Constitutional Law I

Recommended Prerequisites

History

Teaching Methods

Expository classes: some degree of instructor-student interactivity is also welcome.

Learning Outcomes

-To know the Constitution (the concept, types of Constitution and function thereof)

- To know how the Constitution is related to the history of constitutionalism

- To know the underlying principles of the Portuguese Republic (laying special stress on the rule of law principle and the democratic principle)

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Part I. Constitutional Law and Constitutional Theory

Chapter 1 – Modern constitutionalism, constitutional movements and the Constitution

1. The genesis of the earliest modern constitutions and their political and historical context

2. The English, French and North-American constitutional movements and their major contributions

3. Constitution: concept and function

4. Constituent power

Chapter 2 – The Portuguese Constitutional Law Memory Revisited

1. The 1808 “plea for constitution”

2. The 1822 Constitution, the 1826 Constitutional Charter, the republican constitutionalism and the autoritarian plebiscitary constitutionalism. The vicissitudes of the 1838 Constitution

Part II. Major standards of Portuguese Constitutional Law

Chapter 1 – Genesis and evolution of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (CPR)

1. The proto-text

2. Revisions of the Constitution

Chapter 2 – Underlying Principles

1. The rule of law principle

2. The democratic principle

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Benedita Malaquias Pires Urbano

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Written tests during the semester or the final exam or students who should fail either in the written tests option or in the final exam may conduct their exam in another final exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

J. J. Gomes CANOTILHO, Direito Constitucional e Teoria da Constituição, 7.ª ed., Almedina, Coimbra
Rogério Ehrhardt SOARES, Direito Público e Sociedade Técnica, Tenacitas, Coimbra, 2008
João LOUREIRO/Jónatas MACHADO/Maria Benedita URBANO Direito Constitucional: Casos práticos resolvidos, 2.ª ed., Coimbra Editora, Coimbra, 2010