Teaching
Project HERO adopts an interactive and practice-oriented methodology designed to bridge academic knowledge with real-world legal challenges. The teaching activity of the Module is based on the course below, recently activated by the Law Faculty of the University of Milan (starting from a.y. 2025/2026)
Human Rights and EU Private International Law (42 hours, 6 ECTS)
Semester: Second
Language: English
Lectures will introduce students to the foundations of EU PIL, including the rules governing jurisdiction, applicable law, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments across different fields. They will also explore the international and European systems of human rights protection.
Workshops will provide hands-on engagement through the discussion of leading cases, focusing on issues such as access to justice, discrimination in the application of foreign law, the human rights implications of recognising or refusing foreign judgments, and the cross-border protection of family life and personal status.
Syllabus
Lectures
– Private international law overview: Object, function, and methods
– Jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognition/enforcement of judgments concerning contractual and non-contractual obligations
– Jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognition/enforcement of judgments in family law matters
– Gaps in the EU PIL system: matters not yet covered by EU uniform rules (e.g. personal status, marriage validity, and filiation)
– Human Rights Protection: Sources of international human rights law, the UN system of protection of human rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and the European Convention on Human Rights
Workshops
– Jurisdiction rules and the protection of rights of access to justice and to an effective remedy and fair trial
– Public policy exception and violations of human rights or discrimination resulting from the application of a foreign law
– Violations of human rights resulting from failure to recognize and enforce foreign judgments
– Violations of human rights resulting from automatic recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in case of violations of due process in the State of origin
– Violations of the right to respect for private and family life resulting from failure to recognise a personal status established in a foreign State