Fundamental Rights

Code:

D502

Acronym:

DFUND

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Legal Sciences

Instance: 2006/2007 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Course/CS Responsible:	Law

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
D	107	Official Study Plan - LD	5	-	7	-

Objectives

1. To understand the general theory of fundamental rights and to understand that they are a "designation" for meaning the dignity of the human being.
2. To understand the reality of fundamental rights and of its ways of enforcment nowadays

Program

(GENERAL THEORY OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS)


Chapter I

The Concept of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. The Idea
§ 2. The Historical Experience
§ 3. The Portuguese Context
§ 4. The Meaning on the Constitution of 1976


Chapter II

The Theory of the Constitution and Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Fundamental Rights and Constitution
§ 2. The Idea of Limitation
§ 3. The Openess of the Fundamental Rights Catalogue
§ 4. The Juridical Protection


Chapter III

The General Theory of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Necessity and Possibility of a General and Objective Theory of Fundamental Rights
§ 2. Object and Functions
§ 3. Its Inclusion on the List of the so called “Theories of Fundamental Rights”


Chapter IV

The Concept of Norm of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Norm and Norm Formulation of Fundamental Rights
§ 2. Enumerated Rights and Unenumerated Rights
§ 3. The Recognition of the “Dual Nature” of Fundamental Rights
§ 4. The General Principle of Equality


Chapter V

The Norm Structure of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Open System and Closed System
§ 2. The Model of Rules and Principles Advanced by Dworkin
§ 3. The Threefold Model Advanced by Alexy and Gomes Canotilho
3.1. The Pure Model of Rules
3.2. The Model of Rules/Principles
3.3. The Model of Rules/Principles/Procedures


Chapter VI

The Norm Structure of Fundamental Rights (cont.)

§ 1. The “Social Function” of Fundamental Rights
§ 2. Economical, Social and Cultural Rights
§ 3. The Welfare State
§ 4. The Openess Toward the “New” Fundamental Rights



Chapter VII

The Application of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Interpretation and Application of Fundamental Rights
§ 2. The Concept of Concretization
§ 3. The Judicial Application


Chapter VIII

Restriction and Configuration of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. The Concepts of Restriction and Configuration
§ 2. The Types of Restrictions
2.1. Restrictions Directly Ordered by the Constitution
2.2. Restrictions Indirectly Ordered by the Constitution
§ 4. The Supremacy of the Legislative Power
§ 3. The Protection of the “Essential Content“ as Limit of the Limits or Last Barrier of Concretization


Chapter IX

The “Constitutionalization” of “New” Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Rights and Entitlements
§ 2. Juridical and Institutional Recognition
§ 3. The Protection by the Public Powers
§ 4. The Positivity’s Process by the Intervention of the Judicial Power


Chapter X

Delimitation of Fundamental Rights in the Concrete Case

§ 1. The Terms of the Problem
§ 2. Balancing of Values and Balancing of Goods on the Concrete Case
§ 3. The Inevitability of the Balancing
§ 4. The Reordenation of the Goods on the Concrete Case
4.1. Individual Rights
4.2. Colective Goods


Chapter XI

The "vis expansiva" of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. The Concept’s Delimitation
§ 2. The “Constitutionalization” of Private Law
§ 3. Its Expression on the Relation State/Citizens and on the Relation Citizens/Citizens


Chapter XII

The Future of Fundamental Rights

§ 1. Is There a Possibility of a Juridical and Public Theory of Fundamental Rights?
§ 2. The Irreplaceable Role of the Courts

Main Bibliography

ALEXY, Robert, Theorie der Grundrechte, Francoforte sobre o Meno, 1986 (existe tradução espanhola).

ANDRADE, J. C. Vieira de, Os Direitos Fundamentais na Cons-tituição de 1976, 3ª ed., Coimbra, 2004.

CANARIS, Claus-Wilhelm, Direitos Fundamentais e Direito Privado, trad. port., Coimbra, 2003.


CANOTILHO, J. J. Gomes, Direito Constitucional e Teoria da Constituição, 7ª ed., Coimbra, 2003.
— Estudos sobre Direitos Fundamentais, Coimbra, 2004.

DWORKIN, Ronald M., DWORKIN, Ronald M., Taking Rights Se-riously, 4ª ed., Londres, 1984
 Unenumerated Rights: Whether or How Roe Should Be Overruled, in: STONE/EPSTEIN/SUNSTEIN (eds.), “The Bill of Rights in the Modern State”, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1992, pp. 381 ss.
— Freedom's Law. The Moral Reading of the American Cons-titution, Nova Iorque: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 72, 147 ss.
― Sovereign Virtue. The Theory and Practice of Equality, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.

EIDE, Absjorne, KRAUSE, Catarina, e ROSAS, Allan, Economic, So-cial and Cultural Rights. A Textbook, 2ª ed., Dordrecht: Marynus Nijhoff, 2001.

HÄBERLE, Peter, Die Wesengehaltsgarantie des Art. 9 Abs 2 Grundgesetz (trad. it. “Le libertà fondamentali nello Stato costituzionale“), Roma, 1993.

ISENSEE/KIRCHOF (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundes-republik Deutschland, V, 2ª ed., Heidelberga, 2000.

LABRILLAC, Rémy, FRISON-ROCHE, Marie-Anne, e REVET, Thierry (dir.), Droits et Libertés Fondamentaux, 3ª ed., Paris, 1996.

MIRANDA, Jorge, Manual de Direito Constitucional, IV, 3ª ed., Coimbra, 2000.

PIEROTH, Bodo, e SCHLINK, Bernhard, Grundrechte ― Staatsrecht II, 19ª ed., Heidelberga, 2003.

QUEIROZ, Cristina, Direitos Fundamentais Sociais. Funções, âmbi-to, conteúdo, questões interpretativas e problemas de justiciabilidade, Coimbra, 2006.
― Direitos Fundamentais. Teoria Geral, Coimbra, 2002.

RAWLS, John, A Theory of Justice (trad. cast. “Teoría de la Justicia”), México, Madrid, 1979.
— Political Liberalism, Nova Iorque: Columbia University Press, 1993.
— The Idea of Public Reason Revisited, in: J. RAWLS, “The Law of Peoples”, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 131 ss.

SANDEL, Michael J., Democracy's Discontent. America in Search of a Public Philosophie, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.

SEMINÁRIO: Il principio di ragionevolezza nella giurisprudenza della Corte costituzionale. Riferimenti comparatistici. Actas do Seminário de Roma, 13-14 de Outubro de 1992, Milão, 1994.

STERN, Klaus, Das Staatsrecht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, III, 1 (“Allgemeine Lehren der Grundrechte”), Munique, 1988, e 2, Munique, 1994.

SUNSTEIN, Cass R., The Second Bill of Rights. FDR’S Unfinished Revolution and why we need it more than ever, Nova Iorque, 2004.
― e HOLMES, Stephen, The Cost of Rights. Why Liberty De-pends on Taxes, Nova Iorque, 2000.

TRIBE, Laurence H., American Constitutional Law, I, 3ª ed., Mineola, Nova Iorque: The Foundation Press, 2000.

VESPAZIANI, Alberto, Interpretación del bilanciamento dei diritti fondamentali, Pádua, 2002.

WACHSMANN, Patrick, Libertés Publiques, 3ª ed., Paris, 2000.

Complementary Bibliography

Other elements will be provided throughout the year, namely about specific fundamental rights

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical classes: Exposition of the contents of the discipline, use of case-studies
Practical classes: The students have to solve pratical exercises and discuss topics related to the Program

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Eligibility for exams

- Continuous assessment
- The marks the student must get have to be equal or higher than 10, in a scale of [0,20] in one of the following hypotheses:
A)Written final examination;
b)Oral final examination (if the student obtained in a) a mark between 7 and 9.

Calculation formula of final grade

Are the marks obtained in the examinations referred in “Frequency Attaining” or by the Continuous assessment method

Examinations or Special Assignments

None

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

General Law and rules enforced in FDUP.

Classification improvement

Is obtained by doing a written or an oral examination