Law and Jurists in the Formation of the Modern State in Italy

Abstract

It is common practice for historians to begin their papers by lamenting the insufficiency of existing research. I also wish to do that-and not just as a rhetorical expedient. The question of the formation of the modem state in Italy first of all involves constitutional issues and issues concerning the organization of institutions. This subject requires juridical expertise. So far, Italian juridical historiography has not dealt with it in an exhaustive way.1 Nevertheless, to understand and define the economic, political, and social transformations that took place between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries, the role played by law and by jurists must be analyzed.2 The European history of the early modem period, like the history of any other period, has underlying cultural structures.3 People interpret, organize, and live their experience through cultural structures, which give meaning to the data and make them comprehensible and communicable to others. These structures do not just reflect the existing social situation. Made up of shared values, myths, and communicative and linguistic symbols, these structures determine customs, actions, and behavior. Jurisprudence has a place among the myths and values of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. It has a central role in the anthropology of European history. It is not an artificial phenomenon, a superstructure of society. It does not appear post factum to legitimize already established situations, to disguise interests and mediate