Papers by Chiara Maria Valsecchi
La norma del codice civile italiano del 1865 che prevede il divieto di indagini sulla paternità n... more La norma del codice civile italiano del 1865 che prevede il divieto di indagini sulla paternità naturale costituisce una profonda innovazione, sia rispetto alla prassi giudiziaria medievale e moderna, sia rispetto alla legislazione preunitaria di primo Ottocento. La circostanza determina un vasto dibattito dottrinale, con una forte corrente di civilisti impegnati nel chiedere una riforma del codice, ma produce anche una rilevante casistica giurisprudenziale, in relazione soprattutto alla risoluzione di questioni di diritto transitorio. Complessa in specie la situazione dei territori già appartenuti al Lombardo-Veneto e sottoposti in precedenza alla molto diversa disciplina dell'A. B. G. B. austriaco.
Studies in the History of Law and Justice, 2018
The production of consilia in the modern era was an important avenue for lawyers to take part, bo... more The production of consilia in the modern era was an important avenue for lawyers to take part, both as a class and as a group, in the practical and ideological construction of the 'modern State'. Merchants, lords, and princes were often parties to litigation on business matters, contracts, properties, but even more frequently, on issues involving partition of huge estates amassed through marriages, dowries, and inheritances. When the protagonists of these family matters were rulers and sovereigns, these matters became, more or less explicitly, political and administrative issues, ending up intertwined. Already in the Low Middle Ages, Oldradus da Ponte lend his knowledge to prestigious clients, bringing him to occupy himself not simply with small domains but eventually with entire kingdoms as Maiorca or Aragon. Whereas in the 14th century this role was afforded only to a few highly authoritative professors, with the Modern Era, the link between legal consultancies and the building of the modern state became closer and more explicit. In the 16th century, in the modern 'society of princes', matters of marriage and succession within royal houses accompanied and determined public and international law systems. The Republic of Venice too, for delicate cases like dynastic successions (for instance about Gorizia), had recourse to the knowledge of ius commune jurists. Between the 16th and the 17th centuries, the doctores legum were more amply involved in many other cases of European relevance. The succession to the Portuguese throne and to the marquisate of Montferrat controversies, of the latter half of the 16th century, were veritable international intrigues. These complex and delicate affairs, like many others, provided the opportunity for professors hailing from various universities to intervene in defence of this or that pretender and to play a primary role in the conflict which involved virtually all the royal families of Europe.
Studies in the History of Law and Justice, 2016
Paternity as a legal institute is historically marked by an instrinsical ambiguity: its aim is to... more Paternity as a legal institute is historically marked by an instrinsical ambiguity: its aim is to acknowledge and provide judicial remedies for a natural phenomenon, which however cannot be ascertained and verified through the usual legal procedures. Legislators, therefore, never fail to evoke nature, but then they set off on a path of their own in order to regulate its different legal forms and cases. Moreover, civil law in Italy, in Europe and elsewhere, during the transition from the law system of the ancien regime to modern codifications, is marked by the troubled coexistence of two different and diverse elements: on one hand the tradition of the Roman and Canon law, on the other the model provided by the French revolution and the Napoleonic code. Paternity is thus caged inside the ancient Roman presumption, while bastardy is abandoned to the free will and choice of the parent: given the prohibition to investigate paternity out of wedlock, introduced in the XIX-century codes, he cannot be compelled to take responsibility. The disparity of status between legitimate offspring and bastards would shape family law for a long time.
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Papers by Chiara Maria Valsecchi