1st Edition
Dialogues on Italian Constitutional Justice A Comparative Perspective
This collection adopts a distinctive method and structure to introduce the work of Italian constitutional law scholars into the Anglophone dialogue while also bringing a number of prominent non-Italian constitutional law scholars to study and write about constitutional justice in a global context.
The work presents six distinct areas of particular interest from a comparative constitutional perspective: first, the role of legal scholarship in the work of constitutional courts; second, structures and processes that contribute to more “open” or “closed” styles of constitutional adjudication; third, pros and cons of collegiality in the work of constitutional courts; fourth, forms of access by individuals to constitutional justice; fifth, methods of constitutional interpretation; and sixth, the relationship between national constitutional adjudication and the transnational context. In each of these six areas, the volume sets up a new and genuine constitutional dialogue between an Italian scholar presenting a discussion and critical assessment of the specific topic, and a non-Italian scholar who responds elaborating the issue as seen from constitutional law beyond the Italian system. The resulting six such dialogues thus provide a dynamic, in-depth, multidimensional, national and transnational/comparative examination of these areas in which the `Italian style’ of constitutional adjudication has a distinctive contribution to make to comparative constitutional law in general.
Fostering a deeper knowledge of the Italian Constitutional Court within the comparative global space and advancing a creative and fruitful methodological approach, the book will be fascinating reading for academics and researchers in comparative constitutional law.
1. Introduction;
2. Dialogue as Method, Vittoria Barsotti, Paolo G. Carozza, Marta Cartabia, and Andrea Simoncini; Dialogue I: Constitutional courts and legal scholarship;
3. Je t’aime… moi non plus: some considerations on (and impressions of) the relationships between constitutional justice and legal scholarship, Paolo Passaglia;
4. The wasp and the orchid: constitutional justice and legal scholarship need each other, Marc Verdussen; Dialogue II: Open and closed forms of constitutional adjudication;
5. Openness and transparency in constitutional adjudication: amici curiae, third-party intervention, and fact-finding powers, Tania Groppi and Anna Maria Lecis Cocco Ortu;
6. Procedural rules and the cultivation of well-informed and responsive constitutional judiciaries, Maartje De Visser; Dialogue III: The principle of collegiality;
7. Collegiality over personality: the refusal of separate opinions in Italy, Diletta Tega;
8. `Collegiality’ in comparative context, Sarah Harding; Dialogue IV: Access to constitutional adjudication;
9. Direct constitutional complaint and Italian style do not match. But why? Elisabetta Lamarque;
10. The potential virtues and risks of abstract constitutional challenges and individual complaints: some reflections from Spain, Victor Ferreres Comella; Dialogue V: Judicial reasoning and interpretation;
11. Forms and methods of constitutional interpretation – Italian style, Giorgio Pino;
12. The relationship between forms and methods in constitutional interpretation: comparative reflections, Jeff Pojanowski; Dialogue VI: National constitutional adjudication in a transnational context ;
13. The Italian constitutional court in the European space – an empirical approach, Marta Infantino;
14. European relationality in the European legal space: country-specific mixtures within one European style, Patricia Popelier;
15. Power is perfected in weakness: on the authority of the Italian constitutional court, Armin von Bogdandy and Davide Paris;
Biography
Vittoria Barsotti, Professor of Comparative Law, University of Florence, Italy;
Paolo G. Carozza, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School, USA;
Marta Cartabia, Vice President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Italy;
Andrea Simoncini, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Florence, Italy;