Constitutional Law I

Code:

D102 I

Acronym:

DC I

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Legal Sciences

Instance: 2009/2010 - 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
LDB	183	Oficial Study Plan LD	1	-	6	-

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The discipline of Constitutional Law I aims at offering a preliminary survey of the salient elements of the discipline at university level, attentive to the most important advances in this field of knowledge. This implies a generalist point of view, inclusive of more universal and formative concepts, together with some issues centering upon the Portuguese Constitution, in both theory and practice. 


Combining theoretical and empirical methods, this discipline requires students to understand the basic aspects of the Constitutional Law episteme by familiarizing themselves with many of its main questions. They are asked to situate this understanding within the contexts of science, history, and society. They should know the essential concepts of Constitutional Law, its theory and the authors thereof, plus a comparative appreciation of alternative systems and models. They will be supposed to know the principles of Portuguese Constitution, methods of interpretation, and have general but well-founded ideas on the political institutions of our Constitutional State.
The order of the topics may be changed due to concrete didactical reasons.

Program

I. Constitution and Constitutional Law: Scientific, sociological and comparative foundations, classical concepts and new developments.
II. Constitutional History
III. Comparative Constitutional Systems and Theory of State
IV. Constitutional Hermeneutics
V. Citizenship and Human Rights
VI. Introduction to Portuguese Constitutional Institutions.

Mandatory literature

Cunha Paulo Ferreira da; Direito constitucional aplicado. ISBN: 9787-972-724-327-3
Cunha Paulo Ferreira da; Direito constitucional geral. ISBN: 972-724-305-3
Paulo Ferreira da Cunha; Direito CONSTITUCIONAL ANOTADO, Quid Juris, 2008
Cunha Paulo Ferreira da; Raízes da república. ISBN: 972-40-2895-X
Paulo Ferreira da Cunha; Geografia Constitucional, Quid Juris, 2009

Teaching methods and learning activities

According to the rules enforced at the Faculty.

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
Attendance (estimated)	Participação presencial	0,00
	Total:	-	0,00

Eligibility for exams

According to the rules enforced at the Faculty.

Calculation formula of final grade

According to the rules enforced at the Faculty.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not considered.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

According to the rules enforced at the Faculty.

Classification improvement

According to the rules enforced at the Faculty.

Observations

Long bibliographical lists may be consulted in Direito Constitucional Geral and Direito Constitucional Anotado.

Classical textbooks:

CANOTILHO, José Joaquim Gomes ? Direito Constitucional e Teoria da Constituição, Coimbra, Almedina, last ed. 
MIRANDA, Jorge ? Teoria do Estado e da Constituição, Coimbra, Coimbra Editora, 2002; Idem - Manual de Direito Constitucional, Coimbra, Coimbra Editora, vvs. vols., vv. eds., last eds.

Constitutional texts:

Specially those commented by: Gomes Canotilho /Vital Moreira; Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa / José de Mello Alexandrino; Jorge Miranda / Rui Medeiros

The textbook Direito Constitucional Anotado contains Portuguese Constitutional text.

Selected Constitutional Court sentences: ed. by Jorge Miranda (publisher: Universidade Católica Portuguesa).