Constitutional law is a special branch of public law, the study of which presupposes a correct understanding of its specificities, especially as
“political normative statute”. This means that it is not a branch of law that seeks to regulate legal relations between individuals or between
private individuals and public authorities, but rather to discipline the very way in which power is exercised by State bodies, ensuring the validity of the acts carried out by them in their
relations with each other, with citizens, as well as the application of law from external sources at the level of domestic law, such as international law and European law.
Constitutional law is the introduction to all law, thus being an indispensable training subject.
Semestral
Constitutionalism and Constitution
1. Constitutionalism
1.2. Specific configurations of some constitutional movements
1.3. Summary of Portuguese Constitutional History
2. Political and constitutional institutions
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic of 1976
3. Systematization and fundamental principles
3.1. The systematization of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic
3.2. The constitutional principles
4. Fundamental rights
4.1. The concept of fundamental right
4.2. The categories of fundamental rights
4.3. The fundamental rights recognized in the Portuguese legal order
4.4. Constitutional principles on fundamental rights
4.5. The fundamental duties
4.6. The means of defending fundamental rights
5. The organization of political power
5.1. The general aspects
5.2. The sovereign bodies
5.3. Other State bodies
5.4. The Autonomous Regions
The general objective of the Constitutional Law curricular unit is to make students aware
of the fundamental principles and rules contained in the Constitution as a fundamental rule
of the Legal Order. The aforementioned principles and rules govern the legal relationship
between the State and its citizens, the formation, composition, competence and functioning
of State bodies and determine the political, economic, social and cultural order of this
political community.
Mandatory
The teaching of the Constitutional Law Curricular Unit comprises the teacher's lectures on the themes that make
up the program in its theoretical component, namely, the analysis of the Constitution, other normative texts,
jurisprudence and other documents, with the aim of stimulating the respective handling , but also, in its practical
component, such as solving practical cases.
Português
Não
Gouveia, Jorge Bacelar, Manual de Direito Constitucional, vol. I, 7ª edição, Almedina, 2021;
Miranda, Jorge, Curso de Direito Constitucional, vol. I, 2ª edição, UCP Editora, 2020;
CANOTILHO, J. J. GOMES, Direito Constitucional e Teoria da Constituição, Coimbra, Livraria Almedina, 2019;
OTERO, PAULO, Direito Constitucional Português, volume I, Coimbra, Livraria Almedina, 2019.
