1. — General Framework of the Thesis Work

The assignment of the thesis presupposes the successful completion of the relevant exam; if necessary, preference will be given to attending students.
When the topic is assigned, the student will be provided with the initial works to consult in order to start the research.
Once the student has acquired a solid understanding of the subject, they must present a systematic repertory of the works examined and of the relevant case law, together with a proposed outline for the division of the thesis into chapters and paragraphs (thesis structure).
Approval of both the repertory and the outline is an indispensable condition for proceeding with the drafting.
The final version of the thesis, complete with a brief introduction, table of contents, bibliography (list of works consulted), and case law references (chronological list of judgments cited), must be submitted strictly within 20 days of the deadline set for filing with the Student Office.

2. — Structure of the Text

The thesis must be divided into chapters (to be indicated with Roman numerals) and paragraphs (to be indicated with Arabic numerals). Each paragraph must also have a title (to be written in italics).
Example:
3. Typical Elements and Parties in Salvage. Or: 4.— The Issue of Liability Salvage.

If paragraphs are very numerous, it is preferable to include, at the beginning of each chapter, a summary listing their number and titles.
Example:
SUMMARY — 1. Introduction — 2. The Liberalization of Air Transport in Europe: A (Partially) Missed Opportunity — 3. Corrective Measures Provided for in Regulation (EEC) No. 2408/92 — 4. The Turning Point of Law No. 144/1999 — 5. The Procedure for Imposing Public Service Obligations — 7. The Public Tender Procedure — 8. Brief Remarks on Social Aid.

3. — Drafting of the Text

It is strongly recommended to begin drafting only after acquiring a solid knowledge of the subject through an adequate number of readings.
It is also advisable to use sentences that are as brief and clear as possible, and to resort to literal quotations only when truly indispensable.

The thesis must be an original work, and the student must carefully cite in footnotes the sources (authors and place of publication) from which arguments are drawn.
Only works that have actually been consulted should be cited, avoiding unnecessary or redundant references (e.g., an outdated monograph dealing with wholly marginal aspects of the topic).

It is permissible to reproduce an author’s thought in full when the passage is particularly significant. In such cases, the quotation must be enclosed in guillemets <<…>>. Double quotation marks (“…”) should be used only when citing within an already quoted passage.

Italics should be used solely for common nouns in foreign languages, including Latin, except for words in very common usage. For example, the word container should preferably be written in regular font.

When omitting portions of a quoted passage, ellipses enclosed in square brackets should be used: […]. However, omissions referring solely to the beginning or end of a sentence need not be indicated.

Between words, only a single space should be inserted. After every full stop and comma, there must always be a space. The apostrophe should never be followed by a space.
If a sentence ends with an abbreviated word followed by a full stop, no additional full stop should be added.

4. — Footnotes

Footnote indicators must always be written in ordinary numerals, and within the body of the note the line should never be broken. The first line of each note should be indented by about one centimeter from the page margin.

Example:
On the subject of State aid for regional purposes see:
M. ATZWANGER, Gli aiuti erogati da enti territoriali in Italia, in Foro pad. 1995, II, 34;
V. CAMPOGRANDE, Gli aiuti a finalità regionale in Italia, in Riv. dir. eur. 1995, I, 53.

4.a — Citations of Legislation

The type of legislative act must always be abbreviated, followed by the date (written out in full) and the number. No comma is required between the date and the number, nor after the article number (unless a paragraph is to be indicated). The word comma (paragraph) must never be abbreviated.

Example:
Art. 16 of Law 28 January 1994 No. 84.
Art. 16, fourth paragraph, Law 28 January 1994 No. 84.
Art. 16, paragraph 4, letter a, Law 28 January 1994 No. 84.
Art. 1 Reg. (EEC) No. 4056/86 of 22 December 1986.
Art. 1 Dir. 95/64/EC of 8 December 1995.

4.b — Citations of Case Law

The adjudicating body, to be indicated in regular font even if foreign, must always be abbreviated. It is followed by the date of the judgment (in full), the judgment number, a comma, and the reference to the publication (in italics), preceded by the preposition in.

No comma is required between the adjudicating body and the date, nor between the date and the number, nor between the journal title and the year. For the Corte di Cassazione, the section need not be indicated except in the case of sez. un. (United Sections). For the Corte di Cassazione Penale, the number need not be provided when the publication reference is indicated.

Example:
App. Torino 3 July 1991, in Dir. trasp. 1993, 89.
Cass. 14 October 1991 No. 10763, in Dir. trasp. 1993, 847.
Cons. St., sez. VI, 29 April 1989 No. 531, in Dir. trasp. 1996, 489.

If the same case is cited more than once, the publication reference may be replaced with cit.

Example:
Cass. 14 October 1991 No. 10768, cit.

Case law from common law countries should be cited in the customary format, with the parties’ names in italics separated by the abbreviation v. (also in italics). The publication reference follows, in regular font.

Example:
Adamastos Shipping v. Anglo-Saxon Petroleum [1958] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 73.

4.c — Citations of Legal Scholarship

The author’s surname must be written in UPPERCASE or in small caps, and it is strongly recommended to include the initial of the first name, followed by a period, before the surname. In the case of co-authored works, the authors’ names should be separated by a short dash.

For monographs, the author’s name is followed, separated by commas, by: the volume or tome number (in Roman numerals, without vol.), the edition number (in Roman numerals), the city of the main publishing house, the year of publication, and the page number (without p. or pp.).

Example:
M. DEIANA, I liens nei contratti di utilizzazione della nave, Torino, 1995.

For journal articles, after the title in italics and a comma, the preposition in is used, followed by the abbreviated journal title in italics. The year and page number follow (again without p.). No comma is required between the journal title and the year.

Example:
M. PIRAS, L’assicurazione della responsabilità del vettore aereo di persone, in Dir. trasp. 2001, 461 ss.
L. ANCIS, Sulla natura dei servizi di sicurezza aggiuntivi in ambito aeroportuale (nota a Cons. St., sez. VI maggio 2000 n. 2876), in Dir. trasp. 2001, 123 ss.

For encyclopedias, it is sufficient to indicate the volume and year of publication, separated by a slash.

Example:
L. TULLIO, Lettera di trasporto aereo, in Dig. Comm. VIII/1992, 558.

When citing multiple pages of the same work, the page number should be followed by ss, without a preceding comma. When citing the same work more than once, it is acceptable to use the shortened forms op. cit., cit. or op. ult. cit. after the author and the title.