Content

FOUNDATIONS OF PUBLIC LAW

UNIT 1. Law and the State

1.1.– Concept and functions of Law
1.2.– Law, morality, and social customs. Law and justice
1.3.– Legality and legitimacy: validity, enforceability, applicability, and effectiveness
1.4.– The State and the Law

UNIT 2. The Legal System 

2.1.– The legal system as a system of norms
2.2.– Major legal traditions: common law, civil law, global law
2.3.– Criteria for relationships between norms and normative systems
2.4.– Sources of Law: norms (types of norms), custom, general principles of law, case law
2.5.– Branches of Law. Public Law. Current interrelations

UNIT 3. The Constitution and Constitutionalism 

3.1.– Theoretical foundations and evolution of constitutionalism
3.2.– Historical development of constitutionalism
3.3.– Concepts of Constitution
3.4.– The Spanish Constitution of 1978 

UNIT 4. Constitutional Guarantees

4.1.– The defence of the Constitution: constitutional review and constitutional amendment
4.2.– Constitutional justice. Historical models of constitutional justice: the American and the European systems
4.3.– Constitutional justice in the Spanish legal system: the Constitutional Court
4.4.– Constitutional review processes: constitutional appeal and preliminary question of unconstitutionality

UNIT 5. Forms of the State

5.1.– The Rule of Law: concept and manifestations
5.2.– The democratic State and the concepts of representative democracy
5.3.– The social State. The economic Constitution. Regulatory effectiveness and the social State. Environmental justice and ecological transition
5.4.– The political form of the State

UNIT 6. Law and Regulations

6.1.– Concept of Law. Regulatory quality
6.2.– The legislative procedure. Types of law
6.3.– Norms with the force of law: decree-laws and legislative decrees
6.4.– Concept and types of regulation
6.5.– Relationship with law: legality control of regulations
6.6.– Regulatory transparency and citizen participation

UNIT 7. The State of Autonomies and Local Autonomy

7.1.– The principle of autonomy and its legal development
7.2.– Statutes of Autonomy
7.3.– Distribution of competences and jurisdictional conflicts
7.4.– Legislative powers of the Autonomous Communities’ institutions
7.5.– The institutional system of the Generalitat of Catalonia
7.6.– Local autonomy

UNIT 8. International Law and European Union Law 

8.1.– Public international law: subjects and sources
8.2.– Integration of international law into the domestic legal system
8.3.– European Union and EU Law. Effects ofEU law on the Spanish legal system

UNIT 9. Fundamental Rights (I) 

9.1.– Human rights and fundamental rights
9.2.– Configuration of fundamental rights in the Spanish Constitution of 1978
9.3.– Effectiveness, holders, and exercise of fundamental rights
9.4.– Guarantees of fundamental rights
9.5.– The right to effective judicial protection
9.6.– Digital rights

UNIT 10. Fundamental Rights (II)

10.1.– The principle of equality and non-discrimination. Gender perspective and intersectionality as developments of the right to equality and non-discrimination
10.2.– Main rights in the personal sphere: life, personal freedom, thought, privacy, and data protection
10.3.– Main rights in the public sphere: freedom of expression and information; the right of assembly, association, and trade union membership; the right to participate in public affairs
10.4.– Main economic, social, and cultural rights: property, strike, and education. Guiding principles of social and economic policy
10.5.– The 2030 Agenda and sustainable development as a rights-based framework

UNIT 11. Fundamental Rights (III): Special Reference to the Right to Political Participation 

11.1.– The right to vote and stand for election. Constitutional recognition and límits

11.2.– The Spanish electoral system: proportional representation and electoral districts. Political parties

11.3.– Guarantees of the electoral process: rules, actors, procedures, and judicial oversight

11.4.– Political participation beyond elections: referendums, legislative initiatives, and digital participation