A few notes on judiciary history in the Italian liberal State
The choice, cultivated by historians and archivists over the past thirty years, to enhance the use of archival sources in the history of institutions, has also helped usher in a new season in the history of the judiciary. Three crucial issues have emerged from these recent studies. The first concerns the social background and geographical origin of Italian judges; the second their culture within national legal traditions; the third their relationship with political power. First, the judicial profession has, since early post-Unification, been dominated by a very sharp cleavage between the «high» and «low» judiciary, separated by a large and obvious gap in income. Second, the culture consists of positive law, learned in university studies, but the jurisprudence also affects juridical language and the substance of the decisions. Last is the role of politics and the tension, throughout the entire experience of Unification, with regard to the autonomy that seems to characterize the judiciary.

Discipline and guarantees: the origins of the present CSM
The beginning of the 20th century (1907-1908) saw a dramatic shift in the relationship between politics and justice. With Vittorio Emanuele Orlando as minister of Justice, Italian judges were now formally guaranteed by a system of rules for careers and discipline: the Consiglio superiore della magistratura (CSM) was created in 1907, and the Suprema corte disciplinare in 1908. But the trend in the relationship was still affected by many factors of the previous model, as occurred with the strong interplay between the high judiciary and politicians, and the hierarchical framework that always characterized the entire structure. However, something changed in those years: the new union of judges (Associazione generale dei magistrati italiani) and the new rules produced the first signs of a different role for the judiciary.

The magistrates’ participation in the ministerial cabinets during the liberal age
Although the relationship between politics and magistracy has been extensively studied, the role played by the magistrates appointed during the liberal period as general secretaries and principal private secretaries in the Ministry of Justice is still awaiting full evaluation. During the government of the so-called Destra storica (1861-1876), the general secretaries – close collaborators of the ministers later replaced by the undersecretaries – were selected among the magistrates; later on the same office was held by the deputies. Enabled as they were to decide on the magistrates’ appointment and transfer, the general secretaries played a key role during this period until 1880, when a proper consultative commission was set up. As regards the Cabinet, permanently established since 1876, it performed its two most significant duties in judicial statistics and legislative studies.

Overseas judges
This article examines the activity of the magistracy in Italian colonies, highlighting its role in the broader context of colonial policies. Beyond the application of the law in tribunals, judges dealt with public order and local government; the judicial power established separate treatments for Italian citizens and colonial subjects and embodied the logic of the «Colonizing State». Starting from the activities of some key personalities of the Italian magistracy in the colonies – such as William Caffarel and Ranieri Falcone – the analysis of the magistracy’s function and operation emphasizes its role in legitimising and enforcing the Italian State’s colonial power.

Luigi Lucchini, judge and politician
This essay traces the life of Luigi Lucchini (1847-1929), scholar of criminal law and most famous representative of the liberal school of criminal law, who became member of the Corte di cassazione in Rome in 1893 and spent a long career in the judiciary. At first a politician linked to Zanardelli, then to the radical party, and made senator in 1909, Lucchini distinguished himself as a defender of constitutional freedoms and later as an opponent of socialism. After being set aside by the Giolittian ministers, Lucchini received fascism favourably, but when the parliamentary system was brought into question he had the courage to oppose the regime.

Law and myths: the case of Beatrice Cenci
This essay is intended to explore the relationships between history-telling and the formation of myths, on the one side, and the construction of juridical discourse – that is the construction of evaluations and perspectives about the law – on the other. The case study is the well-known trial and execution of Beatrice Cenci in Rome (1599). Analysis regards the inquiry, the trial, and the legal procedure. Popular opinion in Rome considered Beatrice an innocent victim of her father’s monstrosity and of arbitrary justice. From Stendhal to Shelley and others, Beatrice’s destiny became the subject of poems, novels, operas, and films, all over the world. She also became the symbol of the perversity of criminal justice in the ancien régime.

The sacrament of confession and confessors in Counter-Reformation Italy: what can be said about the seventeenth century?
The sacrament of confession is emblematic of the successes of the Counter-Reformation, and its transformations during the sixteenth century have often been emphasized in recent historiography. The gradual implantation of the Jesuit model of frequent confession and the assistance that confessors gave to inquisitors are only two of the most well-known aspects of the sacrament’s ability to create a lasting hold over Catholic society. But the case of Italy in the seventeenth century raises some questions. Evidence regarding the relationship with the Holy Office and the ordinary government of the sacrament by bishops and by the Roman congregations paints a much less rosy picture. Resistance, exploitations, and the slow weakening of the rigid Tridentine standards created a much more uncertain situation, despite the special interest that Roman authorities had in the Italian peninsula.

Ecclesiastical criminal justice in seventeenth-century Italy: trends and characteristics
The Council of Trent’s legislation regarding ecclesiastical criminal justice led during subsequent decades to a significant increase in the activity of Episcopal criminal tribunals and the Apostolic nunciatures, while both were coordinated by central authorities in Rome. The developments of the seventeenth century are much less understood, however: a kind of «normalization» followed the dynamism of the late sixteenth century, and its characteristics cannot be easily deciphered. The most important developments appear to be the institution by Urban VIII in 1626 of a new Congregation dedicated to the defence of ecclesiastical immunity, and the moralizing tension produced by the «Innocenzian turn» of the 1670s and ’80s. At the same time, the corporative nature of ecclesiastical justice created conflicts with civil authorities that became increasingly frequent over the course of the century.