Josep Joan Moreso
Josep Joan Moreso (Tortosa, Spain, 27 March 1959) graduated in Law from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1983) where he also completed his PhD (1988), achieving high-class honours in both instances. He has held teaching posts at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1988–1995); the Universitat de Girona (1996–2000) and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (2000–2005). Rector of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra from May 2005 to June 2013. On October 2010, he was invested as doctor honoris causa of the Valparaíso University (Chile).
Academic career and research
Moreso’s primary area of investigation is legal theory, specialising in the structure and dynamics of legal systems and the contributions of deontic logic within this field. Presently he is working on the philosophical foundations of the constitution, a vast area where metaethics, the philosophy of language, the theory of legal interpretation and argumentation, political philosophy, and democratic theory all converge.
He was Visiting Scholar at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (1990), Balliol College, Oxford (1995) and the University of Genoa(2000). He has also been a Visiting Professor at several European universities; supervised numerous doctoral theses and was the chief investigator of an established research group with a long tradition in gaining competitive funding for projects.
At present, Moreso is a member of the Tampere Club, an international association dedicated to the study of the current problems facing world democracies. He is also editor of the collection Filosofía y Derecho (ed. Marcial Pons) and of the academic journal Doxa as well as a member of the scientific committee of the academic journals Ragion Pratica (Italy) and Isonomía (Mexico).
Publications
Moreso has published several books within his field of expertise. His latest work, Constitución. Modelo para armar will be published by Marcial Pons in early 2009.
Books
- La teoría del Derecho de Bentham, (Bcn: P.P.U, 1993) 433 pp.;
- (with Pompeu Casanovas) (eds.): El ámbito de lo jurídico. Lecturas de pensamiento jurídico contemporáneo (Bcn: Crítica, 1994), 587 pp.;
- Legal Indeterminacy and Constitutional Interpretation, English version of R. Zimmerling, (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1998), 220 pp.;
- (with Josep M. Vilajosana): Introducción a la Teoría del Derecho (Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2004).
In addition, he has published numerous articles in professional journals such as Ratio Iuris, Erkenntnis, Law and Philosophy, Ragion Practica, Theoria: A Swedish Journal of Philosophy, Associations, Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional, Análisis Filosófico, Crítica, and Doxa; as well as contributing several chapters to books within his specialty.
Articles
- ‘Sobre las normas inconstitucionales’, Revista española de Derecho Constitucional, 38 (1993): 81-115
- (with Pablo E. Navarro): ‘Some Remarks on the Notions of Legal System and Legal Order’, Ratio Iuris. An International Journal of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law, 6 (1993): 48-63
- ‘On Relevance and Justification of Legal Decisions’, Erkenntnis. An International Journal of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law, 6 (1993): 48-63
- (with Pablo E. Navarro): ‘Applicability and Effectiveness of Legal Norms’, Law and Philosophy, 16 (1997): 201-219
- Diritti e giustizia procedurale imperfetta’, Ragion Practica, 10 (1998): 13-40
- (with Pablo E. Navarro): ‘The Reception of Norms and Open Legal Systems’, Stanley L. Paulson, Bonnie Litschewesky Paulson (eds.), Normativity and Norms. Critical perspectives on Kelsenian Themes, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998): 273-292
- ‘In Defense of Inclusive Legal Positivism’, Pierluigi Chiassoni (ed.), The Legal Ought (Torino: Giappicheli, 2001): 37-64
- (with Pablo E. Navarro i M. Cristina Redondo): ‘Legal Gaps and Conclusive Reasons’, Theoria. A Swedish Journal of Philosophy, Part 1 (2002): 51-65
- ‘Confitti tra principi constituzionale’, Ragion Practica, 18 (2002): 201-222
- ‘El reino de los derechos y la objetividad de la moral’. Análisis Filosófico, 23 (2003): 117-150
- ‘Dos concepciones de la aplicación de las normas de derechos fundamentales’, in J. Betegón; F.J. Laporta; J.R. del Páramo; L. Prieto (eds), Constitución y derechos fundamentales, (Madrid. Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, 2004): 473-493
- ‘Positivismo guiridico e applicazione del diritto’. Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica, 25 (2005): 225-244
- ‘Alexy y la aritmética de la ponderación’. Robert Alexy. Derechos sociales y ponderación. (Madrid: Fundación Coloquio Jurídico Europeo, 2007): 223-248
Management positions
He served as Vice Dean of Academic Planning in the Faculty of Law at the UAB (1990–1992) and later as a representative of the Vice Rector for Academic Organization for the Third cycle in the same university (1993–1994). During his tenure at the Universitat de Girona he was Vice Dean of Academic Planning of Private Law (1998–2000) and he also served as director of the Department of Private Law (1998–2000).
His introduction to the governing body of the UPF was as Vice Rector of Faculty and of the European Higher Education Area under the leadership of the then Rector Rosa Maria Virós (2001–2005), a position which afforded him a broad knowledge of the new standard European framework as well as the internal mechanics of the University. Rector from 2005 to 2013, in 2009 he was reelected for a second term. During these years, the University has adapted all degrees to EHEA, deepened its research profile and postgraduate training, strengthened its international focus and being awarded with a CEI label (International Excellence Campus) by the Spanish Ministry of Education.