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GLOBAL LAW

Module 1 - International Law and contemporary challenges

Syllabus

EN IT

Learning Objectives

The Course is divided into two Modules (International Law and Contemporary Challenges and Global Administrative Law).
The 1st Module aims at providing students with the knowledge of the basic elements of modern international law, with particular reference to subjects and legal sources, the United Nations collective security system, the State responsibility and disputes resolution.
It focuses on the nature of "public" international law as a legal order that was born historically - and still operates - to regulate relations between sovereign states in the international community. The role of international organizations and individuals in the international order is also introduced and analyzed, as well as the other "actors" that in recent times have become increasingly important in international practice, such as international non-governmental organizations.
The 2nd module focuses on the rise of global administration, on the emergence of administrative law mechanisms beyond the State and on transnational regulation.
It focuses on the logics, dynamics and challenges of what can be called “global administrative law”. “Global administrative law” refers to a situation in which: (1) relationships between the interests of individuals and public authorities are influenced or governed by multiple normative systems (from informal social norms to law, from specific rules to the general principles of law), with the consequence that such systems co-exist and compete with one another within the same territory or domain of activity; or (2) two or more systems of governance – such as the courts of different legal orders – claim authority over the same domain of activity.
Topics include: the criteria governing the expropriation of aliens; due process of law in regulatory and adjudicatory procedures; the tensions between custom, state law, and human rights in developing countries; and the ways in which the pluralist structure of international treaty law and organization are transforming law and courts at the national level.

MARTINA CONTICELLI

Prerequisites

No formal pre-requisites

Program

The course programme is divided into 2 inter-related parts as follows.
During each lecture, the lecturer presents the planned content with the aid of power point presentations and invites students to critical reflection and dialogue.


International Law and Contemporary Challenges (1st Module)

SUBJECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
The main features of the International Community and its historical evolution
The subjects of international law
- States
- International intergovernmental organizations
- Other subjects?
The position of individuals in international law

SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
- Custom
- Treaties
- Binding acts of international intergovernmental organizations
- General principles of law
- Hierarchy of sources and jus cogens
- Soft law


THE UNITED NATIONS
- From the League of Nations to the United Nations
- UN Charter
- UN Structure:
- General Assembly
- Security Council
- Economic and Social Council
- International Court of Justice
- Secretariat
- Trusteeship Council

THE UN COLLECTIVE SECURITY SYSTEM
- The use of force in jus cogens and in the UN Charter
- Role of the Security Council in the Charter and in practice in case of breaches of the peace, threats to peace or acts of aggression. In particular:
- provisional measures
- measures not involving the use of armed force
- action by air, sea, or land forces
- Role of the General Assembly and contribution of other international organizations


THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY AND THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Humanitarian intervention and Responsibility to Protect doctrine
Fight against Terrorism

STATE RESPONSIBILITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
The International Law Commission’s Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts
The rules of attribution
Circumstances precluding wrongfulness
Consequences of breach
Invocation of State responsibility
International liability for injurious consequences arising out of acts non prohibited by international law

DISPUTES RESOLUTION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
The international judicial function: Arbitration; the International Court of Justice Regional and sectorial international courts: The General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union; the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea; the WTO Dispute Settlement Body; the European Court of Human Rights; the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights; the African Commission and Court of Human Rights; the Committee for Human Rights of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Criminal Court and the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals.
The pacific resolution of international disputes and the non-judicial settlement procedures.


Global Administrative Law (2nd Module)

Introduction: Globalization and Law-A course on GAL

The Globalization of Law-Areas of legal globalization

General Interest and Public Goods under Legal Globalization
Non-State Actors in Legal Globalization
Climate Change, Biodiversity and Legal Globalization
Commerce in Legal Globalization
Internet, Digitalization and Legal Globalization

Governance without Government: power and legitimacy in the global sphere
Does a global Constitution exist?

An Administrative Law without the State
Is there a Global Administrative Law?
Origins and features of GAL

The structure and functioning of Global Governance
Global standards
Global proceedings and procedural fairness
Normative Conflicts
Concepts and values
Class debate


Global standards for national proceedings
Global proceedings
Due Process of Law

Books

Attending students:
1. Slides of the course.
2. Reading material distributed by the lecturers

Non attending students (below 80% attendance): will study ONE of the following textbooks:

Bibliography

Textbook and Materials

First Part

A. CASSESE, International Law, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2004

Selected materials and/or slides will be provided to the students during the course.

Second Part

G. della Cananea, Understanding GAL, Brill 2025
J.B. Auby, Globalization, Law and the State, Bloomsbury, 2017
S. Cassese, A world government?, Sevilla, Global Law Press, 2018

Selected materials and/or slides will be provided to the students during the course (a detailed list will be uploaded on the course website at the beginning of each module)









Teaching methods

The course combines different teaching methods: lectures; seminars; student presentations. The lectures will provide the students with the necessary information and reading guidelines on the phenomena under study, while seminars will see students critically engage with this knowledge and encourage/participate in class debates. Students are expected to attend each class, to come to class prepared and to participate in discussions.

Exam Rules


Assessment of the Global Law exam

*GG3 students or above must follow the assessment rules of the syllabus of their year. The changes presented in the 2025-26 version of this syllabus only apply to the GG2 class of 2025-26*

The attendance status of the student is evaluated separately for module 1 and module 2. In order to be considered attending, a student needs to attend at least 80% of the classes (>34 h per module). Being non-attending to one of the modules does not affect the student’s attendance status in the other.

Module 1: International Law and contemporary challenges
The first round of exams for module 1 takes place in the midterm week. This round is open to all GG2 students (both attending and non-attending students).
The exam will cover all topics examined in Module 1, although reading materials differ between attending and non-attending students.
Exam are structured as follows:
Prof. F. Mucci
Attending = oral exam on reading material for attending students
Non attending = oral exam on reading material for non- attending students
Prof. P. Simone
Attending = oral exam on reading material for attending students
Non attending = oral exam on reading material for non- attending students

Reading materials for attending students

Prof F. Mucci
The relevant parts of the textbook and the slides provided to students during the course and uploaded online
Prof P. Simone
The relevant parts of the textbook and the slides that will be provided to students during the course

Reading materials for non-attending students

Prof F. Mucci
The relevant parts of the textbook and the slides provided to students during the course and uploaded online, and the comment on the case Loizidou v. Turkey uploaded online.
Prof P. Simone
The relevant parts of the textbook and the slides that will be provided to students during the course, and a case study that will be uploaded online

The student’s final evaluation for module 1 will consist in the average grade of the 2 grades form the two professors.

Module 2: Global Administrative Law


The first round of exams for module 1 takes place in the regular winter exam session. This round is open to all GG2 students (both attending and non-attending students).
The exam will cover all topics examined in Module 2, although reading materials differ between attending and non-attending students.

Exams are structured as follows:

Attending students (>34 h of attendance in module 2) will be evaluated on the basis of (A) one short (2-3 page) “reaction paper” on a list or readings published on the Course’s website (40%), (B) attendance and participation (20%), and (C) a final oral exam (40%). Attendance to the final oral exam is compulsory in order to pass the exam.

The reaction paper rules will be published on the course website. Papers will have to pass an antiplagiarism check. Should a paper be tested positive to plagiarism, the outcome of the exam will be withdrawn (both the1st module and the 2nd one).

The oral exam will cover all mandatory readings for attending students
Non-attending students will take an oral exam on ALL the mandatory reading materials for non-attending students.

Mandatory reading materials for attending students

Textbook: G. della Cananea, Understanding Global Administrative Law, Brill 2025.


Mandatory reading materials for non-attending students.

TEXTBOOK 1 = G. della Cananea, Understanding Global Administrative Law, Brill 2025.

TEXTBOOK 2 = J.B. Auby, Globalization, Law and the State, Bloomsbury, 2017



1st and 2nd Module: final grade
If a student fails/ does not show up to / rejects at least one of the two modules in the first round (midterm week for module 1, finals week for module 2), he/she will have to retake both modules in the second round, losing any results obtained in the first call, but keeping his/her attendance status unchanged, and will prepare the exam accordingly. As a matter of fact, both modules must be completed in the same call.


The final grade given to the students for the Course of Global Law will be equivalent to the point average obtained between the final grade attributed at the end of the 1st Module (a minimum of 18 for each one of the two parts) and the final grade attributed at the end of the 2nd Module, rounded up for averages with 5 decimals. The exam will be passed if the average of the grades of the two modules is higher than 18 (each grade being higher or equal to 18).
Students who reject the final grade or fail in the Winter session, will lose all grades from the winter session and will be considered afterwards as non-attending students.

FEDERICA MUCCI

PIERLUIGI SIMONE

PIERLUIGI SIMONE