Erasmus +
The Department of Law offers to Incoming students
- Introductory courses
- Ordinary courses
- Legal Language Courses
- Italian Language Courses
The first semester begins on 26 September 2022; the second semester begins on 20 February 2023.
Introductory courses and Italian Language Courses are pre-semester courses: their beginning is planned, for the first semester, on 12 September 2022 and, for the second semester, on 6 February 2023.
All the courses listed below are intended to be delivered in English unless otherwise specified.
A complete list of the courses included in the educational offer of the Department is available at the bottom of the page.
The course gives students an insight into the law of the European Union. The European Union is an international organisation (sui generis) with its own legal order, which is separate from International Law and forms an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States. The course will also address the basic features of Public international Law (subjects, sources, and the relationship between international law and national law), in order to better understand the specific characteristics of the EU.
The course is divided into two parts. The constitutional and institutional part address the following topics: (i) the creation and development of the EU, its status in the international legal system; (ii) the EU's institutional structure and functioning (also in comparison to other international organizations); (iii) competences; (iv) decision- making; (v) sources EU law; (vi) direct effect and supremacy; (vii) the judicial system and enforcement of EU law (also as compared to international law).
The course will provide an introduction to Public International Law and EU Law, where the special features of the EU integration process will be discussed and compared to those of Public International Law. The course will address the following topics: (i) historical evolution and general features of the international and the EU legal orders; (ii) international legal personality; (iii) a focus on international organizations: (a) the competences and institutional structure of the United Nations (b) the competences and institutional structure of the EU; (iv) (a) the sources of International Law; (b) the sources of EU Law; (v) implementation of International and EU Law in the Domestic Legal Orders; specifically, the Italian perspective; (vi) the responsibility for internationally wrongful acts; (vi) (a) the settlement of international disputes; specifically the role of international courts and tribunals; (b) the Court of Justice of the EU and the role of domestic jurisdictions in the implementation of EU Law; (vii) the protection of fundamental human rights in International and EU Law.
You can register yourself filling this FORM
The General Module will touch upon the function and work of international Courts and Tribunals in contemporary international law. While contentious proceedings before the European Committee of social rights will be the specific focus, the students will also familiarize themselves more generally with the organization and procedure of inter-State courts and tribunals (International Court of Justice; International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; inter-State arbitration; settlement of disputes in International Trade Law) and of international judicial and arbitral bodies before which individuals and other non-State parties have ius standi (International Human Rights courts; international criminal jurisdictions; investment arbitration). Classes will be in English.
The ESC Module will focus on the preparation of the written and oral pleadings by the team participating in the RACSE Moot Court Competition concerning the European Social Charter. The Competition is based on the simulation of a dispute between a State and a trade union pending before the European Committee of social rights, which is the body that supervises on the European Social Charter.
English is the working language. The RACSE Moot Court will last from November 2022 until April 2023; in the a.y. 2022-2023 the final phase (oral phase) will take place at the University of Ferrara.
Desde los primeros estudios científicos en Criminología, la Estadística juega un papel fundamental en el estudio de las causas del delito como fenómeno social. La evaluación de dichas causas o factores debe ser medida, con base en los datos obtenidos sobre el fenómeno estudiado, para proceder a la intervención o al abordaje de una estrategia que reduzca el delito considerado. El conocimiento de las técnicas y métodos estadísticos de investigación en Criminología debe, por tanto, servir de base al graduado, o profesional de la criminología para comprender, cuando menos, la realidad social que investiga y extraer la información relevante del conjunto de datos considerado.
The course is in Spanish language. Please note that, although not included in the educational offer of the Department, the course will allow the acquisition of 6 ECTS.
The course aims at giving students a broad understanding of the legal measures adopted in this field of law by the EU institutions. As an introduction, the general characteristics of business organisations in Europe, as well as their main differences, will be analysed. There is no such thing as a comprehensive European company law, however, the harmonisation programme has created minimum standards in a number of areas, such as disclosure of company information, the capital of public limited liability companies, the rights of shareholders, takeover bids for public limited companies, domestic and cross-border mergers and divisions, minimum rules for single-member private limited liability companies and financial reporting and accounting. The analysis of the harmonisation programme is central to this course. Next, the case law of the European Court of Justice shall be scrutinised in detail. In a couple of landmark decisions, the Court has clarified some long pending questions concerning the freedom of establishment of companies in the EU (from Daily Mail to Polbud). Finally, the supranational business organisations, in particular the European Company (Societas Europaea) and the European Cooperative Society, are discussed. The course also incorporates recent developments, such as the newly adopted Directive on cross-border conversions and divisions, and the creation of companies fully online.
The first part of the course will address the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on national criminal laws, with a focus on: Right to life (Art. 2); Prohibition of torture (Art. 3); Principle of legality (Art. 7); Right not to be tried or punished twice (Art. 4 Prot. 7). The second part of the course will address the developments of a European criminal policy and the interplays between EU law and national criminal law, with a focus on: (i) the lack of competence in criminal matters of European institutions under the founding Treaties; (ii) the harmonization of criminal offenses and sanctions in the European legal system; (iii) the EU third pillar under the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam; (iv) the Area of Freedom Security and Justice under the Treaty of Lisbon; (v) the European Arrest Warrant; (vi) the role of fundamental rights in EU criminal law.
The course will deal with the following subjects:
First, the complex notion of the Rule of Law (RoL) will be examined from an EU perspective. The erosion of some of the EU core values and principles such as democracy, RoL and respect for human rights (Art. 2 TEU) in the last decade, especially in some Member States, has enhanced the creation and/or implementation of different mechanisms (Article 7 TEU, Rule of Law framework, conditionality budget mechanism, RoL reports, European Court of Justice [ECJ] rulings, etc.). We will analyze and assess this EU toolbox. Therefore, this course will study the mechanisms for guaranteeing respect for the RoL embedded in the European legal system and its operation in practice, particularly in the field of external relations. We will determine if the European definition of RoL can be extrapolated universally and evaluate the consequences that the different definitions of RoL that can be found in the international context may have for the EU. Ultimately, the course intends to assess the real capacity of the EU to disseminate its values (contested internally and externally) in an increasingly competitive international environment and to act as a true global actor.
Second, this course is to analyze the interaction between the Rule of Law and the EU’s External Action, regarding specifically counterterrorist sanctions and other restrictive measures, such as EU sanctions against human rights violations, nuclear proliferation, or the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The course will examine the content of the right to effective judicial protection and the right of defense as it has been defined in the case law of the CJEU. The development of this jurisprudence enhancing the right to effective judicial protection in the context of sanctions first appeared in the fight against terrorism through the emblematic saga of decisions in the Kadi case. However, the Court of Justice has extended the same language to the rest of the thematic sanctions and, even geographical sanctions when they have an individual scope, as is already the norm.
The course will address the general framework of the protection of human rights in international law: (i) the multilevel protection of human beings in international law; the history of human rights and the role of the individual in the international legal system; (ii) the sources of international human rights law; (iii) the contents of human rights rules, with special reference to civil rights; basic notions of international criminal law and of international humanitarian law; (iv) the international responsibility for violations of human rights rules; (v) monitoring compliance with international human rights obligations: the role of diplomatic protection; UN Charter-based and treaty-based bodies; judicial enforcement, especially in the European system; criminal prosecution of human rights violations; civil suits against violation of human rights; and (vi) the effects of human rights rules on the Italian legal order.
During the course, 3 or 4 seminars will be convened, either by the instructor of the course or by guest lecturers. Students will be asked to prepare in advance by reading some additional materials on a specific topic touched upon during the lectures and to engage actively in the discussion in class.
This course describes the impact of the international intellectual property (IP) regime on national IP laws, focussing on the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and free trade agreements and bilateral arrangements. It examines the impact of IP law on access to medicines, food security, biotechnological invention, genetic resources, as well as counterfeiting and copyright piracy. The course also looks at proposals to protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/folklore currently being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Michael Blakeney is Winthrop Professor of Law at the University of Western Australia and Visiting Professor in IP at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Ferrara. Professor Blakeney has advised the Asian Development Bank, Consulting Group for International Agricultural Research, European Commission, European Patent Office, Food and Agricultural Organization, WIPO and a number of university and public research institutes on intellectual property management. He has directed EC projects concerned with the establishment of an IP infrastructure in a number of new EU Member States and EU Applicant States. He has also directed and been a short-term expert in a number of projects to assist developing countries to become members of the World Trade Organization.
The course gives students an insight into the international legal challenges of cybersecurity and cybercrime. The course will address the following topics : (i) Major challenges of cybersecurity and cybercrime; (ii) International governance of cybersecurity: a risk of fragmentation?; (iii) Regulation of cyberspace: the application of existing international law; (iv) Regulation of cybersecurity: a need for specific instruments?; (v) Reaction to cyberattacks: the problem of attribution; (vi) Reaction to cyberattacks: the mecanisms of international law; (vii) Reaction to cyberattacks: the problem of hack-back; (viii) Application of jus in bello to cyberwar; (ix) Main issues concerning the regulation of cyberespionnage; (x) Cybercrime: main issues concerning the application of the Budapest Convention & it second Additional Protocol and presentation of the ongoing negotiation at the UN for the adoption of a convention on cybercrime.
The course aims to provide knowledge about the International Labour Organisation and how it operates. In the first part of the course, the origin and the history of ILO, that in 2019 celebrated its centenary, are illustrated. Moreover, the ILO tripartite composition is explained, describing the different bodies that operate inside the Organisation. Besides, the rules that regulate the ILO Committees that aim to enforce ILO Conventions and Recommendations are presented.
The second part of the course focuses on what ILO does to improve labour standards and working conditions. Therefore, the main ILO Conventions and Recommendations are examined, also taking into consideration how they have been implemented at national level. Some cases of infringements and violations detected by the ILO Committees are illustrated. In the final part of the course, the effectiveness of ILO regulation at national level is analysed, exploring if and how national courts apply ILO Conventions and Regulations and their juridical value in the national legal orders. Moreover, the relevance of ILO regulation for other International entities (such as the EU Institutions, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee for social rights) is explored.
Participants in the first part of the course will earn 3 ECTS, as will participants in the second part of the course.
In 2020 the course will be taught by two ILO fonctionnaires who present their in-depth knowledge of the Organisation.
Please note that, although not included in the educational offer of the Department, the course will allow the acquisition of 3 + 3 ECTS.
The timetable of Part I is available here
The timetable of Part II is available here.
Tax competition between countries has led to an international tax regime that provides various opportunities for multinational companies to avoid paying taxes. The criticisms raised against this regime have led to a major revision, mainly supported at the international level by the work and initiatives of the OECD, and at the national level, by governments, which reacted either unilaterally in certain cases or in collaboration with other countries in others. International taxation in Canada provides an illustrative case for discussing the challenges many countries face in determining tax rules that balance cooperation and competition. Using the Canadian case as an example, the seminar will address the following points: Participation in and use of the work and expertise of the OECD; Response to BEPS recommendations (15-action plan) and national legislation; Pillar 1 or Digital Services Tax Act, Pillar 2, impact and interaction with national tax rules and incentives; The evolution of a general anti-avoidance rule regarding treaty abuse and the potential outcome of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting; Environmental tax policy: Coordination of a provincial Cap and Trade System with a Federal Carbon Tax System.
International Taxation is the legal discipline addressing the power to tax of the states and the limits thereto when either taxpayers or the taxable assets are mobile or cross border. Such mobility might actually expose the individual or the company of the case to taxes in two or more countries, eventually suffering from multiple simultaneous taxation. The course shall illustrate to the students how to prevent this scenario and the ways and means available to minimize the overall tax burden possibly approaching the basic tax planning strategies
The course is divided into two parts.
The first one addresses the main theoretical aspects of international taxation, including the legitimation to tax by a sovereign State, the (possible) self-restraint in the exercise of this power in order to prevent international double taxation, the source and residence rules applicable to cross-border situations.
The second part focuses on the OECD and the UN Model Conventions. They will be analyzed following an article-by-article approach, with emphasis on specific provisions, such as those related to the concept of permanent establishment, residence (and domicile) for tax purposes and the notion of passive income.
In this respect, the course will also deal with the ways and means to prevent double taxation, including the use of tax credits or the exemption mechanism.
Eventually, basic tax planning schemes will be introduced to students, using the Italian legal system as a benchmark to assess their feasibility and the possible advantages determined by their actual implementation.
In the academic year 2022 - 2023 the course will be integrated with seminars and workshops, and host prominent academics from partner Universities.
The course International Trade law is divided into two parts. The first and main part of the course addresses cross-border private transactions, focusing on the international sale of goods and on the various relations that arise as a result of a sales contract. Topics include: the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG, 1980), the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Incoterms 2020, international transportation of cargo by sea and road, including the Hague-Visby Rules and the Rotterdam Rules, and the Convention on the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR). An important aspect of an international sales transaction is insurance for loss and damage to cargo while in transit. Since most cargo is still transported by sea, the discussion shall focus on marine insurance. Attention is further paid to the issue of dispute resolution by domestic courts, arbitration and mediation, as well as the applicable law to cross-border disputes. The second part of the course focuses on the regulatory relationship between public authorities and traders, analysing in particular the rules laid down in WTO agreements with regard, inter alia, to tariffs and duties, subsidies and countervailing measures. At the end of the course students will have a clear overview of the complexities of an international sales transaction through the analysis of international conventions and rules, legislation and case law.
Legal relationships within the area of private law often feature connections with two or more countries, thereby displaying an international character. Private international law deals with those cases. Its rules address the challenges posed by legal diversity, with the aim of providing certainty and ensuring the cross-border continuity of the rights of those involved. In the first part of the course, a selection of private international law instruments will be examined. The focus will beon the rules enacted by the EU as regards contracts and torts, although some references will also be made to the area of family law. Topics include: (i) the object and function of private international law; (ii) adjudicatory jurisdiction; (iii) the law applicable to cross-border legal relationships; (iv) recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; and (v) international judicial assistance. In the second part, the role of private international law in addressing modern challenges, such as corporate social responsibility and climate change, will be addressed.
The course aims to familiarise students with the workings of a common law legal system, and to develop competence in legal English to an advanced level in all four-language areas (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Students are required to have a level of B2 or higher. To maintain active participation, students must participate in class exercises and discussions, submit assignments and do group work. The course is divided into two parts.
The first part addresses the essential points that students from civil law countries need to understand in approaching the study of legal English as a legal language, with a focus on the following topics: (i) legal English as part of the common law tradition; (ii) the legacy of English legal history; (iii) the doctrine of binding precedent; (iv) common law lawyers’ attitudes towards law: procedural thinking and procedural language; (v) the role of legislation and the style of law-making; and (vi) the interpretation of statutes. The second part of the course aims to improve students’ ability to read and understand legal texts, such as legal periodicals, commercial legislation, legal correspondence and other types of legal documents.
Students will improve their understanding of spoken English used to talk about legal topics in meetings, presentations, interviews and discussions. There will be the opportunity to practice speaking skills in a range of situations typical of legal practice, such as client interviews, discussions with colleagues and contract negotiations.
The course aims to provide an introduction to French legal culture. Students will discover new legal rules using appropriate language. The purpose is to situate French Law in the context of other legal systems, specially Italian law and European law, by focusing on the meaning and relativity of the transalpine legal order. The course will also address the inherent dynamic nature of French rules to cope with new societal challenges paying special attention to relevant case law and historical process. It will be organized into three parts: (1) The foundations of French Law (sources, features, distinction between objective law and subjective rights); (2) The implementation of French Law (application and interpretation); (3) The updating of French Law (from the 1804 Civil Code to the 2016 obligations reform with special focus on the drafting process).
The course is in French.
The course aims to provide an introduction to the use of English as a legal language in national and international legal contexts, while developing a range of language skills, both written and oral/aural at intermediate level, including a strong focus on vocabulary skills and English legal terminology. Variations in legal English in different national contexts and in international and European Union law are introduced.
Lessons are based on the consultation of a range of original texts in English from both national (common law) and international legal orders, with particular emphasis on sources of law (constitutions, legislation, treaties), terminology and legal culture; a systematic approach to learning legal terminology and appropriate legal expression is an integral part of the learning process. The following topics are covered: (i) English in legal contexts; (ii) the language of a legal system (focus on the UK constitution); (iii) the European dimension and human rights (focus on international treaty law, the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights); and (iv) the language of criminal law and human rights.
The main objective of the course is to achieve sufficient competency in legal Spanish so as to be able to develop coherent, logical, accurate and appropriate Spanish legal terminology, spoken discourse; to be able to look up and comment on legal texts in Spanish and to be able to discuss legal topics. Learning Spanish cultural legal concepts, through texts and the latest key legislation, also forms part of the course objectives. Constitutional, Civil, Criminal and Procedural Law will be studied. The classes will be held entirely in Spanish.
The Language Centre of the University of Ferrara offers several opportunities for incoming students to learn Italian, but we strongly suggest students who are enrolling at our Department of Law and who are interested in a beginners' course to join our own free intensive course. This course is specifically designed to meet their linguistic needs, while avoiding overlaps with their academic schedule. Although this course is an intensive pre-semester class, it can be regularly included in your Learning Agreement. Students passing the exam will be awarded 5 ECTS.
Availability of the course subject to a minimum of 5 registered students. Please note: you are entitled to take more than one language course, but you will earn only 5 ECTS in total.
You can register yourself filling this FORM
This course is specifically designed to meet linguistic needs of students that attend a Double-degree course and students who wish to deepen their linguistic knowledge. Although this course is an intensive pre-semester class, it can be regularly included in your Learning Agreement. Students passing the exam will be awarded 5 ECTS.
Please note: you are entitled to take more than one language course, but you will earn only 5 ECTS in total.
You can register yourself filling this FORM
The Department of Law at the University of Ferrara currently offers:
- A Single-Cycle Degree in Law, in the satellite campus of Rovigo (40 km north of Ferrara)
- A three-year Degree in Legal Services, in Ferrara
The students can also activate a traineeship.
