Titolo: Demographic and legal changes. Towards an elder law
Responsabile scientifico: Prof.ssa Chiara ABATANGELO - Dipartimento di Diritto Privato e Critica del Diritto DPCD - Università’ degli Studi di PADOVA
Coordinatore: Prof.ssa Claudia Morgana Cascione - Università degli Studi di Bari Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza
Partner-Unità di Progetto: Università degli Studi INSUBRIA Varese - Como Dipartimento di Economia - Università degli Studi ROMA TRE Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza - Università degli Studi di PADOVA
Bando: PRIN 2022 - Decreto Direttoriale n. 104 del 02-02-2022
Durata: 28.09.2023 - 27.09.2025 (24 mesi)
Budget totale progetto: € 262.484,00

Abstract del progetto
The elderly represent a considerable and rapidly growing segment of the population. Despite this impressive demographic phenomenon, modern societies do not seem able to fully meet their needs in terms of participation, social inclusion and access to services. Similarly, in spite of the most recent legal recognition, condensed in Art. 25 of the Nice Charter, traditional legal systems - focused on the first two phases of life - relegate older people to a 'grey area of law'.
The project therefore aims to highlight the most critical issues existing - at international and national level - in the field of the protection of the elderly and, consequently, to elaborate proposals aimed at fostering the recognition of the peculiarities inherent to senility and at strengthening the instruments of legal protection.
In this trajectory, some of the problem areas in which the lack of legal protection and the need for recognition of specific rights is most evident will be analyzed, namely:
- discrimination on the basis of age, which, despite recent regulatory recognition, is still considered a "second-level" factor;
- the problem of legal capacity and protective measures, noting the inadequacy of traditional measures to deal with the vulnerability associated with advancing years and the simultaneous emergence of more flexible regimes that do not involve substitution in decision-making but forms of consultation;
- the problem of consent given by the elderly person who is legally capable but weakened by a state of fragility or by dependence and/or subjection to other subjects. In this sense, in view of the contrasting conclusions reached by Italian case law, legislative or case law solutions introduced in other legal systems to deal with that particular condition of weakness associated with senility will be assessed;
- the theme of the elderly in the dynamics of production and consumption, evaluating on the one hand if there is a special sub-protection for the elderly consumer and, on the other, whether the silver economy, combined with the aid of specific platforms, can lead to profitable results for the elderly;
- the profile of older people's access to credit and financial services, an area in which there is a clear risk of discrimination and difficulties in accessing services, also for the digitalization of many services. This analysis will also be linked to the examination of (named or unnamed) contracts, which are frequently used by "home rich-cash poor" elderly people;
- lastly, the problem of care for the elderly will be tackled, which has become a matter of immediate urgency following the pandemic emergency, which has highlighted the inadequacy of the welfare systems of many states to cope with the care and support needs of numerous elderly people. Solutions involving the public sphere and recourse to private autonomy will therefore be envisaged, as well as the use of AI tools (robots) in caring for the elderly.