A Research and Teaching Project 

 

Constitutional adjudication is a necessary field of comparative legal research and of training in the legal profession. Constitutional adjudication has become a crucial instrument of safeguard, more in particular,  of fundamental rights of individuals and groups.

Comparative legal research therefore is, currently and always more often than in the past, dealing with constitutional adjudication in individual states in Europe, in North America, in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia as well as with regard to supranational courts and regional international courts in Europe, in Latin America, in Africa, while in Asia the non-domestic focus is rather on an intergovernmental setting.

Comparing constitutional adjudication has also a direct impact on the judicial function, in a global system that is experiencing and to some extent even promoting – although at varying degrees – a growing practice of the use of the comparative method by courts. Not only members of courts but their staff – law clerks and assistants – are becoming more and more aware of the contribution of foreign, international and supranational case-law to the purpose of domestic adjudication.

An evolving interactive constitutional scenario – based on the development of an open network of sources of law and on forms of judicial dialogue as an instrument for managing its complexities – requires appropriate systematic comparative legal research.

The Co.Co.A. research and teaching project at the University of Trento is designed to contribute  to furthering knowledge, awareness and understanding of the related phenomena and to promote professional training through the organisation of conferences, seminars and summer schools.