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On Bridging Legal Cultures: The Italian Journal of Public Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Giacinto della Cananea

Abstract

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The example of the German Law Journal has been very important for the creation of a new legal journal, the Italian Journal of Public Law. First, that example was very persuasive due to the importance of the traditional ties between the German and Italian legal cultures. Second, following that example, unlike most e-journals in the legal field in Italy, the Italian Journal of Public Law devotes considerable attention to theoretical issues. Its goal is essentially to serve as a bridge between legal cultures and this explains the choice of English as the working language. This does not imply, however, a demise of the national tradition, in particular as far as the distinctiveness of public law is concerned. Openness towards other legal cultures implies, rather, an even stronger awareness of the existence of a variety of approaches or methods, in contrast with the faith in “the” legal method, conceived in a unitary way, which characterized part of the last century.

Type
Developments
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 11 , Issue 11 , November 2010 , pp. 1281 - 1291
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 The IJPL is available at the website http://www.ijpl.eu. It is published twice a year.Google Scholar

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4 Interestingly, this was in regard to German public law thought, rather than the legal institutions and more broadly the environment in which such thoughts were elaborated. The continued influence of French legal institutions was still evident in 1890, when an administrative court was set up, by creating a new structure (the fourth chamber) within the Consiglio di Stato: the underlying reasons are explained by Aldo Piras, Administrative Justice in Italy, in Administrative Law. The Problem of Justice, vol. III, Germany and Italy, 341 (Aldo Piras ed., 1997).Google Scholar

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11 Since 1971, regular meetings have been held every two years between German and Italian professors of public law. The proceedings are published in law journals of both countries. The most recent are published in the 2010 edition of the Heidelberg Journal of International Law.Google Scholar

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17 Mention must be made of an important attempt in this direction made almost twenty years ago, with the Italian Studies in Law, edited by Alessandro Pizzorusso (1992).Google Scholar

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24 See Giacinto della Cananea, The Regulation of Public Services in Italy, 68 International Review of Administrative Sciences 79 (2002) and Stefano Battini, Administration et politique en Italie: des logiques contradictories, 86 Revue française d'administration publique 205 2008, respectively.Google Scholar

25 See, in particular, Carol Harlow and Richard Rawlings, Law and Administration (2010, 3rd).Google Scholar

26 Id., 22. (observing that the public/private law distinction is simply a fact).Google Scholar

27 See Franco G. Scoca, Administrative Justice in Italy: Origins and Developments, 1 It. J. OF Public L. 121 (2009) (arguing that in the last ten years not only has the scope of activity of administrative judges has been enlarged, but that their role has been strengthened after the legislator entrusted them with the power to grant financial compensation to private parties).Google Scholar

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31 At least one anecdote may be briefly mentioned. In 1995, when a new, and influential legal journal, Diritto pubblico, was published, Andrea Orsi Battaglini the founding editor, made it clear that its fundamental pillars included the concept of Rechtsstaat (which conveys some of the key elements of the “Rule of law”, particularly the need to respect legislation, although both concepts have a specific ideological background and have led to very different doctrines of public law: see Martin Shapiro & Alec Stone Sweet, On Law, Politics and Judicialisation, 166 (1993)) and the defence of “the” legal method. His approach was criticized by Sabino Cassese (himself editor of the Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico). An unusually vivid debate for Italian standards then took place between the two: see Cassese, Sabino, Alla ricerca del Sacro Graal. A proposito della Rivista Diritto Pubblico, 43 Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico, 247 1995 and Andrea Orsi Battaglini, Il puro folle e il perfetto citrullo (discutendo con Sabino Cassese), 1 Diritto pubblico 639 (1995).Google Scholar

32 For an attempt to consider several aspects of public administrations, including their social role, see Pastori, Giorgio, Recent trends in Italian public administration, 1 It. J. of Public L. 2–20 (2009).Google Scholar

33 For this line of reasoning, see Caranta, Roberto, Judicial Protection Against Member States: A New Jus Commune takes shape, 32 Common Market. Law. Revue. 703 (1995). For an excellent historical analysis of the common roots of European legal cultures, see Antonio M. Hespanha, Panorama històrico da culturajuridica europeia (1999).Google Scholar

34 This metaphor is borrowed from Vivien G. Curren, supra, note 19, 675.Google Scholar