COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW:
Comparative Constitutional Law
Chair of Constitutional Law
Comparative Constitutional Law
Study: International-Administrative - 5. semester
Code: 123677
ECTS: 5.0
Course coordinators: prof. dr. sc. Biljana Kostadinov
prof. dr. sc. Đorđe Gardašević
izv. prof. dr. sc. Ana Horvat Vuković
Exam dates:
  • 15. 04. 2024.
  • 10. 06. 2024.
  • 24. 06. 2024.
  • 08. 07. 2024.
  • 26. 08. 2024.
  • 09. 09. 2024.
Exam registration: Studomat
Basic data
Comparative Constitutional Law International-Administrative - 5. semester
5.0 123677
Lecturer in charge Consultations Location
prof. dr. sc. Biljana Kostadinov Trg Republike Hrvatske 3, room 13
prof. dr. sc. Đorđe Gardašević Trg Republike Hrvatske 3, room 15
izv. prof. dr. sc. Ana Horvat Vuković

Office hours are held Mondays from 10:30, except during exam weeks and annual leave.

For students who work or are otherwise unable to make use of these office hours, alternative office hours are scheduled on an individual basis, including via Google Meet, Zoom, Teams and similar platforms.

Trg Republike Hrvatske 3, room 10
Literature
Branko Smerdel; Ustavno uređenje europske Hrvatske - II. izmijenjeno i dopunjeno izdanje; Narodne novine (2020), str. 3-61, 183-239
Biljana Kostadinov; Suvremeni francuski parlamentarizam; Pravni fakultet u Zagrebu (2004), str. 8-63
Biljana Kostadinov, Robert Podolnjak, Ana Horvat Vuković, Đorđe Gardašević; Poredbeno ustavno pravo - dioba vlasti, ur. Biljana Kostadinov; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (2022), str
Description
The "Comparative Constitutional Law" course will enable students to familiarize themselves with, to understand and evaluate some of the most significant constitutional traditions and the theoretical systems of government predicated upon them, as well as assess their practical application in contemporary political systems such as the US and the European Union. The students should consequentially be made aware of the peculiarities that divide such constitutional systems, but also of the shared values, principles and institutes which connect them.

Topics include some of the following:

1. Basic principles and general issues of constitutional law. Object of comparative constitutional law. Methods of constitutional hermeneutics, especially the comparative method;
2. Functions of the constitution in a democratic society: the constitution as a political and legal act, constitutional governance and democracy, rule of law and the legal state, constitutionalism, characteristics of constitutional governance, the struggle for law;
3. Theory of constitutional governance and its development: school of natural law, social contract, the security-freedom dichotomy and justification of autocracy, theory of effective and accountable government;
4. The development of constitutionality worldwide: history of constitutionality, revolutionary 18th century constitutionality, establishing the constitutional order, constitutional moment and constitutional process, constitutional choice;
5. Overview of the great constitutional systems: the US Constitution, the UK's (material) constitution, development of constitutionality in France, development of constitutionality in Germany, constitutional transition of contemporary European states, the fall of communism and the democratic transition, constitutional governance and "good governance";
6. System of government: why the different systems of government, the problem of an effective and accountable government, constitutional models and accountability, bicameral parliaments, immunity of MPs, a fresh take on the division of power;
7. Compound states and unions of states: historical development of federalism, legal distinction between a federation, confederation and the EU, other forms of compound states, Bosnia and Herzegovina as a special form of a compound state, federal principle and perspectives of EU's development.
Exam dates
15. 04. 2024.
10. 06. 2024.
24. 06. 2024.
08. 07. 2024.
26. 08. 2024.
09. 09. 2024.