Course objectives

In the first part, the course aims at introducing students to the study of legal comparison, paying particular attention to the methodological premises and practical goals and, among the latter, to the pivotal role it plays for the harmonization of private law at both regional and global levels. Furthermore, the course intends to shed light on the actual meaning of the classification of legal systems into legal families or traditions.

In the second part, the course will address some selected issues of private law in a comparative perspective.

Students will be introduced to the usefulness of legal comparison methodology as a tool to understand the complexity of the contemporary legal landscape, characterized by the interaction between sources of law operating at different levels and by cross-fertilization among various legal traditions. The course also intends to stimulate a better understanding by students of their own legal system through the comparison with foreign experiences.

Course Structure

The course will be divided into two parts. The first part will provide a general introduction to the purposes and method of comparative law.

In the second part, selected topics of contract law will be addressed in a comparative perspective. Such analysis will be carried out not only through a theoretical approach but also considering actual case law rendered in Italy and abroad. 

The course will consists of both traditional frontal lessons and individual presentations on actual cases and specific topics by the attending students.

Assessment 

The final exam will consist of an oral exam on the topics covered by the course. The final exam will be held at the end of the teaching period and according to the calendar established by the Faculty. To pass the exam, the students must have scored an evaluation not inferior to 18/30. 

Students who have attended lessons regularly and with appreciable interest will be allowed to submit a short dissertation on a topic at their choice among those discussed during the course.

Didactic materials relating to the topics discussed during the course will be made available through the Moodle (e-learning) platform.

Those materials include selected parts of the following textbooks:

M. SIEMS, Comparative Law, CUP, Cambridge, 2015;

H. KÖTZ – K. ZWEIGERT, Introduction to Comparative Law (3rd rev. ed.), 1998; 

H. KÖTZ, European Contract Law, 2nd ed., OUP, Oxford, 2017; 

M.J. BONELL, An International Restatement of Contract Law - The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Transnational Publishers, Inc., Ardsley, NY, 3rd ed. 2005;

and also:

R. Sacco, Legal Formants: A Dynamic Approach to Comparative Law (Installment II of II), 39 AM. J. COMP. L. 343 (1991)..

R. Peleggi, Agricultural
Production Under Contract: An Overview, in
R. Torino - e A.M. Mancaleoni (eds.),
Agrifood Market Regulation and
Contractual Relationships in the Light of Directive (EU) 2019/633, RomaTre Press,
2023, pp.139-159.