II Constitutional Jurisprudence, 4 Key Rights and Freedoms

Abstract

Every constitutional system today presents major controversies and encounters significant challenges in the protection and guarantees of fundamental rights, and for that reason they constitute the most lively subject of transnational constitutional dialogue. The Italian Constitutional Court has a highly developed body of jurisprudence on fundamental rights, starting with its very first decision examining the validity of Fascist laws limiting freedom of expression. This chapter provides a broad overview of some of the constitutional principles that ground fundamental rights in Italian constitutional law, such as human dignity and equality, and then presents the Court’s case law in a selected set of problem areas: personal liberty; freedom of religion; protection of the family; reproduction; social rights; immigration. These are areas with which many other constitutional systems are struggling, and the Italian Court’s particular way of conceptualizing and addressing these issues provides a welcome new voice in the global dialogue.