Language of teaching
English
Contents
The course aims to illustrate the principles and rules governing the exercise of legal rhetoric in contemporary trials. In order to do this, it's necessary to start from the teachings of rhetoric in the Greek and Roman tradition and come to the modern legal profession. Emphasis will be put in argumentation and discussion, looking to show how to construct a partisan position, how to demonstrate and support it in court, with the intention of putting the theoretical content into practical debates.
Reference texts
For non-attending students:
- G. Sposito, The Keys of Legal Rhetoric. A Handbook for Lawyers, Intra 2020;
- S. Toulmin, The uses of Arguments, 2nd ed., any reprint (e.g. Cambridge University Press 2003),
For attending students: syllabus variations will be indicated in class.
Learning objectives
The goal is to form in students, future legal professionals, the critical ability to analyze problems, grasp their nodal points, identify arguments that can support their positions, and discuss them rationally and, at the same time, persuasively. The focus will be on procedural dynamics, in which all of this is very clearly realized.
Teaching methods
Lectures, seminars and discussion and debate exercises.
Methods of verifying learning
Exercises during the course and final oral examination.