Access to law and justice, courts and justice administration policies

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic skills in the field of social sciences are recommended. Considering that the seminars are lectured in English, it is a fundamental prerequisite that students have a knowledge of the English language that allows them an adequate comprehension and oral expression, as well as reading and interpreting academic texts. With regards to writing, students must have the appropriate skills to write in English, or Portuguese or Spanish.

Teaching Methods

This curricular unit's classes will switch between moments of oral presentation by professors and students (presentation of texts or topics related to the programme) and moments of collective reflection and debate. The latter will include active teaching activities, such as group works and simulations. For the model to fully work, students are expected to read recommended readings before each class.

Learning Outcomes

The general objective of this course unit is to promote a critical reflection on the barriers that affect access to law and justice, the judicial power, the role and functions of courts in contemporary societies and the public policies on judicial administration and innovation.

Specific objectives:

1. develop an advanced reflection on the barriers that affect access to law and justice, the role of the state, relations between powers, the functions of constitutional courts, the independence and accountability of the judicial power;

2. provide students with instruments of analysis for the study of new scenarios and the ongoing changes in the North and South's judicial systems;

3. promote a comprehensive and critical reading on the issue of judicial and political powers;

4. provide conceptual and theoretical instruments to analyse the impacts of reforms, the quality of justice, the innovation paths and the justice reforms, and the transformations of legal professions.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1) State, judicial power and courts

1.1. Barriers affecting access to law and justice

1.2. The trasformations of states and the dynamics between centres and peripheries

1.3. The judiciary and its relationship with other state's powers

1.4. Justice and politics

1.5. The role of constitutional courts

2) Courts and public policies of judicial administration

2.1. The balance between independence and accountability

2.2. Rule of law and quality of justice

2.3. Legal reforms, new technologies and processes of judicial innovation

2.4. Justice in the territories: proximity, specialisation, concentration and efficiency

3) State, society and market: changing in the legal professions and in conflict resolution mechanisms

3.1. Courts' functions and performance

3.2. Courts and human rights

3.3. Conflict resolution inside and outside the courts

3.4. The changing legal professions

3.5. Relations between law and economy.

Head Lecturer(s)

João António Fernandes Pedroso

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Assessment will be dynamic and bipartite: written work in English or Portuguese or Spanish (70%) and oral participation in class (30%).: 100.0%

Bibliography

Cappelletti, M. & Garth B. (1978) Access to Justice. Buffalo Law Review, 27, 181-292.

Piana, D. (2010), Judicial accountabilities in new Europe: from rule of law to quality of justice. Farnham: Ashgate.

Santos, B. de S. (1987), "Law: A Map of Misreading. Toward a Post-Modern Conception of Law", Journal of Law and Society, 14, 3, 27 9-302.

Santos, B. de S. (2000),"Law and Democracy: (Mis)trusting de Global Reform of Courts", in Jenson, J. & Santos, B. de S. (Eds.), Globalizing Institutions: Case Studies in Regulation and Innovation. Aldershot: Ashgate, 253-284.

Shapiro, M. (1981), Courts. A Comparative and Political Analysis. Chicago-London: The University of Chicago Press.

Shetreet, S. & Forsyth, C. (eds.) (2011), The culture of judicial independence: conceptual foundations and practical challenges. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.