General Theory of the Process

Hence the need to investigate and bring out, in its full meaning, that unified concept of “jurisdiction-justice” that represents one of the most significant outcomes of our Constitution, and that necessarily reflects on the concrete discipline of the individual judicial processes of our legal system (administrative, civil, criminal, tax, and accounting).
For this purpose, part of the educational activities is structured around interdisciplinary seminar cycles. The seminars, organized at least once a month, are attended by all doctoral students. They focus on interdisciplinary themes, chosen in rotation by professors from various areas, which are previously communicated to the doctoral students who deepen them and then present them during the seminar, thus offering the unique perspective of their own area of interest and opening up to comparison with those of other areas. Seminars are an evaluation element for doctoral students for admission to the following year and for the final exam.
The doctorate also features a multi-curricular approach, aimed at allowing analytical training in relation to the individual disciplines included in the project. On the one hand, reference is made to procedural regulations in various areas of interest, but also to the profiles of substantive law affected by the procedural phenomenon (e.g., business crisis management, arbitration in civil and commercial matters). On the other hand, the perspective of historical comparison is considered a fundamental basis for research activity in all disciplinary sectors covered by the Doctorate.
To this end, another part of the educational activities is structured around cycles of lessons related to teaching in the scientific-disciplinary sectors that make up the doctorate and are consistent with the course’s educational objectives (in progressive order by number of SSD prior to the reform of sectors): IUS/01 – Private Law; IUS/04 Commercial Law; IUS/08 – Constitutional Law; IUS/10 – Administrative Law; IUS/11 – Canon Law and Ecclesiastical Law (Law and Religion); IUS/12 – Tax Law; IUS/15 – Civil Procedure Law; IUS/16 – Criminal Procedure Law; IUS/18 – Roman Law; IUS/19 History of Medieval and Modern Law; IUS/21 – Comparative Public Law.
Additionally, there are activities for language and computer skills enhancement. Through a network of collaboration with other Italian universities, the doctorate offers students the opportunity to conduct research stays in Italy, for an average period of two months. Furthermore, in an essential comparative perspective, the Doctorate offers the possibility of conducting research stays abroad, at universities with which LUM has signed broad collaboration agreements, including Erasmus mobility of students and teachers.
At the end of each academic year, there is an examination for the admission of doctoral students to the following year (in the 1st and 2nd year of the cycle) and to the final exam (in the 3rd year of the cycle), which, based on a specific report by the doctoral students and their tutors, consists of an oral exam in which the doctoral students discuss the topics covered in the various courses and interdisciplinary seminars, aiming to demonstrate not only the acquired knowledge but also the ability to critically analyze the reference institutions.
Finally, the doctorate aims to encourage doctoral students to collaborate with public and private institutions (academic and non-academic), both Italian and foreign, and to make public the results achieved during the research path, subjecting their work to constant evaluation by the international scientific community.

The educational objectives of the doctorate are fully in line with the project’s guiding ideas. Therefore, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the training of doctoral students will focus, in part, on basic issues, such as constitutional principles of the process, jurisdictional allocation, evidential hearing, judicial decision-making powers, and appeals. The aim is to bring out that unified concept of “jurisdiction-justice” that represents one of the most significant outcomes of our Constitution.
On the other hand, in line with the multi-disciplinary approach, one of the objectives of the doctorate is to provide doctoral students with analytical training in relation to the individual disciplines included in the project. The doctorate aims, therefore, to offer specialized knowledge of procedural regulations in various areas of interest; of the profiles of substantive law affected by the procedural phenomenon (e.g., business crisis management, arbitration in civil and commercial matters); of the history, in different eras, of procedural institutions and the substantive law institutions related to them.
Examining the main teaching areas (not being able to list them all due to the character limit for filling out this framework), for example, the Civil Procedure Law module aims to provide the necessary theoretical-doctrinal and practical-jurisprudential foundations to address procedural issues that currently attract more attention among scholars and judicial operators, with the aim of fully understanding and absorbing the procedural phenomenon, especially in its evolutionary dimension. The Criminal Procedure Law module focuses on issues subject to recent legislative interventions, in parallel with the evolution of jurisprudential orientations, and delves into the principles governing the forms and procedures of criminal procedural law, with reference also to interference with other processes, as well as to supranational principles and European constitution derivations. The Administrative Procedure Law module aims to favor a full understanding of the peculiarities of administrative processes, while being keenly aware of the uniqueness of “jurisdiction-justice,” through a critical approach to issues based on the analysis of legislative evolution, the study of the significant doctrinal and jurisprudential contributions, comparison with other (mainly) European models. The Private Law module aims to undertake an in-depth study of private law between statute and judgment. The Roman Law module focuses on Roman private proceedings, from origins to post-classical and Justinian eras. Similarly, the History of Medieval and Modern Law module aims to deepen the characteristics of the history of justice and the process between the 18th and 20th centuries.
In relation to all disciplinary areas, the educational objective is to strengthen basic knowledge, acquire specialized knowledge, develop the ability to critically analyze the reference institutions, both through various problem-solving techniques and through a research methodology appropriate to the procedural and substantive law sectors covered by the doctorate, thereby favoring the acquisition of skills that can be applied at the end of the doctorate in various occupational and professional fields.
The doctorate aims to provide adequate knowledge in the legal language field with particular reference to procedural techniques, in a study perspective that also includes foreign legal systems and suprastatal systems. To this end, basic English enhancement courses are organized, as well as advanced courses specifically focusing on legal language related to procedural areas and related areas.
Doctoral students will be able to use the computer room to learn how to utilize (with appropriate technical support from specialized personnel) and manage the databases made available by the electronic resources of the library concerning Italian and foreign jurisprudence and doctrine.
Finally, the doctorate aims to encourage doctoral students to collaborate with public and private institutions (academic and non-academic), both Italian and foreign, and to make public the results achieved during the research path, subjecting their work to constant evaluation by the international scientific community.