Padua University School of Law

UNIVERSITÀ
DEGLI STUDI
DI PADOVA
DIPARTIMENTO DI DIRITTO PUBBLICO,
INTERNAZIONALE E COMUNITARIO
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Padua University School of Law - Wake Forest
Summer School - 2014
Law Literature and Culture
Exploring Italian and European Literature and Culture to understand the Law
From Middle Age to contemporary Europe
Director: Prof. Bernardo Cortese
Department for Public Law, International and EU Law - University of Padua School of Law
Morning Lectures
Prof. Richard Schneider, Wake Forest University School of Law
(9-10:30; 10:45-12:15, Mo-Fri)
Monday, June the 30th Aula Valente
1. Introductions, goals of the class, and discussion of the field of law and literature
--James Boyd White, “Translation, Interpretation, and Law” and “Justice as
Translation” from Justice as Translation: An Essay in Cultural and Legal
Criticism (1990)
--Kafka, “In the Penal Colony”
Tuesday, July the 1st
Aula Valente
2. Private and Public Vices
Dante (selections) and contrapasso
--Inferno: the Dark Wood, cantos 1-2; circle 2 (lust), canto 5; circle 7 (violence),
cantos 12-17; circle 8 (fraud), cantos 21-23 (corruption of public officials),
cantos 26-27 (false counsel)
Wednesday, July the 2nd
Aula Valente
3. Natural Law and Canon Law
Boccaccio’s Decameron (selections), natural law and canon law
--Decameron, Prologue, First Day: introduction (the setting) and tale 1 (Ser
Cepperello); Second Day, tale 10 (Messer Ricciardo di Chinzica); Third Day,
tale 7 (Tedaldo); Fourth Day, introduction (Filippo Balducci) and tale 7
(Simona and Pasquino); Sixth Day, tale 7 (Madonna Filippa); Ninth Day, tale 9
(Emilia’s tale of King Solomon)
Thursday, July the 3rd
4. The Public Power and the Individual
Seneca, “On Clemency”
Machiavelli, The Prince
Aula Valente
Friday, July the 4th
5. Law, Process, Justice
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1596/1597)
Aula Valente
UNIVERSITÀ
DEGLI STUDI
DI PADOVA
DIPARTIMENTO DI DIRITTO PUBBLICO,
INTERNAZIONALE E COMUNITARIO
__________________________________________________________________________________
Afternoon Workshops and Seminars
Prof. Bernardo Cortese, University of Padova School of Law (coordinator)
(Mo-Th16.30-17.30, Fri 15-1730)
1. Monday, June the 30th
From the free communes (City States) to the Venetian Republic
Dr. Silvia Gasparini, University of Padua School of Law
Aula Valente
2. Tuesday, July the 1st
Aula Valente
Research and Academic Freedom, between Law and Ethic
Dr. Enrico Furlan, University of Padua Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and
Applied Psychology FISPA; Dr. Simona Pinton, PhD in International Law
3. Wednesday, July the 2nd
Venezia, Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Social and Cultural Rights in the Venetian Republic: the Venetian Scuole
Prof. Laura Picchio Forlati, University of Padua School of Law, President of the Italian
Society of International Law, President of the Commission for Cultural Affairs at the Scuola
Grande di San Rocco
4. Thursday, July the 3rd
Aula Valente
Nation States and Europeanism: Some Thoughts on the European Integration Roots in the
Italian Risorgimento and Resistenza, and in the Western European Post War Pacification
Process
Prof. Bernardo Cortese, University of Padua School of Law
5. Friday, July the 4th
Aula Valente
The European Integration – How to Build a European Polity Without a Common Cultural
Substratum
Prof. Bernardo Cortese, University of Padua School of Law; Prof. Antonio Varsori, University
of Padua School of Economics and Political Science
Extramurals - Visits
(Mo-Thu 15-16.15)
1. Monday, June the 30th : Scrovegni Chapel, “Piazze” and “Palazzo della Ragione”
2. Tuesday, July the 1st – Aula Magna, Galilei’s Cathedra, Anatomical Theatre
3. Wednesday, July the 2nd – Scuola Grande San Rocco, Venice (15:30)
4. Thursday, July the 3rd – Palazzo Bo’: Basilica, Modern Court – Palazzo Liviano
DIPARTIMENTO DI DIRITTO PUBBLICO,
INTERNAZIONALE E COMUNITARIO
UNIVERSITÀ
DEGLI STUDI
DI PADOVA
__________________________________________________________________________________
First section – Introductory Notes
Prof. Richard Schneider
The goal of this section of the course is to introduce the students to the field of law and
literature. The foundational idea behind the study of law and literature, recognized long ago by
Justice Benjamin Cardozo, is that lawyers and judges write a lot so the study of literature in a legal
context can benefit not only practitioners but the profession. The law and literature movement in the
United States has been quite influential at least since James Boyd White published The Legal
Imagination in 1985. Since then, many literary works have been studied and brought under the light
of legal analysis. Some of the analysis has focused on the role of actual legal history in the work (e.g.,
studying Melville’s Billy Budd from the perspective of the history of naval and admiralty laws). Other
analysis has focused on how literature can bring a humanistic perspective to issues such as guilt,
innocence, justice, and obedience to law (e.g., The Merchant of Venice, Crime and Punishment, or The
Stranger).
During this week I will spend day 1 on mostly introductory material. The rest of the week we
will read Dante, Boccaccio, and one play by Shakespeare. The course is meant to be a seminar-type
course, meaning that I expect a good deal of discussion. The readings will be discussed in the
morning sessions. In the afternoon we will visit sites in and near Padua that can also be “read” in the
context of law and literature (e.g. Giotto’s work in the Scrovegni Chapel).
Please obtain the readings on the syllabus. I have no objection to you reading everything in
Italian (except the Shakespeare) but discussions, of course, will be in English. I suggest that you
begin the reading immediately so that you will be ready for discussion on the appropriate day.
Second section – Introductory Notes
Prof. Bernardo Cortese
The goal of the afternoon workshops and seminars section of the course is to push the students
to discuss some questions of law, and especially public law, benefitting from elements of the Venetian,
Paduan, and specifically Padua University’s cultural heritage. The fil rouge of the afternoon’s
activities will be on the development of public institutions in the European area, from middle age free
cities to contemporary Europe. On Monday, we will start considering the building of republican
institutions in northern Italy in the late middle age and in the renaissance. On Tuesday, after having
visited the Galilei Chair and the Anatomical Theatre, we will further reflect on the role of universities,
States and Church, and more generally on law and ethics in modern and contemporary research. On
Thursday, we will observe the birth of a social dimension in the collective institutions of the Venetian
Republic, as the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. On Thursday, after an appraisal of the role of the
University of Padua in Risorgimento and Resistenza, we will try to assess the shared roots of Nation
States, modern Democratic States, and the European Union project in post war Europe. Finally, on
Friday, we will try to discuss how it could be possible to build a European polity without a clear
common cultural and ideal project.
Extramural visits will introduce the discussion on these subjects, that will essentially be lead by
University of Padua faculty
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At the end of the entire course the student will be responsible for a five-page paper on a law and
literature topic to be approved by Prof. Schneider and Prof. Cortese.