General information

Course type AMUPIE
Module title General Principles of Law
Language English
Module lecturer prof. UAM dr hab. Marzena Kordela
Lecturer's email kordela@amu.edu.pl
Lecturer position Prof. UAM
Faculty Faculty of Law and Administration
Semester 2024/2025 (summer)
Duration 15
ECTS 5
USOS code 10-GPL-w-eras

Timetable

One lecture every week.

Module aim (aims)

The lectures aim is to provide students with foundations in general principles of law as a basic category of legal systems.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

None.

Syllabus

Week 1: The structure of legal systems and their elements: rules, principles, policies.

Week 2: Different concepts of principles of law.

Week 3: Constitutional principles and their role in law interpretation and application.

Week 4: The structure of law principles.

Week 5: Legal principles and legal values.

Week 6: The procedure of balancing in application of principles. Week 7: The problem of validity of principles.

Week 8: Legal principles versus extra-legal principles.

Reading list

  1. R. Alexy, /A Theory of Constitutional Rights/, trans. by J. Rivers, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002.
  2. R. Alexy, /On The Structure of Legal Principles/, “Ratio Juris” 2000, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 294-304.
  3. M. Atienza, J. R. Manero, /Permissions, Principles and Rights. A Paper on Statements Expressing Constitutional Liberties/, “Ratio Juris” 1996, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 236-247.
  4. H. Ávila, /Theory of Legal Principles/, trans. by J. Todeschini, Springer, Dordrecht 2007.
  5. R. Dworkin, /A Matter of Principle/, Clarendon Press: Oxford 1986.
  6. R. Dworkin, /Taking Rights Seriously/, Duckworth, London 1991.
  7. R. Dworkin, /The Model of Rules/, 35 /University of Chicago Law Review/ 14 (1967), in: J. Feinberg and H.Gross (eds.), /Philosophy of Law/, Wadsworth, Belmont, California 1980.
  8. M. Kordela, /Inter- and Extra-Legal Axiology/, in: /Axiology of Judicial Discretion. Theoretical and Practical Aspects/, Studia Iuridica Lublinensia 2020, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 29-38.
  9. M. Kordela, /Principles of Law. An Axiological Perspective/, “Humanitas Journal of European Studies” 2009, III, pp. 51-65.
  10. M. Kordela, /Validity and the General Principles of Law/, in: J.-Y. Chérot, S. Cimamonti, L. Tranchant, J. Trémeau (eds.), /Le Droit, Entre Autonomie et Ouverture. //Mélanges en l´honneur de Jean-Louis Bergel/, Bruylant, 2013, pp. 282-297.
  11. L. Mengoni, /Constitutional Law as Law by Principles/, „Ars Interpretandi. Yearbook of Legal Hermeneutics” 1996, Vol. 1, pp. 111-128.
  12. A. Peczenik, /Prima-facie Values and the Law/, in: /Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities/ 1991, Vol. 23, pp. 91-109.
  13. A. Peczenik, /Principles of Law: The Search for Legal Theory/, Rechtstheorie, 2 (1971), pp. 17-35.
  14. J. Raz, /Legal Principles and the Limits of Law/, in: Cohen M (ed.), /Ronald Dworkin and Contemporary Jurisprudence/, Duckworth, London 1984, pp. 73-87.
  15. J. Waldron, /The Need for Legal Principles/, Iowa Law Review 1997, vol. 82, pp. 857-86 Accessibility statement AMU-PIE Platform v2023.1