JUTINTCOLD – International Constitutional Law and Democracy
Course content
Note: This course will be given a new code from spring semester 2006, and you will find all relevant information JUR5560 – International Constitutional Law and Democracy (discontinued)
The increasing Europeanization and internationalization of law have resulted in increasingly international processes of legislation. This is also occurring on areas which previously have been considered to be primarily of internal interest for the nation states and their legislative institutions. Several and very comprehensive treaties have been made into national legislation or have given supranational organizations the competence to legislate with direct internal effect. Parts of the EC/EU treaties are supranational in character. Several treaties have also established courts or other conflict-resolution mechanisms which have contributed significantly to the increased efficiency of the implementation of international law. The meaning of the concepts of sovereignty and democracy relating to the constitutions of the nation-states are thus distinctly influenced. The same would be true for the status of the democratic legitimacy of law. Questions are thus raised and discussed about the relations between the nation-states and the various international and European treaties and conflict-resolving mechanisms within a constitutional framework and regarding the demands for a democratic legitimacy of law. It is suggested in international constitutional theory that instead of a dichotomy between national and international law we are now increasingly seeing forms of combination, overlapping and interdependence between several constitutional levels of law.
This course seeks to present and to discuss these questions. Particular emphasis is put on a presentation and discussion of the constitutional character of the EU/EC treaties. The EEA treaty will also be presented. This is partly because these treaties presently are the most comprehensive international treaties seen from the point of view of the nation-states and their regulatory traditions, but also partly because there is a rich legal literature here. There will also be contributions discussing how the evolution of an increasing europeanization and internationalization has influenced the legal concepts of sovereignty, democracy and nation-state, and more comprehensively the concepts and the discourse of constitutions and constitutionality. The concept of citizenship will be discussed within the new and more international constitutional framework. The evolution of a more international and European orientation of the European nation-states will be put into a historical perspective in one contribution. There will also be articles discussing normative aspects of this evolution and how it should be described legally, institutionally and normatively. The course will thus have its profile within a law-in-context tradition attempting to describe the evolution of new legal processes and structures in the constitutional area in a combined legal, institutional and normative way.
Learning outcome
See above regarding requirements and syllabus (detailed course information)
Admission
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Prerequisites
Recommended previous knowledge
3 years of law studies.
Teaching
Lectures/seminars
Examination
6-hours written exam
Resit an examination
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Resitting an examination.
- There are special rules for resitting a passed examination in the master's programme in Law.
Withdrawal from an examination
It is possible to take this exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
There are special rules for resitting a passed examination in the master's programme in Law.