arguments, such as those found in judicial decisions and to autonomously develop lines of legal reasoning.
The main intended learning outcomes are: 1) knowledge and understanding: be familiar with and understand the fundamental concepts of legal logic and theory of interpretation; 2) ability to apply the acquired knowledge and understanding: to acquire the ability to use autonomously the techniques of legal reasoning; 3) autonomous assessment: to acquire the capacity to critically evaluate a legal argument, in particular those contained in the reasoning of judicial decisions; 4) Communication skills: to communicate the acquired knowledge in a full and exhaustive manner in short written papers; 5) learning skills: to be able to identify the main theoretical and logical problems underlying argumentation in general and legal argumentation in particular; to be aware of the relationship between these problems and the more general issues in legal theory (e.g. the relation between law and morality, the separation of State powers etc.)
The Logic and legal argumentation course is a legal philosophical subject (IUS/20) intended to provide law students with interpretative and argumentative skills required to practice any legal profession. To that end, the course’s objectives are: 1) to provide the students an introduction to basic logical concepts; 2) to enable students to master the main interpretative and argumentative techniques employed in legal reasoning; 3) to enable students to analyze complex legal arguments, such as those found in judicial decisions and to autonomously develop lines of legal reasoning.
The main intended learning outcomes are: 1) knowledge and understanding: be familiar with and understand the fundamental concepts of legal logic and theory of interpretation; 2) ability to apply the acquired knowledge and understanding: to acquire the ability to use autonomously the techniques of legal reasoning; 3) autonomous assessment: to acquire the capacity to critically evaluate a legal argument, in particular those contained in the reasoning of judicial decisions; 4) Communication skills: to communicate the acquired knowledge in a full and exhaustive manner in short written papers; 5) learning skills: to be able to identify the main theoretical and logical problems underlying argumentation in general and legal argumentation in particular; to be aware of the relationship between these problems and the more general issues in legal theory (e.g. the relation between law and morality, the separation of State powers etc.)
Canali
teacher profile teaching materials
- basic logical tools and concepts;
- legal logic and legal reasoning;
- the main canons of legal argumentation;
- the relations between legal and moral reasoning.
G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2010.
Students who has to achieve 5 CFU has to exclude G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2010.
Programme
The course will provide an extensive introduction to:- basic logical tools and concepts;
- legal logic and legal reasoning;
- the main canons of legal argumentation;
- the relations between legal and moral reasoning.
Core Documentation
N. Bobbio, Contributi ad un dizionario giuridico, Giappichelli, Torino, 1994.G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2010.
Students who has to achieve 5 CFU has to exclude G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2010.
teacher profile teaching materials
Introduction to:
- fundamental conceptual tools for undestanding, analyzing and evaluating legal argumentation (logic notions, legal reasoning structure, argumentative techniques, theory of legal interpretation);
- the topic of the so called rights administration in the constitutional State (structure, logic, role and interpretation of rights; rights conflicts and its solutions);
-the faces and the implications of the equality principle, with specific reference on its application in constitutional case-law.
SEMINARS
Investigation of specific aspects of the topics examined in the classes.
PRACTICAL WORK
Practical work of analysis, with the active partecipation of students, of judicial decisions in the light of the methodology and the theoretical concepts introduced in the classes.
G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, il Mulino, Bologna, 2010, ONLY capp. 2, 4 e 5.
F. Mastromartino (a cura di), Teoria e pratica dell'eguaglianza, L'asino d'oro edizioni, Roma, 2018 (excluded pp. 139-196).
PLEASE NOTE
Students who have to achieve 5 CFU must exclude: chapters III, IV and V of G. Pino, L'interpretazione nel diritto; pp. XI-XXXIV, 63-103 e 139-196 of F. Mastromartino (a cura di), Teoria e pratica dell'eguaglianza and chapters 2 and 5 of G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale.
Programme
LECTURESIntroduction to:
- fundamental conceptual tools for undestanding, analyzing and evaluating legal argumentation (logic notions, legal reasoning structure, argumentative techniques, theory of legal interpretation);
- the topic of the so called rights administration in the constitutional State (structure, logic, role and interpretation of rights; rights conflicts and its solutions);
-the faces and the implications of the equality principle, with specific reference on its application in constitutional case-law.
SEMINARS
Investigation of specific aspects of the topics examined in the classes.
PRACTICAL WORK
Practical work of analysis, with the active partecipation of students, of judicial decisions in the light of the methodology and the theoretical concepts introduced in the classes.
Core Documentation
G. Pino, L'interpretazione nel diritto, Giappichelli, Torino, 2021.G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale, il Mulino, Bologna, 2010, ONLY capp. 2, 4 e 5.
F. Mastromartino (a cura di), Teoria e pratica dell'eguaglianza, L'asino d'oro edizioni, Roma, 2018 (excluded pp. 139-196).
PLEASE NOTE
Students who have to achieve 5 CFU must exclude: chapters III, IV and V of G. Pino, L'interpretazione nel diritto; pp. XI-XXXIV, 63-103 e 139-196 of F. Mastromartino (a cura di), Teoria e pratica dell'eguaglianza and chapters 2 and 5 of G. Pino, Diritti e interpretazione. Il ragionamento giuridico nello Stato costituzionale.
Type of delivery of the course
Classes will be in presence and on-line streaming. Attending classes is recommended. No recorded lessons will be avalaible.Type of evaluation
Written examination. teacher profile teaching materials
Programme
The course will provide an extensive introduction to legal reasoning, the main canons of legal argumentation. The course will be enriched by seminars and workshops in order to offer a more intensive treatment of some of the topics of the course.Core Documentation
G. Pino, L'interpretazione nel diritto, Giappichelli, Torino, 2021Type of delivery of the course
frontal classes, workshopsAttendance
attendance is not compulsory, but is strongly recommendedType of evaluation
written exam