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Guide to Italian Legal Research and Resources on the Web
By Elio Fameli and Fiorenza Socci
Elio Fameli holds a law degree from the University of Florence. He is a Research Director at the ITTIG – “Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell’Informazione Giuridica” (“Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques”), previously known as IDG (“Istituto per la Documentazione Giuridica” – “Institute for Legal Documentation”) –, an organ of the Italian National Research Council. At this Institute he is currently responsible for the “Information Technology and Law” section; moreover he is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute and Co-ordinator of the “Cognitive Models and Knowledge Representation and Management Systems in Law” Project. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the international journal “Informatica e diritto”. He published numerous scientific contributions on the application of artificial intelligence to the law (legal reasoning, legal expert systems, decision-support and advisory systems in the Law, advanced tools for online legal information retrieval, etc.), “Computer Law”, and the dissemination of legal information on Internet. In his most recent research activity he has paid special attention to the right of the citizen to information on the environment and to the dissemination of legal and legal-environmental information on Internet (see the volumes: E. Fameli, A. Cammelli, Diritto all’informazione ambientale e sistemi informativi orientati al cittadino, Padua, CEDAM, 1996, 435 pp.; E. Fameli, A. Cammelli, Informatica, Diritto, Ambiente. Tecnologie dell’informazione e diritto, Naples, ESI, 1997, 253 pp.; Fameli et alii, Diritto alla vita e diritto all’ambiente nel lessico costituzionale e nella dottrina giuridica. Strumenti e metodi per l’analisi linguistico-concettuale, Florence, S.T.A.R., 2003, 160 pp.).
Fiorenza Socci has a degree in law from the University of Florence. She is a Senior Researcher at the “Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell’Informazione Giuridica” (ITTIG – “Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques”) of the Italian National Research Council. She carries out her research activities in various sectors, such as the domain of legal lexicography. Within the domain of “legal knowledge-based systems” she has taken part in the building of legal expert systems, and she has written numerous publications on legal knowledge representation systems. She has collaborated in the designing of a database of references to materials of legal and administrative interest on Internet (database called “Diritto Italia” – “Italian Law”) and has participated in the “Norme in Rete” (NIR – “Legislation on the Net”) Project, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Justice, for implementing a service of unified, free of charge, access to legal materials coming from public sources on the Web. She teaches courses and seminars on the access to legal information on the Web.
Translated from Italian by Deirdre Exell Pirro.
Published September/October 2007
General Table of Contents
Introduction: Italian Legal System
A. Printed Sources of Italian Law
B. Online Italian legal Information: Portals, Search Engines, Guides, Web Sites of Legal Interest
1. Main Italian legal web sites
2. Glossary of the most frequently used Italian legal terms
Introduction: Italian Legal System
A. Printed Sources of Italian Law
1. Printed Sources of a General Nature
2. Sources of Italian Public Law
2.1.1. The Italian Constitution
2.1.3. Acts of the Constituent Assembly
2.1.4. Other Laws of Public Law Interest
2.3. Public Law Legal Authority
3. Sources of Italian Civil Law
3.1.2. Other Laws of Civil Law Interest
3.1.3. Private Collections of Thematic Legislation
3.3. Civil Law Legal Authority
4. Sources of Italian Criminal Law
4.1.1. “Ordinary Criminal Law”: the Criminal Code and the Penitentiary Legal System
4.1.2. “Special (or Complementary) Criminal Law”
4.1.3. Other Laws of Criminal Law Interest
4.2. Criminal Law Jurisprudence and Legal Authority
B. Online Italian legal Information: Portals, Search Engines, Guides, Web Sites of Legal Interest
4. Web Sites of Legal Interest
4.1. Parliament, Government and Ministries
4.2. Organs and Bodies of National Importance
4.3. Local Public Bodies and Civic Networks
4.4. Courts and Judicial Offices
4.6. Universities and Research Bodies
4.7. Professional Orders, Associations and Trade Unions
1. The NIR – “Norme In Rete” (Italian Legislation on the Net) Project
1.1. Search Functions and Online Utilities
2. The “Suprema Corte di Cassazione” (Italian Supreme Court of Cassation) Databases
3. The Italian Legal Authority Portal
5. Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
1. Main Italian Legal Web Sites
1.1 Italian Parliament, Government, and Ministries
1.1.2 President of the Italian Republic
1.1.4 Ministers without Portfolio
1.3 Judicial Bodies and Offices
1.4 Associations and Labour Unions
1.5 Traditional and Online Magazines
1.6 Private Iniziative Web Sites
1.9 Italian Legal Documentation
1.10 Web Guides to Italian Law
1.11 Italian Search Engines and Portals
1.12 European Community, Foreign and International Law
2. Glossary of the Most Frequently Used Italian Legal Terms
On the European Continent, legal systems can be said to have various origins, but in particular, to have descended from classical Roman Law, which became with time “jus civile”, and can be distinguished in many ways from the “Common Law”. The Italian legal order has two fundamental origins, “jus privatorum” and “jus publicum”; this traditional division of law does not exist in “Common Law” countries with an English tradition. The former, concerning Private Law, draws its sources from ancient Roman law (the “Institutiones”, “Digesta”, “Codex” and “Novellae”) and substantially still mirrors those ancient principles today, albeit filtered through the experience of the Medieval and Renaissance jurists (the Glossators and Commentators), and later summarized in the French Napoleonic codification of 1805, which in Italy was partially affected by the influx of German Pandectist doctrine. The latter, concerning Public Law, finds its most direct and modern inspiration in the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” of 1789, following the French Revolution. It was strongly influenced by the political experience of the Italian Risorgimento, partially incorporated in the Constitution of the State of Piedmont, promulgated on 4 March 1848 by Carlo Alberto of Savoy (the so-called Statuto Albertino), and finally fully expressed in the Republican Constitution in force today.
The description above provides a general outline of the system up to the promulgation of the new Italian Constitution in 1947, which imposed a different and updated approach and interpretation of the old rules, influencing in a decisive manner the order of the powers of the individual and of the State and, above all, the relationship between the citizen and the State. Furthermore, it also forced the latter to intervene strongly in the economic field.
It is usually said that the Italian Constitution is a compromise between the thrust for the simplified popular idea of justice deriving from 19th century socialist ideas and the innate natural law aspiration of religious Catholic origin. The Italian Constitution which came into force on 1 January 1948 clearly states that the rights of individuals exist and are protected, but directs their exercise towards the benefit of the entire collective, according to the principle, also dear to early French Constitution makers, that the individual is everything in society but is nothing without it. It is the whole constitutional framework that, for the purpose of fully implementing the project for a new society, takes the doctrine formulated by Montesquieu as its own and clearly separates legislative, executive and judicial Powers, giving each its own precise rules and autonomy.
The Italian Constitution was published in a special issue of the “Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica” [Official Gazette of the Republic] on 27 December 1947. The text can almost always be found together with publications of the 5 Codes (“Codice Civile”, “Codice di Procedura Civile”, “Codice penale”, “Codice di Procedura Penale”, “Codice della Navigazione” – Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Navigation). An English translation of the Italian Constitution text, revised and updated to 2003, is in A. Tschentscher (ed.), International Constitutional Law (version edited by C. Fusaro). This translation has been realized for International Constitutional Law (ICL), a scientific organization that translated also other Constitutions in the world, providing a special kind of cross references among different constitutional texts.
The Italian legal system, as founded on Roman and Germanic traditions and based on the written laws value, is a “Civil Law system”. It is deeply different from the legal system of the English-speaking countries (so called “Common Law systems”), developed by royal courts of justice and basically structured as a “Jurisprudencial Law”, in which just the judges make law, binding by means of their sentences the following judicial decisions. The distinction between “Private Law” and “Public Law”, absent in the “Common Law systems”, on the contrary characterizes the “Civil Law systems”.
Legislative Power is exercised by the “Parlamento” [Parliament]: that is the “Camera dei Deputati” [Chamber of Deputies] and the “Senato della Repubblica” [Senate of the Republic]. Legislative initiative belongs also to the “Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro” [National Council of Economy and Labour] and the People. The “Corte Costituzionale” [Constitutional Court] exercises control over the constitutional legitimacy of laws.
Executive Power is attributed to the “Governo” [Government], while the “Consiglio di Stato” [Council of State] and the “Corte dei Conti” [State Audit Court] have a measure of control and advisory role over the Executive.
Judicial Power is exercised by magistrates distinguished in functions and competencies as follows. “Corte costituzionale” [Constitutional Court]: judicial review of constitutionality; “Corte di Cassazione” [Supreme Court of Cassation]: control of the legality of the decisions. Civil Jurisdiction: a) First instance: “Giudice di Pace” [Judge of the Peace], “Pretura” [Magistrates Court], Tribunale [Tribunal]; b) Second Instance: “Pretura” [Magistrates Court], “Tribunale” [Tribunal], “Corte d’Appello” [Court of Appeal]. Penal Jurisdiction: a) First Instance: “Pretura” [Magistrates’ Court], “Tribunale” [Tribunal], “Corte d’Assise” [Court of Assize]; b) Second Instance: “Tribunale” [Tribunal], “Corte d’Appello” [Court of Appeal], “Corte d’Assise d’Appello” [Appeal Court of Assize]. Administrative Jurisdiction: a) First instance: “Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali” [Regional Administrative Tribunals]; b) Second Instance: “Consiglio di Stato” [Council of State]. Taxation Jurisdiction: a) First instance: “Commissioni Tributarie Provinciali” [Provincial Taxation Commissions]; b) Second Instance: “Commissioni Tributarie Regionali” [Regional taxation Commissions]. Audit Jurisdiction: a) First instance: “Corte dei Conti – Sigola Sezione” [State Audit Court - Single Session]; b) Second Instance: “Corte dei Conti – Sezioni Unite” [State Audit Court – Joint Sitting]. Military Jurisdiction: a) First instance: “Tribunale Militare” [Military Tribunal]; b) Second Instance: “Corte Militare d’Appello” [Military Court of Appeal]. Any Judge can refer a case to the Constitutional Court.
Considered as a whole, legal information is basically made up of three main elements: legislative data, case law data and legal authority data. Naturally, this does not exclude the fact that there is a large quantity of different data which is very important for legal purposes, such as administrative acts, notices, circulars and so on. Here, however, for the sake of our presentation, the paper-based instruments relating to the dissemination of these data will not be taken into consideration but, rather, the analysis of the paper-based sources will be limited to the three main types of sources indicated above.
The concise treatment of the subject which follows separately deals with Italian legislation, case law and legal authority (leaving aside, that is, the specific nature of the individual branches of the law). Some special mention will only be made in relation to the main divisions of Italian law, namely, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Public Law.
Legislative data are collected into tools which can be divided into two categories: I) those which contain the text of the legislative measures and II) those which contain the legislative references.
I) Both official and private publications belong to the former category. The brief presentation following here is based on this distinction.
Among the official publications, we wish to cite the “Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana”, the “Raccolta Ufficiale degli atti normativi della Repubblica Italiana” and the “Bollettini ufficiali regionali”.
The “Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana”, published by Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, represents the most popular collection. It publishes not only all the legislative acts, but also Community and Regional sources, as well as the decisions and orders of the Constitutional Court and government circulars. For a systematic search, monthly and annual indexes are also available which enable the user to identify the act on the basis of the date of its adoption, the number of the measure and the subject matter that has been regulated. The legislative acts of the European Union are published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale delle Comunità Europee.
The “Raccolta Ufficiale degli atti normativi della Repubblica Italiana”, again published by the Poligrafico dello Stato, contains the texts of Italian legislative measures (set out in order of the number of their insertion in the collection) and it is provided with annual indexes.
The “Bollettini ufficiali regionali” constitute a collection of legislative acts passed by the legislative bodies of the twenty Italian Regions (in Sicily, a region under a special statute, the collection is called the “Gazzetta Ufficiale”).
Private publications are made up of special periodical journals which publish legislative material in various forms. They have chronological, numeric and subject indexes and more user-friendly tools compared to the “Gazzette” and the “Bollettini ufficiali”. Within this category, we shall only mention the following as the main works of this kind:
a) Lex, edited by the UTET publishing house of Turin, contains State legislative acts, parliamentary reports, ministerial instructions, Regional laws and the legislative acts of the European Communities.
b) Le leggi d’Italia, a fortnightly journal published by Zanichelli of Bologna, collects together the laws, decrees and all the other legislative measures found in the “Gazzetta Ufficiale”, following its order of publication. The journal also includes the laws and regulations enacted by the legislative bodies of the Regions, as well as the provisions of the European Union and the rulings of the Constitutional Court. The material is provided with a classification system and indexing common to the other publications of “Il Foro Italiano”.
c) La legislazione italiana, edited by Giuffré of Milan, collects together the legislative acts of the State, Regions and the autonomous Provinces, as well as the European Community, bills, decisions of the Constitutional Court, appeals and remissions of actions of the same Court.
d) Le leggi d’Italia, edited by V. De Martino (De Agostini, Novara), publishes the text in force of the primary laws of the State, excluding, therefore, secondary sources of the Italian State, but also primary sources of the Regions and the EU. It is a loose-leaf work, divided into headings and sub-headings, continually updated and also available on CD-ROM.
II) Tools for consultation which do not contain legislative texts but only contain references to them belong to the latter category mentioned earlier. From the typological point of view, we can distinguish the publications which are set out in the following:
a) “Digests” are made up of special periodical journals containing lists of legislative acts and also “massime” (case abstracts) and bibliographies relating to legal authority. Usually, these are accompanied by chronological, numeric and subject indexes. The following are among the most widely used: the “Repertorio del Foro Italiano” (Zanichelli, Bologna), the “Repertorio della Giurisprudenza Italiana” (UTET, Turin) and the “Repertorio generale annuale di legislazione, bibliografia e giurisprudenza” (Giuffré, Milan).
b) Among the “Supplements to Journals”, the most important are Legislazione vigente (UTET, Turin), which has an analytical-alphabetical subject index, where the references to the provisions in force are set out, and Legislazione italiana (Giuffré, Milan), a digest of state laws currently in force containing state legislative references.
c) The “Appendices to Encyclopedia Headings”, usually provided in order to complete every topic covered, contain information dated at the time the heading was compiled, but they have the advantage of being systematic and authoritative because they are prepared by specialists on the subject. Among the most important legal encyclopedias, we can mention here: the “Enciclopedia del Diritto”, published by Giuffré since 1958, which is currently composed of more than 46 volumes; the “Novissimo Digesto Italiano”, edited by UTET in 20 volumes starting from 1957 and then updated with later volumes; and the “Enciclopedia Giuridica”, published by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana up until 1997 and integrated by subsequent volumes of updating.
With reference to legislative sources, the user may sometimes be advised, if necessary, to document him/herself by consulting the Atti parlamentari (Parliamentary Acts) on the so-called “legislator’s intent”. Knowledge of this intention, in fact, whilst not decisive in the interpretative construction of a provision, may be of great help in understanding its original meaning. Among the Atti parlamentari published, in paper-based form, by the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate, the main one is Proposte e disegni di legge and Bollettino delle Giunte e delle Commissioni parlamentari.
As far as jurisprudential data are concerned, the user gains knowledge about them through a good many tools for their dissemination, set out here in accordance with their type.
a) Journals
Some journals are, exclusively or mainly, specialised in publishing decisions and other judicial measures. In these, each decision is usually preceded by a “column” which identifies, through “Headings” and “Sub-headings”, the subject to which it refers (for example, “Sale”, “Renting”, “Tender”, etc.) and by one or more “massime” (case abstracts) – without any kind of official nature, in that they have been compiled by the editors of the journal itself – which summarise the principle of law stated by the court and they are, in turn, accompanied by a case note or by references to previous legal literature or jurisprudential cases.
Two monthly journals – Il Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna) and La giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) – publish considerable numbers of decisions and other measures issued by judicial authorities of different kinds: Community, constitutional, civil, criminal and administrative case law are divided into special sections. The journal Giurisprudenza di merito is, instead, specialised in the publication of the decisions of the Magistrate’s Courts, the Courts and the Courts of Appeal.
b) “Massimari” (collections of “massime”)
Only the “massime” (abstracts) of the decisions of the Italian Supreme Court are published monthly in the following collections of “massime”: Massimario della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan), Massimario della giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) and Massimario del Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna).
c) “Repertori” (Digests)
The digests annually publish only the “massime” (case abstracts) of all the decisions and other judicial measures published in the Journals and Collections of “Massime”, organised in a systematic manner under “headings” and “sub-headings” indicating the journal or the collection of “massime” they have come from. In searching for case law, from the methodological point of view, the digests are the first tool to consult: after that, the user needs to go back to the journal in which the full text of the decision that interests him/her on each occasion is published, for the purpose of being informed not only about the facts of the case on which the court bases its decision but also to verify how exact and congruous the principle of law expressed in the “massima” in the digest is.
Among the Digests of a general nature, we would like to indicate the Repertorio del Foro Italiano (“Il Foro Italiano” - Zanichelli, Bologna), the Repertorio della giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin), and the Repertorio generale annuale di legislazione, bibliografia e giurisprudenza (Giuffré, Milan). The characteristics of these works are the annual frequency of their publication and the fact that they contain subject indexes, under whose headings the lists of the sources held to be in force are set out, together with the bibliographical details of the different law journal articles published during the year under consideration as well as the “massime” of the decisions, often with references to the journals where they are published in their entirety. Other indexes of the published case law material include a chronological index and an index of the names of the parties in the legal actions.
One characteristic element which distinguishes “Repertori” (or “Massimari”) from law journals is the fact that, in the former, only the “massime” (case abstracts) of the decisions are published, whereas the latter also give the text of the decisions of greatest interest, often accompanied by a case note or references to judicial precedents, becoming, in this way, useful supplementary tools. Also, in this case, there are more general and more specialised journals. Here, it is sufficient for us to provide only some limited information about the former by mentioning Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna), La Giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) and Giurisprudenza di merito (Giuffré, Milan).
There is a very vast amount of scientific material, found in handbooks, encyclopedias, journals, treaties and monographs. Digests and bibliographies prove to be useful tools for consultation. Also, we must point out that there are various kinds of these tools, both general and specific, taking the shape of appendices to larger works, as in the case of encyclopedias and legal dictionaries (as we saw above, in relation to legislative data), or autonomous works. Obviously, journals are an important tool for documenting scientific output, especially those specializing in the sector in which a user conducts his/her research.
a) Bibliographical Digests
Among the Digests of a general kind, we must, in the first place, cite the Dizionario bibliografico (Giuffré, Milan), edited by V. Napolitano since 1964 which appears annually. In this work, all the articles which have appeared since 1865, in the journals examined are classified on the basis of a special index, as well as law books published since 1964.
b) Bibliographical Guides
A panorama of bibliographical guides at the international level can be found in the Sistema della bibliografia giuridica. Strumenti e metodi della ricerca bibliografica per la scienza del diritto, published by A. Meloncelli (Giuffré, Milan, 1977). Other bibliographical guides of a general nature are: Introduzione alla ricerca dei dati giuridici, edited by G. Sciullo (Giappichelli, Turin, 1989); Diritto, edited by G. Armani (Garzanti, Milan, 1989); the same author has also written Come si cerca il diritto. La ricerca di leggi, giurisprudenza e letteratura attraverso biblioteche, bibliografie e banche dati. Strumenti e metodi (Maggioli, Rimini, 1990), in which there is a very long list of Italian law journals; A. Meloncelli, Come si cerca il diritto (Maggioli, Rimini, 1990); G. Pascuzzi, Cercare il diritto (Zanichelli, Bologna, 1997).
c) Dictionaries
We shall only mention some of the more recent: the Dizionario enciclopedico del diritto, diretto da F. Galgano (Padua, CEDAM, 1996); the Nuovo Dizionario enciclopedico del diritto edited by F. Del Giudice (Edizioni Simone, 1998); the Nuovo Dizionario giuridico (Edizioni Simone, 1998); the Dizionario delle discipline giuridiche (CD-Rom, Edizioni Simone, 1999).
d) Encyclopedias
In legal encyclopedias, individual subjects are subdivided into “entries”, set out in alphabetical order and containing an extended treatment of the single issues dealt with in relation to the various branches of the law. The Novissimo Digesto Italiano (UTET, Turin, vols. 20, plus 7 volumes updating it as an Appendix) is directed towards satisfying the needs of legal practitioners, while the Enciclopedia del diritto (Giuffré, Milan) has a more markedly theoretical nature. The Enciclopedia giuridica published by the Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana (UTET, Turin, vols. 32, plus 1 vol. of indexes and 6 issues updating it) and the digest published by UTET in four sections (Discipline privatistiche, Sezione civile; Discipline privatistiche, Sezione commerciale; Discipline penalistiche; Discipline pubblicistiche) are also very important.
The fundamental law of the Italian State is represented by the Constitution, published in a special issue of the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica on 27 December 1947 and coming into force on 1st January 1948. The text of the Constitution comprises 139 articles and is subdivided into four parts: “Fundamental Principles”, “Rights and Duties of Citizens”, “Organisation of the Republic” and “Transitional Provisions”. The so-called “Transitional Provisions” can be found in 18 articles, all listed with Roman numbers.
Among the English translations of the text of the Italian Constitution, we shall only mention a few here: The Constitution of the Italian Republic. Rules of the Chamber of Deputies (Rome, Camera dei Deputati, Segreteria Generale, 1990); Constitutions of the Countries of the World. Italy, edited by A.P. Blauistein and G.H. Flanz (Vol. IX, Dobbs Ferry, New York, Oceana, 1994). An English translation of the text of the Italian Constitution, revised and updated to 2003, can currently be found A. Tschentscher (ed.), International Constitutional Law (see also the version edited by C. Fusaro). It is a translation, prepared by International Constitutional Law (ICL), a scientific organisation which also translates other material relating to constitutional documents, providing a series of cross references aimed at enabling a user to easily and rapidly compare texts dealing with the same topic.
The Commentario della Costituzione, in thirty volumes, edited by G. Branca and A. Pizzorusso (Zanichelli, Bologna, 1975-1996), is still today the most complete treatise on Italian Constitutional Law.
After its promulgation, the Italian Constitution was integrated with numerous Constitutional Laws, passed within the period between 1948 and 2003. For a detailed list of the laws amending the Italian Constitution, as well as the articles of the Constitution “etched into” by Constitutional laws, it is advisable to consult the Web site of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Italy, which can be consulted in five languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish), rather than paper-based sources.
In particular, it should be noted that when the reform of Title V of the Constitution (Constitutional Law No. 3/2001) was passed, it left many questions unanswered on a doctrinal and operational level. For many issues, the need was widely felt for legislative regulation laying down proper criteria for fully implementing the reform. In this perspective, Law 5 June 2003, No. 131 was enacted, on Provisions for the Adaptation of the Legal Order of the Republic to Constitutional Law 18 October 2001, No. 3 (known as the “La Loggia Law”).
Among the other more recent innovations, we would like to mention here:
a) Constitutional Law 30 May 2003, No. 1, which amended article 51 of the Constitution and provided the necessary constitutional cover for the enactment of legislative acts aimed at stimulating the participation of women in political life;
b) Law 20 June 2003, No. 140, under which immunity from criminal proceedings was introduced for the highest offices of the State (President of the Republic, of the Chamber of Deputies, Senate, Council of Ministers and the Constitutional Court);
c) Comments on the Draft European Constitution.
The preparatory work on the Constitution of the Republic of Italy deserves separate discussion. The Atti dell’Assemblea costituente were published immediately after the conclusion of the work of the Assembly: three volumes were dedicated to the work of the Commission in accordance with the way it was divided internally (Constituent Assembly and Commission for the Constitution), while eleven volumes collect the debates (Atti dell’Assemblea costituente, Discussioni). The initial proposals and reports presented to the Commission for the Constitution were only edited as “proofs”.
An index relating to the activities carried out by the individual members of the Constituent Assembly is found in the volume Atti dell’Assemblea costituente, Attività dei Deputati. Only in 1980 was an actual analytical index created (M.C. Grisolia, Indice analitico degli Atti della Assemblea costituente, in Verso la nuova Costituzione, edited by U. De Siervo, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1980), regarding the second edition of the Acts, edited by the Chamber of Deputies in 1970 (La Costituzione della Repubblica nei lavori preparatori dell’Assemblea costituente).
Apart from the official publications and those of a private nature already mentioned with reference to legislation in general, we can indicate here the various “Codes” of constitutional and administrative laws, comprising collections of more frequently used legislative sources, created by experts in the material in different sectors of interest. These legislative collections are not, of course, to be confused with the five proper Italian Codes, which collect together the fundamental rules in force within the field of civil law, civil procedure, criminal law, criminal procedure and navigation.
Amongst the most up-to-date texts, we shall only mention here: the Repertorio amministrativo dello Stato, edited by L. Zanobini, published by Giuffré since 1984 and specifically referring to State administrative legislation (the last update was published in 1995, but refers to 1994); the Codice costituzionale ed amministrativo edited by G. De Vergottini and F.A. Roversi Monaco (Maggioli, Rimini, 1998); Le leggi fondamentali del diritto pubblico e costituzionale, edited by M. Bassani, V. Italia, C.E. Traverso (Milan, Giuffré, 1998); the work by L. Pegoraro, L. Coen, R. Scarciglia, Istituzioni di diritto pubblico e diritto costituzionale. Testi normativi (Giappichelli, Turin, 1999); the Codice delle leggi amministrative fondamentali, edited by L. Tramontano (Hoepli, Turin, 1999); and the Atlante normativo di diritto costituzionale by M. Carducci (Giuffré, Milan, 1999).
Apart from the case law sources mentioned with reference to Italian law in general, we would like to make note of the following among the specialised digests: the Repertorio delle decisioni della Corte costituzionale, edited by N. Lipari (Giuffré, Milan), which publishes the “massime” (case abstracts) of constitutional decisions on the basis of a subject index, an index by article of the Constitution and an index of the provisions subject to judgment and the Massimario completo della giurisprudenza del Consiglio di Stato (Italedi, Milan), which, since 1982, publishes an annual volume containing all the decisions of the Italian Council of State, classified by subject matter.
There are many public law journals. These include: Giurisprudenza costituzionale (Giuffré, Milan), which publishes all the decisions and orders of the Constitutional Court, as well as the remission orders to the Court; Il Foro amministrativo (Giuffré, Milan); Il Consiglio di Stato (Italedi, Milan); and I Tribunali amministrativi regionali (Italedi, Milan).
a) Handbooks
Apart from the encyclopedias and dictionaries we have already cited in the part relating to Italian law in general, institutional handbooks of constitutional, parliamentary and administrative law represent important reference works for learning about Italian public law.
For Constitutional Law, the following are among the most recent and important handbooks: T. Martines, Diritto costituzionale, Giuffré, Milan, 1997; P. Barile, E. Cheli, S. Grassi, Istituzioni di diritto pubblico, CEDAM, Padua, 1998; and G.U. Rescigno, Corso di diritto pubblico, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1999.
For Parliamentary Law, reference should be made to: A.P. Tanda, Le norme e la prassi del Parlamento italiano, Colombo, Rome, 1996; M.L. Mazzoni Honorati, Lezioni di diritto parlamentare, Giappichelli, Turin, 1997; S. Tosi, A. Mannino, Diritto parlamentare, Giuffré, Milan, 1999.
For an overall but concise view of Italian Administrative Law, the following can usefully be referred to: F. Bassi, Lezioni di diritto amministrativo, Giuffré, Milan, 1998; S. Cassese, Le basi del diritto amministrativo, Garzanti, Milan, 1998; and G. Landi, G. Potenza, V. Italia, Manuale di diritto amministrativo, Giuffré, Milan, 1999.
b) Journals
The main journals in which authoritative contributions in the sector of public law are published include the following: the Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico (Milan, Giuffré), Diritto pubblico (CEDAM, Padua), Quaderni costituzionali (Il Mulino, Bologna), Politica del diritto (Il Mulino, Bolona), Diritto e Società (CEDAM, Padua). From the point of view of the legal history of Italian public law, the work entitled Il Parlamento italiano. Storia parlamentare e politica dell’Italia 1861-1992 (Nuova CEI, Milan, 1988 - 1992) is of great scientific interest.
There are several editions of the Civil Code, all preceded by the text of the Constitution. In choosing one edition rather than another, the accuracy of the transcription of the official text, its updating with the later provisions of repealing laws or the amendment of individual articles and with the abrogating decisions of the Constitutional Court and the selection of the main special laws found in the appendix to the Code must all be kept in mind. The most accredited and most frequently updated editions are those published by the publishing houses CEDAM of Padua (Codice civile e leggi complementari), Giuffré of Milan (Codice civile con la Costituzione e le principali leggi speciali) and Zanichelli of Bologna (Codice civile e leggi collegate). There are also editions, in a single volume, which bring together both the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, or all of the four Italian Codes (Civil, Civil Procedure, Criminal, and Criminal Procedure).
We would like to mention here, within the ambit of the series of Hypertext Codes published by UTET of Turin, the hypertext Civil Code on CD-ROM, edited for the same publishing house by G. Bonilini, M. Confortini and C. Granelli, who have, in turn, coordinated more than one hundred authors, chosen from among the greatest experts in the various sectors of civil law. The work, in this case, only available on CD-ROM, contains comments on all the articles of the Civil Code updated with the introduction of the most recent legislation and case law. Special attention is paid to the articles of Book V, the object of the recent company law reform, in force since 1st January 2004, including the Ministerial Report by way of explanation and comment. The database of case law, especially rich in material in the first edition, has been further widened and today contains approximately 33,000 documents, while the legislation database has been updated up until the early months of 2003.
a) Commentaries
Furthermore, there are editions of the Civil Code in which, in correspondence to each article, information is briefly given on the main trends in case law and legal authority. Among these, we would only like to mention here the Commentario breve al Codice civile by Cian and Trabucchi (CEDAM, Padua) and the Commentario al Codice civile by Cendon, published in seven volumes (UTET, Turin).
b) Preparatory works
For a detailed view of civil law matters through knowledge about the preparatory work behind the drafting of the Civil Code, it is necessary to consult the work in six volumes by Pandolfelli, Scarpello, et. al., Codice civile (Milan, Giuffré, 1940-’43).
Here, reference should be made to a specialized journal entitled Le nuove leggi civili commentate (CEDAM, Padua), which publishes, on a quarterly basis, a selection of legislative instruments relating to the material, supplementing them with in-depth comments relating to both the laws as a whole and to the individual articles of which they are composed.
Also in the field of private law, there are additions to periodical publications which, under the general name of “Codes”, collect together all the legislation relating to specific topics, such as renting (“Code of Renting”), labour (“Code of Labour Laws”), etc.
With specific reference to civil law case law, there are journals and “Massimari”, digests and reviews, edited by the major Italian publishing houses specialised in this legal domain.
a) Journals
The following journals contain civil law case law: the monthly journal Giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan) and the bimonthly journal La nuova giurisprudenza civile commentata (CEDAM, Padua). Other journals specialised by subject matter dedicate a special section to the publication of decisions relating to that subject matter. We have set out here a basic list of these journals: Il diritto di famiglia e delle persone (Giuffré, Milan), Il diritto d’autore (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista di diritto commerciale (Nuova Libraria, Padua), Giurisprudenza commerciale (Giuffré, Milan), Le società (IPSOA, Milan), Rivista bancaria (Rome), Banca, borsa e titoli di credito (Giuffré, Milan), Diritto fallimentare (CEDAM, Padua), Il fallimento (Pirola, Milan), Rivista di diritto ipotecario (Giuffré, Milan), La giurisprudenza annotata di diritto industriale (Giuffré, Milan; published annually, contains all the decisions on competition, intangible property and trade names), Rivista di diritto industriale (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista giuridica dell’edilizia (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista del diritto agrario (Giuffré, Milan), Nuovo diritto agrario (Rome), Giurisprudenza agraria (Rome), Rivista di diritto minerario (La Tribuna, Piacenza), Archivio giuridico della circolazione e dei sinistri stradali (La Tribuna, Piacenza), Responsabilità civile e previdenza (Giuffré, Milan), Assicurazioni (INA, Rome), Rassegna di diritto cinematografico (Rome), Rivista di diritto sportivo (Giuffré, Milan).
b) “Massimari”, Digests and Reviews
Here we shall cite the Massimario della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan) among the specialised “massimari” on civil law. Among the digests, there is the Repertorio della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan). The reviews are characterised by the fact that they contain a logical and systematic description of the case law. Two large works, published in many volumes but still a long way from completion, need to be mentioned in specific reference to civil law matters: I grandi orientamenti della giurisprudenza civile e commerciale (CEDAM, Padua) and Giurisprudenza sistematica civile e commerciale (UTET, Turin). La Rassegna di giurisprudenza sul codice civile (Giuffré, Milan) is more concise.
a) Handbooks
We will mention only the most important and popular titles: Trabucchi, Istituzioni di diritto civile (CEDAM, Padua); Torrente, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Giuffré, Milan; the later editions were updated by Schlesinger); G. Branca, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Zanichelli, Bologna); P. Rescigno, Manuale del diritto privato italiano (Jovene, Naples); P. Trimarchi, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Giuffré, Milan).
The following works are dedicated to commercial law as a subdivision of private law: Cottino, Diritto commerciale CEDAM, Padua, vols. 2; G. Ferri, Manuale di diritto commerciale (UTET, Turin); Galgano, Diritto commerciale (Zanichelli, Bologna, vols. 2); Graziani, Minervini, Manuale di diritto commerciale (Morano, Naples).
Instead, the following have labour law as their specific theme and they include: Assanti, Corso di diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua); Mazziotti, Diritto del lavoro (ETS, Pisa); Mazzoni, Manuale di diritto del lavoro (Giuffré, Milan); Pera, Diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua); Riva-Sanseverino, Diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua).
b) Treatises
These are mainly aimed at those practising the law (judges, attorneys, public notaries, etc.), and they are clearly distinguished from handbooks for the greater degree of depth in dealing with the material and, therefore, also for their wider coverage. Within the ambit of the vast amount of literature existing on the Civil Code, we recommend: F. Messineo, Manuale di diritto civile e commerciale (Giuffré, Milan, vols. 6, but no longer updated after 1962); F. Galgano, Diritto civile e commerciale (CEDAM, Padua, 1999, vols. 5); and, finally, the Trattato di diritto privato, directed by P. Rescigno (UTET, Turin).
The series of volumes by different authors, organised on the basis of a plan which provides for overall coverage of the disciplinary area under consideration also belong to the category of Treatises. In this regard, we are able cite several works of great scientific importance as well as having a considerably broad coverage (although all still remain unfinished): the Trattato di diritto civile e commerciale, directed by Cicu and F. Messineo and followed by Mengoni (Giuffré, Milan); the Trattato di diritto civile directed by Grosso and Santoro-Passarelli (Vallardi, Milan) and the Trattato di diritto civile directed by Vassalli (UTET, Turin). Other Treatises have for their object only some of the specific sectors within civil law, such as the Trattato di diritto commerciale e di diritto pubblico dell’economia, directed by F. Galgano (CEDAM, Padua) and the Nuovo trattato di diritto del lavoro, directed by Riva-Sanseverino and Mazzoni (CEDAM, Padua).
c) Commentaries
Commentaries are distinguished from Treatises in that, being specifically directed towards the needs for interpreting and enforcing the law, they follow, article by article, the order of the legislative text examined. The most widely used work among lawyers practising Italian private law is, undoubtedly, the Commentario del codice civile Scialoja e Branca, directed by F. Galgano (Zanichelli – Il Foro Italiano, Bologna - Rome) and made up of several dozen volumes. The Commentario del codice civile, edited by university professors and judges (UTET, Turin) is more concise and is of a prevalently informative nature, although it is still unfinished.
d) Encyclopedias
In general legal encyclopedias, the single topics of interest to the civil lawyer are also dealt with and subdivided under “headings”, set out in alphabetical order and containing a broad treatment of the individual themes being examined. For the main encyclopedias, see those that have already been discussed here in relation to Italian law in general.
e) Journals
The following journals are among the main Italian private law journals: the Rivista trimestrale di diritto e procedura civile (Giuffré. Milan), the Rivista di diritto civile, which is published bimonthly (CEDAM, Padua), the Rassegna di diritto civile (quarterly, ESI, Naples), the Rivista critica di diritto privato (quarterly, Jovene, Naples), and Contratto e impresa (CEDAM, Padua).
There are also numerous journals specializing in specific sectors of private law. Apart from those already cited as also being important for the case law they contain, the following belong to this category: the Rivista delle società (Giuffré, Milan), Diritto del lavoro (Rome), Giornale di diritto del lavoro e delle relazioni industriali (Angeli, Milan), Notiziario giuridico del lavoro (Turin), Rivista di diritto del lavoro (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista giuridica del lavoro (Rome), Trasporti (CEDAM, Padua) .
Some other law journals, mainly characterised by their ideological orientation or for their methodological approach also involve the private law domain, such as Politica del diritto (Il Mulino, Bologna), Democrazia e diritto (Editori riuniti, Rome), Justitia (Giuffré, Milan). Finally, some journals of a legal history nature (like the Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, Giuffré, Milan; Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica, Il Mulino, Bologna) and sociological kind (like Sociologia del diritto, Giuffré, Milan) are also of interest to the private law scholar.
f) Monographs
Monographs, usually published as part of a “Series” of specialised publications edited by university faculties or scientific institutes, deal in-depth with specific themes within the branch of the law under consideration. Because they are the result of legal research, they play an essential role in setting out in a systematic fashion the problems dealt with on each occasion, proposing path for investigation and, sometimes, even methods and original solutions. Volumes which collect together the contributions of more than one author or the Proceedings of Conferences may also be of a monographic kind, in the sense of referring to a single main topic.
Within the sphere of Italian criminal law, on the basis of the “principle of the legislature’s exclusive power to create crimes”, the legislature is reserved legislative monopoly in the field: sources of criminal law are, therefore, limited only to laws or to acts having the force of law (“nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege poenali scripta”).
As a result, both non-written sources and sources written in a different way from laws or “acts non comparable to them” are excluded as criminal law sources. With this last expression, we are referring, within the Italian legal order, to so called “material laws”, consisting of acts passed by bodies different from the legislature, but having the “force of law”. In particular, the term includes: 1) “Delegated Laws” or “Legislative Decrees”, enacted by the Government on the delegation of the legislature (Arts. 76 and 77 (1) of the Constitution); 2) “Decree Laws”, enacted by the Government under its own responsibility in extraordinary cases of necessity and emergency (Art. 77 of the Constitution); 3) and finally, “Governmental Decrees in Wartime”, enacted on the basis of the essential powers attributed by Parliament to the Government during wartime. All the other legislative acts of the Executive (namely, “Regulations” and “Ordinances”) cannot constitute Criminal Law sources.
The main source of criminal law currently in force is the Criminal Code, which was passed under the R.D. (Royal Decree) of 19 October 1930, No. 1398, and came into force on 1 July 1931. It was integrated then by the Co-ordinating and Transitory Provisions (R.D.