Legal History
Italian law is grounded in the civil law,
the revived classical Roman law. The civil law,
concentrating on private law, owes much of its modern development to other
influences, particularly canon and Germanic and feudal law as interpreted and
applied in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It is based and focused on the
principle of codification, an innovation introduced by the eastern emperor
Justinian in the 6th century. Justinian�s law, or medieval Roman law,
experienced its rebirth in northern Italy during the
12th and 13th centuries. By the early modern period, the Italian legal tradition
was shaped by universal Roman law, which had influenced and been influenced by
the equally universal canon law�all commentated on and interpreted by first the
glossators and then the post-glossators�and legal scholars in the universities
of northern Italy who transformed the early codified Roman law into a jus
commune capable of application throughout the western world. A separate
legal system also existed alongside the sophisticated and advanced Roman law;
this was a combination of customary law (which blended elements of Gothic and
Germanic tribal codes) with local statute and city and municipal law. Owing to
the disunified condition of the region, legal development stagnated from the
16th to the 18th centuries, along with political and economic progress.
On the eve of the modern period in Italy�s history, its legal system�law and
legislation�had become a m�lange of sophisticated and advanced Roman/canon law
evolved out of medieval scholarship and combined, where apt or necessary, with
customary law and communal statutory compilations. The fragmented social and
economic structure of the entire peninsula, combined with determined political
and governmental disunity, had produced an additional mass of legislation,
unfocused and disparate, that was constantly in process of promulgation and
development by a number of entities. Although the enlightenment had penetrated
the upper edges of societal and legal development, the condition was far from
modern.
The medieval legal system remained the basis of law in Italy. Numerous laws were promulgated to supplement or modify the inherited mass of legislation, but these changes tended to be fragmentary, unsystematic, and designed to meet the contingencies of the moment�. The climate of renewal was evident in much of the legislation that preceded the Napoleonic codes, but an overview of the legislative work of the eighteenth century demonstrates that, important as it was in the simplification and development of the law, it was best a prelude to codification.3
Roman law remained the single most evident and
accessible source, bringing a degree of order to an inherently discordant and
incoherent legal system. This was, of course, the medieval, post-Justinian Roman
law of the 12th�14th century Italian scholars; its compilation, the Corpus
juris civilis, vied in actual practice and influence with the elegantly
sophisticated and developed body of canon law in its own compilation, the
Corpus juris canonici. Customary law, as finally codified by the Germanic
conquerors (primarily the Lombard tribes in the north), survived in a tradition
of local legislation.
The codification movement that ultimately reformed and restructured modern
Italian law reached the region via the normal avenues of legislative expansion
in the early 19th century.
The influence of the French Revolution spread both because of the prestige of the ideas of 1789 and because of the Napoleonic expansion. The ideals of the Revolution produced a peculiar theory as to what law is, as well determining the form and style of the basic codes. The legislative results of the revolution within France were the Code Napol�on of 1804, the Code of Civil Procedure of 1807, the Commercial Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, both of 1808, and the Criminal Code of 1810. As it happened, Italy received both the ideology of the revolution and the French Codes. The French occupation from 1796 and its foundation of several Italian Republics and vassal kingdoms, brought the French legislation, which was readily received, both because it satisfied new socio-economic needs, and because of the common legal tradition which, for the most part, had been absorbed into the Napoleonic codes.4
The reaction that set in after the Congress of
Vienna was accompanied by a return to the old legal regimes of the 18th century,
but only for a few years. The concept of codification had gained enthusiastic
acceptance, both as the vehicle for law reform and modernization and the means
to further national unification.
The first non-Napoleonic Italian code was promulgated in Lombardy in 1871.
It was basically the Austrian civil code, somewhat simplified and translated
into Italian. The codification movement was thereafter greatly influenced by the
series of codes promulgated in Sardinia between 1837 and 1854, the most notable
being the �Albertina,� as the civil code of 1837 was called. By 1860, when the
political consolidation of Italy under the House of Savoy had been accomplished,
unification and harmonization of legislation continued to elude the central
government. Each province of the new kingdom retained and enforced its own set
of laws.
Procedural and criminal law had been successfully codified and these were
promulgated and in force in the various Italian provinces by 1864, but civil law
revision languished. In 1859 two separate commissions had been created to
develop a new civil code. One in Lombardy and the Piedmont, basing its work on
the French model, was influenced by Austrian modifications; the other in
Sardinia started with the �Albertina.� Eventually the Austrian influence was
stripped away, leaving the framework of the French model to be revised and
reorganized to meet Italian needs. The first book of the Code Napol�on, dealing
with family law, marriage and the authority of the father, required extensive
revision to accommodate the views of the Church.
In April 1865, a law mandating legislative uniformity was promulgated,
directing the application of basic codes throughout the kingdom. The
codification of civil law was expedited, the important points of dispute were
quickly resolved, and the new Italian civil code was promulgated in 1865. This
code differed considerably from the French model, particularly in its concern
with civil marriage and the related matters of status, custody, marital
property, children and the termination of the marriage bond. The variations
between the relatively anti-clerical French model and the code that evolved from
the Austrian version�heavily influenced by the Church�become apparent on
analysis.
With the achievement of codification of commercial law in 1882, the
structure of Italian law became fixed until the late fascist period, although
all spheres of the law (civil, criminal and criminal procedure) were developed
and refined under the influence of the flowering of Italian legal scholarship in
the period 1860�1915. A new criminal code was adopted in 1889 and a criminal
procedure code was enacted in 1913, but otherwise the controlling codes remained
in force into the 1930s.
The Concordat of 1929 necessitated a review of certain aspects of Italian
law and could be regarded as the prelude to the sweeping legislative revisions
of the fascist era. Italian legal scholarship had, by the 1920s, come under the
spell of the German Pandectists. Italian law has always been responsive to
doctrine and the writings of university professors; these influences drew away
from the analytical approach of the French and toward the conceptualism and
dogmatism of the German school. The legislation of the fascist period, beginning
with the criminal code of 1930 and concluding with the brilliant civil code of
1942, introduced in the middle of the war, were influenced by fascist ideology
but only in varying degrees. The penal and criminal codes owed much of their
approach to fascist doctrine or a right-wing outlook. The civil and civil
procedure codes, also of 1942, were the product of relatively disinterested
scholars and contain little that can be attributed to any fascist concepts or
a priori approaches. While political conditions may have influenced the
development of public law and introduced changes into the criminal codes, there
is little evidence of any fascist pressures or theory in the vast recodification
of private law.
The 1942 civil code was (for its day) revolutionary, in that it combined in
a single compilation of 2,000 articles the regulation of all aspects of private
life�both civil and commercial. It abrogated both the 1865 civil code and the
commercial code of 1882. The structure of the code was most innovative,
introducing a codification of private (non-governmental) aspects of labor law as
well as an extensive codification of the rights of citizens and their
protection. Unlike the 19th century version, it is strictly technical in its
approach, eschewing doctrine and casuistry. Although a product of the fascist
era, the Italian civil code has survived, though not without modification, and
serves as the model for the new Dutch civil code as well as several new Latin
American legislative reforms.
The most recent change in Italian law came with the introduction of a new
code of criminal procedure in 1988. This not only swept away the
fascist-influenced criminal procedure code of 1930, it also changed the entire
approach of Italian criminal procedure law. Hitherto Italian criminal procedure
has been modeled on the French Code d�instruction criminelle based on an
inquisitorial system followed in most of the countries of Europe, both western
and eastern. The new code, in a revolutionary stroke, adopts the adversarial
approach found in the Anglo-American system.
This introduction of Anglo-American and Common Law elements has not been without controversy, particularly as there was much initial confusion resulting from those who were arrested before the introduction of the new code being tried under the old system with the new code operating alongside for those arrested after its introduction. Some feel that the mix of adversarial and inquisitorial methods which the new code involves undermines the integrity of the Italian tradition in criminal procedure.5
Legislation and the Judicial System
The mass of Italian legislation is now more than a little intimidating; the
body of national and regional laws and regulations and their accompanying
judicial exegesis appears overwhelming. The legislation originates in the
national parliament, which is a bicameral legislature with a long history of
extensive publications.6
The 20 regions also have varying degrees of legislative power and take advantage
of it, restricted only in that their laws may not conflict with �fundamental
national interest.� Five of the regions enjoy a greater degree of autonomy than
the other 15. Bibliographic control of legislation is not easy.
The Italian system, like all the others of a substantially social-democratic stamp, has lived and continues to do so, in an �Orgy of Statute-Making.� On the basis of initial data collected by a specially appointed ministerial commission, about 96,000 state laws would appear to exist in Italy, although their exact number is still not known. And to these must be added regional laws and regulations.7
The hierarchy of Italian law is not without
its own complexity. At the apex is the constitution of 1947. It is a fairly
rigid document and not subject to casual amendment. �Constitutional laws� which
are amendatory must, in effect, be passed twice by both houses, first by simple
majority and second by absolute majority. Next are ordinary laws (Leggi),
passed by the president. Below these are acts having the force of law (Decreti
legislativi [delegati]) or laws decreed by ministers of the government in
accord with powers delegated by the parliament in a specific piece of
legislation. Decreti legge are decree laws issued by the government�they must be
approved by the parliament within 60 days of their issuance or they lose their
validity. They then either become Legge or remain, when signed by the
president, Decreti della Presidente della Repubblica.
In actual practice, decrees often cannot be successfully converted within 60
days and so the government has adopted the policy of almost automatically
reiterating the decrees in unchanged text at regular 60 day periods until they
are converted into law. A Constitutional Court judgment of 24 October 1996
censured this legislative detour and strongly suggests that reissuance of an
unchanged decree is unconstitutional.
The hierarchy referred to above is not absolute. Laws and acts having the
force of law differ in that they result from different procedures; however,
substantially they are of the same authority. For example, a decree can repeal a
law, or vice versa. Individual ministers issue secondary legislation as
Decreti ministeriali and the Council of Ministers issues Decreti.
Fortunately there has developed a tradition of reasonably frequent official
subject compilations being published in the form of a testo unico or
unified text of all laws and regulations on a specific subject. There is also an
unofficial practice of private publication of legislation titled Codice del
�. Actually the only codes that are recognized by law are the civil, civil
procedure, penal, criminal procedure and navigation codes. All the rest are
unofficial publishers� compilations.
Frequently one encounters infuriating idiosyncrasies in locating the correct
text of an Italian law. Typically, a x-large proportion of even quite important
legislation is originally promulgated as a Decreto legislativo issued by the
executive branch, or really the majority party in parliament. In order to have
permanent effect it must be formally converted to a law (legge) by a vote of the
parliament, at which point minor changes may be introduced. It is common
practice to only print the changes, and so, while the proper citation is always
to the law, the full text will often only appear in the printing of the
decree-law, which may have been published some weeks before. Nor is legislation
consistently printed in numerical or even chronological sequence, adding yet
another aggravating factor to the mysteries of Italian law promulgation.
The judicial system is equally complex. There is a single court system, as
opposed to the bifurcated structure for legislation; however, the mechanism for
reporting cases is even more impenetrable. At the base of the court system are
individual magistrates or conciliatori, who decide matters of �very small
claims.� They are lay judges and are located in each of Italy�s more than 8,000
communes. Next higher are the pretori, with jurisdiction over several
communes; there are over 900 of these professional magistrates with jurisdiction
limited by the amount involved (up to L. 5,000,000) or the type of action (possessory,
labor, social security, certain remedies). The superior court of first instance
is the tribunale. There are 160 of these courts, with judges sitting in
benches of three or singly as examining magistrates. The tribunali serve
as appellate courts from the lower magistracy and also, with the participation
of lay judges, as criminal courts. The appellate courts are assigned one to each
region, although somex-large r regions have two or more. A Corte d�appello
also has original jurisdiction in matters concerning the recognition and
enforcement of foreign judgments. At the apex is the Corte di cassazione,
which is the final appellate tribunal in all civil and criminal cases and is the
only court empowered to reverse the judgments of lower courts.
There is a separate structure of administrative tribunals, which are really
branches of the executive department rather than part of the judiciary system
proper. Each region has a Tribunale regionale amministrativi with
competence to hear a wide range of administrative controversies. The final court
of appeal for administrative matters is the Consiglio di stato; appeals
from this court to the Court of Cassation are rare and would only involve
questions of jurisdiction.
The Supreme Constitutional Court, or Corte costituzionale, is a
separate body, independent of the professional judiciary, and is charged with
judicial review of legislation. This can be either direct or indirect, but if
coming from a lower court, that body must be satisfied that an appeal is being
properly taken before the case can go on to the Constitutional Court.
Since Italian courts function on these three levels, each dispensing civil
or criminal justice, but generally within the same hierarchy, any body of
separable jurisprudence is difficult to discern. Then, aside from the system or
ordinary jurisdictions, there is a separate and distinct administrative
jurisdiction. The size of the Italian judiciary and the volume of its judgments
is almost beyond the comprehension of a person familiar only with the
Anglo-American tradition. Beyond the thousands of magistrates and inferior
judges, there is the final appellate body, the Court of Cassation with about 400
judges deciding, each year, close to 50,000 cases (criminal and civil). The
final administrative court, the Council of State, with a couple hundred judges
decides over 10,000 cases a year. The more clearly defined Supreme
Constitutional Court is a modern creation. It has fifteen judges and decides
fewer than 400 cases a year. Its judgments, perhaps because of their limited
number, are increasingly regarded as important, providing guidance in statutory
interpretation, even if a statute is upheld.
The Italian legislation is difficult to manage in the bibliographic sense;
case law is a veritable nightmare. As with most continental legal systems,
Italian judicial decisions have only persuasive authority, and this only in
respect to very similar situations. The exception would be the constitutional
court, which is incidentally the only court whose judgments are published
officially. Other decisions are published helter skelter, in full or only in
headnotes or massima. Withall, the legal system and the legal profession
have increasingly been involved in searching for or developing sequences of
judgments that could be viewed as consistently applied norms and then cited as
precedents. �As the magistratature gradually gained independence [sic]
from the executive following a series of reforms of the legal system, judges
became aware that they were the protagonists of the living law, and not merely
bureaucratic enforcers thereof.� Of course there is �widespread awareness that
judge-made precedents are only moderately persuasive; for Italian judge made law
does not follow the criterion of stare decisis. Even the Corte di Cassazione
displays a mutability unmatched in other western systems.�8
A clear reason behind the enormous volumes of judgments delivered by Italian
courts, and one that clouds the development of precedents is the constitutional
condition that neither the Court of Cassation, nor the Council of State, are
permitted any discretion in selecting cases. They are obligated to accept and
decide on appeal any judgments from courts below which one or the other
party wishes to contest. The Supreme Constitutional Court escapes such
requirements. In not instances are concurring or dissenting opinions permitted,
nor is the vote of the judges (usually in a five or seven judge panel) ever
revealed.
There may be precedent in Italy, it�s just hard to figure out. In both the
supreme courts there do exist structures to cast light upon certain decisions
that may take on precedential authority. When a chief judge perceives that a
case with a particularly important issue, or when there are clearly conflicting
judgments on similar matters of law from different panels of the court, a
special panel will be appointed to decide on such conflicts and arrive at a
uniform judgment or position that is given such authority that it takes on the
aura of precedential rule.
A second source of precedent is found in the officially acknowledged
massima (maxim or rule). The Italian legal system, in an attempt to keep
functioning seems to lurch towards a partial solution every 40 or 50 years. As
two scholars write
[T]here is a rather peculiar institution that was created in 1941 and is annexed to the Corte di Casazione. It is called the Ufficio del Massimario and is composed of judges. Its main function is to analyze all the judgments delivered by the court in order to extract from them the so-called massima. This is a short statement (usually five to ten lines) concerning the legal rule that has been used in the decision considered: it is stated in very general terms, usually without any express reference to the facts of the specific case, and it takes into account only the legal side of the decision. It may contain a restatement of the statutory rule that was applied in the decision, or a statement concerning an interpretation of a rule, or a legal principle used by the court. The massima is extracted from the opinion included in the judgment; it concerns every general statement of law that may be found in the opinion. Therefore several massime can be derived from the same judgments, when it touches several legal problems. Perhaps the most important feature of such a system is that the massime are usually stated without any effective connection with the facts in issue and with the particular aspects of the single case. Correspondingly, it cannot be said that a massima contains the ratio decidendi of the case. It may happen, of course, but it is not certain in every case.9
By the early 1980s, when the reporting system
was near collapse, with a backlog of two or more years between date of the
decision and unofficial publication, the Court of Cassation determined that
there was an immediate need for a form of electronic control of the growing mass
of legislation and jurisprudence. The final result, ITALGIUR, is thex-large st and
most sophisticated legal database in Europe, enabling full-text retrieval of all
legislation (national and regional) since 1972 and all decisions of the
Constitutional Court. Summaries or headnotes are available for a range of other
decisions since the 1960s. This is a complex, multifaceted and expanding system,
with great potential for more effective administration of justice; however, it
is directed primarily at the judiciary and governmental, administrative and
prosecutorial agencies, as user groups, rather than public institutions or the
practicing bar.
Any system of case reporting, beyond the merely informative value, must be
aimed at isolating a describing precedent. The use, the recognition and value of
precedent in Italian law has been expanding since the Second World War and it is
now an accepted practice, particularly when there are gaps in the statutory law.
Nevertheless, precedent is not binding in the Anglo-American sense, but is
generally regarded, rather, as persuasive, especially when a judgment is
delivered by a special panel and, of course, the highest court in the hierarchy.
Perhaps because of the volume of court decisions and their fragmented and often
incomplete mode of publication, any actual, hard and fast description of
precedential practice and authority in Italy lies beyond our grasp.
As a means of coping with the mandated harmonization of Italian law with the
expanding volume of European Union directives and regulations, an enactment,
Legge 86 of 9 March 1989 in
Gazzetta ufficiale
10 March 1989, known as the �La Pergola law,� will enable mass annual enactment
of EU law into the body of Italian law. This is �[d]esigned to provide a
framework for the future implementation of EU directives and other acts of Union
law. As the framework was built by a statute which cannot be regarded as higher
law than any other statute, the impact of the �La Pergola law� on future
practice is uncertain.�10
A recent decision (no. 389) of the Constitutional Court of 11 July 1989,
Provinci di Bolzano c. President dei Consiglio di Ministri, has clearly
asserted that EU law prevails over Italian national law.
In fact, it appears that the approach devised by Antonio La Pergola is now
institutionalized with the Italian treatment of EU directives. La Pergola
explains that during his tenure as the Italian Minister for European Affairs,
the backlog of unimplemented Community directives had become unmanageable.
I believed that the only practical remedy to this non-implementation of Community directives was to oblige the government to address the problem by means of an annual omnibus bill. Such a bill would provide for all of the legislative measures required to bring the directives issued during the preceding period into effect.11
The new procedure called for debate to be followed by a prescribed sequence: first, Parliament must repeal or amend laws and regulations inconsistent with (new) Treaty obligations; second, it delegates to the executive the authority to make regulations for certain classes of law in a wide variety of areas covered by Community directives, and; third, other matters, not �addressable under the constitution as formal acts of parliament,� are also shifted into the executive competence to be regulated by decree. Quite separately, the different Italian regions are also permitted to implement directives locally, unless Parliament has passed uniform legislation.
Sources for Introductions to the Legal System and Its Laws
The Italian legal system and its substantive law is well described in a
number of English-language works; these range from a detailed analysis of
Italian law to a brief but scholarly outline/overview. Several of these are
particularly recommended. The essay on Italy in the International
encyclopedia of comparative law offers the most information in the least
space; its organization and structure are designed to give a total picture of
Italian private and procedural law complete with citations and bibliographic
references.12
This piece is still valuable, even though, having been completed in 1972, it is
more than a little out of date in certain particulars. Mauro Cappelletti�s
Italian legal system, published in 1967, is even older, but is elegantly
written and allows the reader to perceive the complexities and diverse origins
of the law in Italy. It provides a valuable second step in studying Italy�s
legal system.13
The work by Certoma on Italian law is outstanding; it covers every aspect of
substantive law, the structure of processes within the legal system, and is
supported by useful citations to legislation and secondary sources. It is well,
if rather densely, written and can be viewed as a model of the genre. This work
is essential for the English-language user seeking detailed information on
Italian law; it is current through the middle of 1984.14
Certoma�s valuable work is now supplemented by a new brief, but scholarly and
fluently written work titled The Italian legal tradition.15
This covers both public and private law in broad, but nevertheless incisive and
enlightening terms. It is recommended.
Two older works of a somewhat different aspect should be mentioned.
Grisoli�s bibliographic guide to Italian law gives the reader or researcher a
picture of the enormity of Italian legal publications, primary and
secondary�such a comprehension of the vastness of the undertaking is necessary
in any research approach to Italian law.16
The work is basically an extended, scholarly bibliographic essay combined with
brief analysis of substantive law and critical evaluations of sources. Its age
should not deter the user. A much older work can be suggested for the reader who
is seeking a fully detailed background to Italian law. Carlo Calisse, an eminent
legal scholar of the turn of the century, wrote a number of works on Italian
legal history. In 1928 a translation appeared of parts of his monumental
Storia del diritto italiano (which went through four editions after the
first of 1903) and his Storia del diritto penale italiano dal secolo VI and
XIX of 1895.17
The English version is more a translation of a synthesis of Calisse�s work, but
it was expertly done and still has appeal for contemporary scholarship. The
chapter on Italy in Modern legal systems cyclopedia can only be regarded
as a fill-in until a more comprehensive commissioned work can be provided. This
reprint of a law review note represents not even the least competition for any
of the works already mentioned.18
Naturally, one should not overlook the regularly revised, if somewhat briefer
than average, digest of Italian law in the Martindale-Hubbell law digest.
_________
1. Of course there have always been
historical ambiguities concerning the definition of Italy. Various disputed
territories have been claimed (and sometimes permanently retained) by France,
Switzerland, Austria-Hungary/Yugoslavia and England, and certain
Italian-speaking areas are no longer Italian. However, the Italian peninsula and
the nearby islands represent a continuing historical concept of over 2,500
years� existence.
2. The enlightenment of the 18th century had, of course, spread to Italy
during mid-century, but its effect had not penetrated beyond the upper levels of
society and the intelligentsia.
3. Italian legal system, an introduction. M. Cappelletti [et al.],
Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1967. Pgs. 40�41.
4. Italian legal system. G.L. Certoma, London, Butterworths, 1985.
Pgs. 8�9.
5. The Italian legal traditions. T.G. Watkin, Aldershot, Dartmouth,
1997. Pg. 43.
6. Parliamentary papers and proceedings are beyond our scope. Each house,
the Camara dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies) and the Senato della Repubblica
(Senate), has its own publications series that prints not only full debates but
also committee proceedings and debates. Important reports appear in two series
covering parliamentary committees of inquiry and investigating committees:
Relazioni e documenti delle commissioni di inchiesta parlamentare and Relazioni
e documenti delle commissioni di indagine. Both of these would have some use
in determining legislative intent.
7. A. Gambaro, �The role of publishing in the Italian legal experience� in
Rapports nationaux italiens au XIII Congr�s international de droit compar�.
Milano, Giuffr�, 1990. Pg. 587. The writer notes that �Most professional people
draw on privately published information, which provides a more convenient,
coordinated presentation of the text of the law.�
8. A. Gambaro, �The role of publishing in the Italian legal experience� in
Rapports nationaux italiens au XIII Congr�s international de droit compar�.
Milano, Giuffr�, 1990 at pg. 591. The writer concludes, �[T]he proliferation of
specialized reviews has made decisions published in full unknowable for anyone
not possessing all the collections, a burden which few Italian lawyers�used to
practicing singly or in very small groups�can afford to shoulder.� As a matter
of fact, only thex-large st institutions can hope to achieve really comprehensive
collections of decisions.
9. M. Taruffo and M. La Torre, �Precedent in Italy,� in Interpreting
precedents: a comparative study. Edited by D.N. MacCormick and R.S. Summers,
Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1997. Pg. 141 at pg. 148. This is a long quote, but the
authors have done an excellent job in describing this unique institution. Their
essay contains a wealth of information on Italian jurisprudence. It could not be
more highly recommended for their treatment of the role precedent plays in
Italian jurisprudence and the entire legal system.
10. G. Gaja, �New developments in a continuing story: the relationship
between EEC law and Italian law.� 27 Common market law review 83 (1990)
at pg. 85.
11. A. La Pergola, �Italy and European integration: a lawyer�s perspective.�
4 Indiana international and comparative law review 259 (1994) at pgs.
274�75.
12. M. Cappelletti and P. Rescigno, �Italy,� International encyclopedia
of comparative law. Vol. I, �National reports,� fascicle �I.� T�bingen, Mohr
[1974].
13. Italian legal system, an introduction. M. Cappelletti et al.,
Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1967. Pgs. 40�41.
14. The Italian legal system. G.L. Certoma, London, Butterworths,
1985.
15. The Italian legal traditions. T.G. Watkin, Aldershot, Dartmouth,
1997.
16. Guide to foreign legal materials:
Italian. A. Grisoli, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Oceana, 1965 (Parker School study).
17. History of Italian law. C. Calisse, translated by L.B. Register,
Boston, Little Brown, 1928 (Continental legal history series, no. 8).
18. �The expanding role of international and comparative law studies: an
overview of the Italian legal system� by L.F. Del Duca. Modern legal systems
cyclopedia. Buffalo, N.Y., Hein [1984].