The teaching of procedural law in international clasrooms and forums

• Author: Dra. Begoña Vidal Fernández
• Profession: Associated Professor of Procedural Law. University of Valladolid
• Pages: 19-38

19

Part .

The teaching of procedural law

in international clasrooms and forums 1

D. B V F

Associated Professor of Procedural Law. University of Valladolid

1. LANDSCAPE OF MULTI-INTERNATIONAL CLASSROOM.

The aim of this paper is to share my experience of teaching this subject in a

multi-international classroom with many Erasmus students.

The academic year 21-22 was the first time I taught this subject in English to

this kind of target group. I must say that it has been an interesting and enriching

1 Abbreviations used:

CFREU (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)

CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union)

CJEU (Court of Justice)

CP (Spanish Criminal Code)

EC (Spanish Constitution)

ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights)

ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights)

GC (General Court)

ICC (International Criminal Court)

LEC (Spanish Civil Procedure Law)

LECRIM (Spanish Law on Criminal Procedure)

LJCA (Spanish Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction Act)

LJS (Spanish law on social jurisdiction)

LODH (Spanish organic law on the right to honour)

LODR (Spanish organic law on the right to rectification)

LOPJ (Spanish Organic Law on the Judiciary)

LOREG (Spanish Organic Law on the General Electoral System)

LOTC (Spanish Organic Law of the Constitutional Court)

LPM (Spanish military procedural law)

TEU (Treaty on European Union)

TFEU (Treaty on the functioning of the European Union)

Dra. Begoña Vidal Fernández

20

experience. The interventions, and the contributions of students from very

different countries, and different judicial cultures, were very attractive.

There were students from Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Georgia, Albania, Bosnia-

Herzegovina, Montenegro, there was even one student from Kyrgyzstan, as well as

students from the European Union from Croatia, France and especially Italy, as

well as some from Brazil. This international student body was complemented by a

large number of Spanish students who were interested in studying this subject in

English and in an international environment.

This variety of nationalities, on the one hand, made it necessary to teach the

core of the various systems of jurisdictional protection of fundamental rights, at

the domestic, European and world levels, and on the other hand, it invited very

interesting activities incorporating data and information from the systems of the

students’ countries of origin.

The starting point can be none other than the presentation of the system

established in the country they have come to study, the Spanish system. And

here we come up against the only problem that can arise when approaching this

perspective of procedural law in an international context: that it is a territorial

law, only applicable in the territory over which it extends its validity.

Indeed, the teaching of procedural law in the international context has two

sides: one smiling and the other less accessible.

On the more difficult side, it is a territorial law, the law through which

jurisdictional power is exercised, i.e. the courts of States have to apply the

procedural law of their own State within the territorial scope of that State.

Each State has its own procedural law and its courts are bound by their own

national procedural law. This fundamentally national character of procedural

law has left very little scope for its teaching beyond national borders. Only the

essential and abstract concepts - jurisdiction, action, process - have allowed its

internationalisation.

At its most friendly, the globalisation of all aspects of society has dragged

Justice along with it. To ensure respect for the Law and to do justice in such an

interconnected international context, new tools are needed that act beyond

and above States, but with their agreement. Teaching these new tools in an

international context is easier than in national law.

Moreover, the demand for the respect and defense of fundamental rights

is now also globalised. This is a material area that is the subject of studies and

publications in all languages. All this makes the teaching of this subject in English

very accessible and, given the fact that English it is now recognised as a lingua

franca, even absolutely necessary.