Paper's abstract

Luigi Delia, Between Domat and Beccaria: Muratori and the codification of case law
A classical text from the Italian legal literature of the first half of the eighteenth century, but little known outside Italy, the treaty De’ difetti della giurisprudenza (On the Defects of Jurisprudence, 1742) is the work of historian and philosopher Lodovico Antonio Muratori who was from Modena. Since he was opposed to the alterations, which had changed the common law inspired by Justinian principles, his treaty embraces the passion of the century for a new legal rationality. Partly dependent on the design of unification of the Roman law developed by Jean Domat, Muratori’s critical thinking feeds in its turn Beccaria’s draft to streamline the right to punish. Thus, between the time of consolidations and the growth of codification, Muratori proposes to assemble into a single volume a collection of judicial rulings gathering all court decisions approved by the best lawyers or pronounced by the most important courts. So doing casts a new light on the vexata quaestio of the interpretation of laws, suggesting the implementation of a jurisprudential code. Under what conditions is it possible to codify all court decisions?

Key Words : Muratori, codification
t. 57, 2014 : p. 551-562

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