Derecho Constitucional III (GED70080)

General information

Type:	OB	Curs:	2	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	3 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Sec: A	Esther Martín Núñez	Derecho	ESP

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Sec: B	Esther Martín Núñez	Derecho	ESP

Workload distribution:

- Classroom activities: approx. 40% of total credits
- Guided activities: approx. 20% of credits
- Independent study: approx. 40% of credits

This subject, which follows on from the Constitutional Law I and II courses, contributes to the Bachelor in Law programme by fostering the skills students need in order to deal with the processes and actions that require the direct application of the Spanish Constitution and in those connected to constitutional rights.

The student should be able to:

- Understand the constitutional system of fundamental rights recognised in the Constitution and the relation between these rights and others foreseen in other declarations of rights, their headings, content, limits and guarantees as well as the rules to interpret said rights.
- Advise and participate in all manner of actions before public authorities related to the protection of fundamental rights.
- Advise and participate in all manner of proceedings related to the protection of fundamental rights recognised in the Constitution before ordinary courts and the Constitutional Court, with special emphasis on appeals for legal protection as well as on means to protect recognised rights in international conventions regarding human rights.

11. Tenacity, persistence, constancy

19. Teamwork and collaboration

5. Ability for continuous learning Ability to learn continually

1. Constitutional rights and their guarantees Lesson 1. Fundamental rights: concept and historical evolution. Conceptual delimitation. Historical evolution. Classification of rights. Constitutionalisation of rights. International recognition and protection of human rights, epecially with respect to the European Council and European Union. Lesson 2. Fundamental rights in the 1978 Spanish Constitution: the system of constitutional rights and their guarantees in the Spanish Constitution. Fundamental rights and the Autonomous Communities. Incorporation of rights in the modified Statutes of Autonomy and their relation with constitutional rights. Lesson 3. Nature, structure and elements making up constitutional rights. Diversity of constitutional norms regarding rights: subjective rights, principles, institutional guarantees, orders for legislators and constitutional duties. The subjective and objective facets of Constitutional rights. The links between public powers and rights, plus their effectiveness: the problem of efficacy in private relations. Interpreting rights and the clause in article 10.2 of the Spanish Constitution. Delimitation, content and limits of rights. Conflicts between rights and other legal rights: weighting, reasonability and proportionality. Ownership and exercise of fundamental rights: legal minors, nationality and foreigners' rights and rights of legal persons. Lesson 4. Normative and institutional guarantees of rights: Normative guarantees of fundamental rights. Direct application. Regulation of rights: Constitutional reform, organic and ordinary laws. The limits of rights and the concept of essential content. Institutional guarantees: State ombudsman and Autonomous Community ombudsmen. Other protection instruments: Ministry of Justice and independent authorities. Lesson 5. Jurisdictional guarantees of fundamental rights: The ordinary judge as guarantor of fundamental rights. Preferential and summary proceedings before ordinary courts. Appeal for constitutional protection: nature, object, legitimation, proceedings and sentence. International protection of rights, with special reference to the European Court of Human Rights. Lesson 6. Suspension of fundamental rights. Exceptional situations or general suspension of fundamental rights: states of alarm, emergency and siege. Individual suspension of rights: Norms regarding terrorism.

2. Constitutional rights and guiding principles Lesson 7. The principle of equality: constitutional dimensions of equality. Article 14 of the Spanish Constitution: equality before the law and the application of the law. Right not to be discriminated against: the preferential value of especially cited prohibitions. Right not to be discriminated against: the preferential value of especially cited prohibitions. Lesson 8. Right to effective judicial guardianship. The right to legal guardianship and the constitutional clause prohibiting defencelessness (Article 24.1). The right of access to tribunals. The right to an ordinary judge established by law. Guarantees governing all proceedings and specific guarantees for penal proceedings. Lesson 9. Civil rights. The right to life, liberty and private rights. The right to live and to physical and moral integrity. Ideological freedom and conscientious objection. Religious freedom and non-religious nature of the State. Personal freedom and safety: Imprisonment and detention: rights of detainees. Private life rights: honour, privacy and image. Inviolability of domiciles. Privacy of communications. Personal data protection. The freedom of expression and information and their weighting with respect to private life rights. The right to marry. Lesson 10. Political and participatory rights. Right to assemble and strike. Right of association. The right to participate in public matters. Right to access to public representatives. Right to petition. Lesson 11. Economic and social rights. Labour rights: trade union freedom; the right to strike; the right to collective bargaining and consideration of collective conflicts. Welfare State: service rights and transformation of liberal rights. Right to education, teaching freedom and other rights in the educational area. Freedom of entrepreneurship and private property. Guiding principles of social and economic policies.

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Short bibliography:

In general, students are advised to use the textbooks and course materials commonly recommended to students studying Constitutional Law in Spanish universities. The following publications are the ones recommended for this programme:

ÁLVAREZ CONDE, E. y TUR, R., Derecho Constitucional, Tecnos, Madrid, 2012.
APARICIO PEREZ, M.A. et al., Manual de Derecho Constitucional. Atelier, Barcelona, 2012.
CASTELLÀ ANDREU, J. M. (ed.), Derecho constitucional básico, Huygens, Barcelona, 2014
LÓPEZ GUERRA, L., et al., Derecho Constitucional, Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia, 2010.
PÉREZ ROYO, J., Curso de Derecho Constitucional, Marcial Pons, Madrid-Barcelona, 2012

The use of the latest edition of any collection of political laws is also essential. The most complete publications are published by Aranzadi, Civitas and Tecnos.


Specific bibliography on fundamental rights:

BASTIDA FREIJEDO, F., et al. Teoria general de los derechos fundamentales en la Constitución española de 1978. Tecnos, Madrid, 2004.
DÍEZ-PICAZO, L.M., Sistema de derechos fundamentales. Thompson, Cizur Menor, 2008

In addition to reading the recommended texts, students are required to read the jurisprudence and doctrinal articles indicated throughout the class to properly stay up-to-date. Reading this material is necessary to be able to study the fundamental rights addressed in class.

Group	Teacher	Department
Sec: A	Esther Martín Núñez	Derecho

Group	Teacher	Department
Sec: B	Esther Martín Núñez	Derecho