text:
UPDATE: Guide to Italian Legal Research and Resources on the Web
By Elio Fameli and Fiorenza Socci
Update by Elio Fameli and Francesco Fameli
Elio Fameli holds a Law degree from the University of Florence. He is an Associated Research Director at the ITTIG – " Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica " ("Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques"), previously known as IDG (" Istituto per la Documentazione Giuridica " – "Institute for Legal Documentation"), an organ of the Italian National Research Council. He was responsible of a CNR National Project. In the ITTIG structure, he was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute and coordinator of the "Information Technology and Law" Section. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the international journal "Informatica e diritto". He published numerous scientific essays about the application of Artificial Intelligence to Law, "Computer Law" and the dissemination of legal information on Internet. In his recent research activity he paid special attention to the problems of definition and systematization of the Legal Informatics as unitary discipline (see E. Fameli, La definizione dell'Informatica giuridica , in M. Ragona, G. Peruginelli (editors), L'Informatica giuridica in Italia. Cinquant'anni di studi, ricerche ed esperienze , Neaples, ESI, 2014; E. Fameli , Teoria, definizione e sistematica dell'Informatica giuridica , in R. Nannucci (editor), Lineamenti di informatica giuridica. Teoria, Metodi, Applicazioni , Neaples, ESI, 2002; ) and to the right of the citizen to information about the environment (see the volumes: Fameli et alii, Diritto alla vita e diritto all'ambiente nel lessico costituzionale e nella dottrina giuridica . Florence, S.T.A.R., 2003; E. Fameli, A. Cammelli, Informatica, Diritto, Ambiente. Tecnologie dell'informazione e diritto , Neaples, ESI, 1997; E. Fameli, A. Cammelli, Diritto all'informazione ambientale e sistemi informativi orientati al cittadino , Padua, CEDAM, 1996).
Francesco Fameli graduated magna cum laude in Law at the University of Florence. Then he took a further specialization degree in Administrative Law at the Florence Postgraduate School of Law. In 2011 he became an officially registered mediator. He wrote large essays concerning the Public Administration damage compensation. He is currently working as a lawyer in Florence. His main interests concern Public and Administrative Law (with special attention to zoning law, building codes and licenses fees), Intellectual Property Law (in particular as regards copyright rule applications in the fields of informatics and music industry) and voluntary associations' legal guardianship.
Published January/February 2015
(June 2006 and September/October 2007 updated by Elio Fameli and Fiorenza Socci ; March 2011 update by Diletta Tega ; July/August 2012 update by M aria Angela Biasiotti and Elio Fameli )
General Table of Contents
Introduction: Italian Legal System
- Printed Sources of Italian Law
- Online Italian Legal Information: Portals, Search Engines, Guides, Sites of Legal Interest
- Italian Legislation, Jurisprudence and Legal Authority on the Net: Institutional Web Sites, Off-line Databases, Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
- Open Access Online Legal Information Sources
- Appendices
1. Main Italian Legal Web Sites
2. Glossary of the Most Frequently Used Italian Legal Terms
3. Free of Charge Databases
Analytical Table of Contents
Introduction: Italian Legal System
A. Printed Sources of Italian Law
1. Printed Sources of General Nature
2. Sources of Italian Public Law
2.1.1. The Italian Constitution
2.1.3. Acts of the Constituent Assembly
2.1.4. Other Laws of Public Law Interest
2.3. Public Law Legal Authority
3. Sources of Italian Civil Law
3.1.2. Other Laws of Civil Law Interest
3.1.3. Private Collections of Thematic Legislation
3.3. Civil Law Legal Authority
3.4. Intellectual Property Law
4. Sources of the Italian Civil Trial
4.3. The Telematic Civil Trial
5. Sources of Italian Criminal Law
5.1.1. "Ordinary Criminal Law": the Criminal Code and the Penitentiary Legal System
5.1.2. "Special (or Complementary) Criminal Law"
5.1.3. Other Laws of Criminal Law Interest
5.2. Criminal Law Jurisprudence and Legal Authority
6. Sources of the Italian Criminal Trial
B. Online Italian Legal Information: Portals, Search Engines, Guides, Sites of Legal Interest
4.1. Parliament, Government and Ministries
4.1.1. " Parlamento Italiano " (Italian Parliament)
4.1.2. " Governo e Ministeri " (Government and Ministries)
4.2. Organs and Bodies of National Importance
4.3. Local Public Bodies and Civic Networks
4.4. Courts and Judicial Offices
4.6. Universities and Research Bodies
4.7. Professional Orders, Associations and Trade Unions
C. Italian Legislation, Jurisprudence and Legal Authority on the Net: Institutional Web Sites, Off-line Databases, Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
1. The "Normattiva.it" (Italian Legislation on the Net) Project
2. The "Suprema Corte di Cassazione" (Italian Supreme Court of Cassation) Databases
3. The Italian Legal Authority Portal
5. Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
D. Open Access Online Legal Information Sources
1. Main Italian Legal Web Sites
1.1. Italian Parliament, Government and Ministries
1.1.2. President of the Italian Republic
22.214.171.124. Ministers without portfolio
1.3. Judicial Bodies and Offices
1.4. Associations and Labour Unions
1.5. Traditional and Online Magazines
1.6. Private Initiative Web Sites
1.9. Italian Legal Documentation
1.10. Web Guides to Italian Law
1.11. Italian Legal Search Engines and Portals
1.12. European Community, Foreign, and International Law
2. Glossary of the Most Frequently Used Italian Legal Terms
Introduction: Italian Legal System
On the European Continent, legal systems can be said to have various origins, but in particular, to have descended from classical Roman law, which became with time " jus civile ", and can be distinguished in many ways from the "Common Law". The Italian legal order has two fundamental origins, " jus privatorum " and " jus publicum "; this traditional division of law does not exist in "Common Law" countries with an English tradition. The former, concerning Private Law, draws its sources from ancient Roman law (the " Institutiones ", " Digesta ", " Codex " and " Novellae ") and substantially still mirrors those ancient principles today, albeit filtered through the experience of the Medieval and Renaissance jurists (the Glossators and Commentators), and later summarized in the French Napoleonic codification of 1805, which in Italy was partially affected by the influx of German Pandectist doctrine. The latter, concerning Public Law, finds its most direct and modern inspiration in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" of 1789, following the French Revolution. It was strongly influenced by the political experience of the Italian Risorgimento, partially incorporated in the Constitution of the State of Piedmont, promulgated on 4 March 1848 by Carlo Alberto of Savoy (the so-called Statuto Albertino), and finally fully expressed in the Republican Constitution in force today.
The description above provides a general outline of the system up to the promulgation of the new Italian Constitution in 1947, which imposed a different and updated approach and interpretation of the old rules, influencing in a decisive manner the order of the powers of the individual and of the State and, above all, the relationship between the citizen and the State. Furthermore, it also forced the latter to intervene strongly in the economic field.
It is usually said that the Italian Constitution is a compromise between the thrust for the simplified popular idea of justice deriving from 19 th century socialist ideas and the innate natural law aspiration of religious Catholic origin. The Italian Constitution, which came into force on 1 January 1948, clearly states that the rights of individuals exist and are protected, but directs their exercise towards the benefit of the entire collective, according to the principle, also dear to early French Constitution makers, that the individual is everything in society but is nothing without it. It is the whole constitutional framework that, for the purpose of fully implementing the project for a new society, takes the doctrine formulated by Montesquieu as its own and clearly separates legislative, executive and judicial Powers, giving each its own precise rules and autonomy.
The Italian Constitution was published in a special issue of the " Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica " [Official Gazette of the Republic] on 27 December 1947. The text can almost always be found together with publications of the 5 Codes ("Codice Civile", "Codice di Procedura Civile", "Codice penale", "Codice di Procedura Penale", "Codice della Navigazione" – Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Navigation). An English translation of the Italian Constitution text , revised and updated to 2014, is in A. Tschentscher (ed.), ICL - International Constitutional Law (version edited by C. Fusaro ). This translation has been realized for International Constitutional Law (ICL), a scientific organization that translated also other Constitutions in the world, providing a special kind of cross references among different constitutional texts.
The Italian legal system, as founded on Roman and Germanic traditions and based on the written laws value, is a "Civil Law system". It is deeply different from the legal system of the English-speaking countries (so called "Common Law systems"), developed by royal courts of justice and basically structured as a "Jurisprudencial Law", in which just the judges make law, binding by means of their sentences the following judicial decisions. The distinction between "Private Law" and "Public Law", absent in the "Common Law systems", on the contrary characterizes the "Civil Law systems".
Legislative Power is exercised by the "Parlamento" [Parliament]: that is the "Camera dei Deputati" [Chamber of Deputies] and the "Senato della Repubblica" [Senate of the Republic]. Legislative initiative belongs also to the "Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro" [National Council of Economy and Labour] and the People. The "Corte Costituzionale" [Constitutional Court] exercises control over the constitutional legitimacy of laws.
On August 8th 2014, the Senato approved a historical reform of its structure and powers. It's the first step of the constitutional reform process; it will need the Camera dei deputati ratification within the next months of 2014.
As regards the structure of the organ, the members of the new Senato will decrease to 100 units (315, today). The next Senators will be elected not directly by the citizens, but by the Regional Parliaments (the so called "Consigli Regionali"). Each one of them will chose up to five Senators. Five Senators will be nominated by the President of the Republic.
As regards the functions, the new Senato will essentially lose its traditional power to legify, which is going to become an exclusive prerogative of the Camera dei deputati, with the exception of some the most important laws, punctually listed (constitutional laws, constitutional reform laws, territorial ordinament acts, health and enviroment care laws).
Executive Power is attributed to the " Governo " [Government], while the " Consiglio di Stato " [Council of State] and the " Corte dei Conti " [State Audit Court] have a measure of control and advisory role over the Executive.
Judicial Power is exercised by magistrates distinguished in functions and competencies as follows. " Corte costituzionale " [Constitutional Court]: judicial review of constitutionality; " Corte di Cassazione " [Supreme Court of Cassation]: control of the legality of the decisions. Civil Jurisdiction: a) First instance: " Giudice di Pace " [Judge of the Peace], "Pretura" [Magistrates Court], Tribunale [Tribunal]; b) Second Instance: " Pretura " [Magistrates Court], " Tribunale " [Tribunal], " Corte d'Appello " [Court of Appeal]. Penal Jurisdiction: a) First Instance: " Pretura " [Magistrates' Court], " Tribunale " [Tribunal], " Corte d'Assise " [Court of Assize]; b) Second Instance: " Tribunale " [Tribunal], " Corte d'Appello " [Court of Appeal], " Corte d'Assise d'Appello " [Appeal Court of Assize]. Administrative Jurisdiction: a) First instance: " Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali " [Regional Administrative Tribunals]; b) Second Instance: " Consiglio di Stato " [Council of State]. Taxation Jurisdiction: a) First instance: " Commissioni Tributarie Provinciali " [Provincial Taxation Commissions]; b) Second Instance: "Commissioni Tributarie Regionali" [ Regional taxation Commissions ]. Audit Jurisdiction: a) First instance: " Corte dei Conti – Sigola Sezione " [State Audit Court - Single Session]; b) Second Instance: " Corte dei Conti – Sezioni Unite " [State Audit Court – Joint Sitting]. Military Jurisdiction: a) First instance: " Tribunale Militare " [Military Tribunal]; b) Second Instance: " Corte Militare d'Appello " [Military Court of Appeal]. Any Judge can refer a case to the Constitutional Court.
A concise political and institutional history can be found at the ICL (International Constitutional Law) website (Italy Index section: http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/it__indx.html ).
It is to be pointed out that Italy, following European member states trends starting from 2009 publishes Paper and online editions of the Gazzetta Ufficiale considering both versions published legislation (paper and electronic) as legally binding. . With respect to the online edition it is worthwhile knowing that every single page of the can be downloaded individually and since 1 January 2009 in toto and that only the free-of-text format is free of charge. The authenticity of the Gazzetta ufficiale is guaranteed through electronic signature. The certified PDF edition has been available since 1 January 2009.
The Ministry of Justice (Directorate of Information Systems) is responsible for archiving the legal gazette before the publication of the electronic edition. The Codice dell'amministrazione digitale (Code for digital administration) is the legal basis for archiving electronic official texts in general, although not specifically for the Gazzetta ufficiale.
As regards the last constitutional reforms, a brief synthesis of their development is offered by the Dipartimento per le Riforme Istituzionali (Institutional Reforms Department).
A. Printed Sources of Italian Law
Considered as a whole, legal information is basically made up of three main elements: legislative data, case law data and legal authority data. Naturally, this does not exclude the fact that there is a large quantity of different data, which is very important for legal purposes, such as administrative acts, notices, circulars and so on. Here, however, for the sake of our presentation, the paper-based instruments relating to the dissemination of these data will not be taken into consideration but, rather, the analysis of the paper-based sources will be limited to the three main types of sources indicated above.
The concise treatment of the subject, which follows separately, deals with Italian legislation, case law and legal authority (leaving aside, that is, the specific nature of the individual branches of the law). Some special mention will only be made in relation to the main divisions of Italian law, namely, Civil La w, Criminal Law and Public Law.
1. Printed Sources of General Nature
1.1. Legislation
Legislative data are collected into tools, which can be divided into two categories: I) those, which contain the text of the legislative measures and II) those, which contain the legislative references.
I) Both official and private publications belong to the former category. The brief presentation following here is based on this distinction.
Among the official publications, we wish to cite the "Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana", the "Raccolta Ufficiale degli atti normativi della Repubblica Italiana" and the "Bollettini ufficiali regionali".
The "Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana", published by Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, represents the most popular collection. It publishes not only all the legislative acts, but also Community and Regional sources, as well as the decisions and orders of the Constitutional Court and government circulars. For a systematic search, monthly and annual indexes are also available which enable the user to identify the act on the basis of the date of its adoption, the number of the measure and the subject matter that has been regulated. The legislative acts of the European Union are published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale delle Comunità Europee .
The "Raccolta Ufficiale degli atti normativi della Repubblica Italiana", again published by the Poligrafico dello Stato, contains the texts of Italian legislative measures (set out in order of the number of their insertion in the collection) and it is provided with annual indexes.
The "Bollettini ufficiali regionali" constitute a collection of legislative acts passed by the legislative bodies of the twenty Italian Regions (in Sicily, a region under a special statute, the collection is called the "Gazzetta Ufficiale").
Private publications are made up of special periodical journals, which publish legislative material in various forms. They have chronological, numeric and subject indexes and more user-friendly tools compared to the "Gazette" and the "Bollettini ufficiali". Within this category, we shall only mention the following as the main works of this kind:
a) Lex , edited by the UTET publishing house of Turin, contains State legislative acts, parliamentary reports, ministerial instructions, Regional laws and the legislative acts of the European Communities.
b) Le leggi d'Italia , a fortnightly journal published by Zanichelli of Bologna, collects together the laws, decrees and all the other legislative measures found in the "Gazzetta Ufficiale", following its order of publication. The journal also includes the laws and regulations enacted by the legislative bodies of the Regions, as well as the provisions of the European Union and the rulings of the Constitutional Court. The material is provided with a classification system and indexing common to the other publications of "Il Foro Italiano".
c) La legislazione italiana , edited by Giuffré of Milan, collects together the legislative acts of the State, Regions and the autonomous Provinces, as well as the European Community, bills, decisions of the Constitutional Court, appeals and remissions of actions of the same Court.
d) Le leggi d'Italia , edited by V. De Martino (De Agostini, Novara), publishes the text in force of the primary laws of the State, excluding, therefore, secondary sources of the Italian State, but also primary sources of the Regions and the EU. It is a loose-leaf work, divided into headings and sub-headings, continually updated and also available on CD-ROM.
II) Tools for consultation which do not contain legislative texts but only contain references to them belong to the latter category mentioned earlier. From the typological point of view, we can distinguish the publications which are set out in the following:
a) "Digests" are made up of special periodical journals containing lists of legislative acts and also "massime" (case abstracts) and bibliographies relating to legal authority. Usually, these are accompanied by chronological, numeric and subject indexes. The following are among the most widely used: the "Repertorio del Foro Italiano" (Zanichelli, Bologna), the "Repertorio della Giurisprudenza Italiana" (UTET, Turin) and the "Repertorio generale annuale di legislazione, bibliografia e giurisprudenza" (Giuffré, Milan).
b) Among the "Supplements to Journals", the most important are Legislazione vigente (UTET, Turin), which has an analytical-alphabetical subject index, where the references to the provisions in force are set out, and Legislazione italiana (Giuffré, Milan), a digest of state laws currently in force containing state legislative references.
c) The "Appendices to Encyclopedia Headings", usually provided in order to complete every topic covered, contain information dated at the time the heading was compiled, but they have the advantage of being systematic and authoritative because they are prepared by specialists on the subject. Among the most important legal encyclopedias, we can mention here: the "Enciclopedia del Diritto", published by Giuffré since 1958, which is currently composed of more than 46 volumes; the "Novissimo Digesto Italiano", edited by UTET in 20 volumes starting from 1957 and then updated with later volumes; and the "Enciclopedia Giuridica", published by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana up until 1997 and integrated by subsequent volumes of updating.
With reference to legislative sources, the user may sometimes be advised, if necessary, to document him/herself by consulting the Atti parlamentari (Parliamentary Acts) on the so-called "legislator's intent". Knowledge of this intention, in fact, whilst not decisive in the interpretative construction of a provision, may be of great help in understanding its original meaning. Among the Atti parlamentari published, in paper-based form, by the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate, the main one is Proposte e disegni di legge and Bollettino delle Giunte e delle Commissioni parlamentari .
1.2. Jurisprudence
As far as jurisprudential data are concerned, the user gains knowledge about them through a good many tools for their dissemination set out here in accordance with their type.
a) Journals:
Some journals are, exclusively or mainly, specialized in publishing decisions and other judicial measures. In these, each decision is usually preceded by a "column" which identifies, through "Headings" and "Sub-headings", the subject to which it refers (for example, "Sale", "Renting", "Tender", etc.) and by one or more "massime" (case abstracts) – without any kind of official nature, in that they have been compiled by the editors of the journal itself – which summarize the principle of law stated by the court and they are, in turn, accompanied by a case note or by references to previous legal literature or jurisprudential cases.
Two monthly journals – Il Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna) and La giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) – publish considerable numbers of decisions and other measures issued by judicial authorities of different kinds: Community, constitutional, civil, criminal and administrative case law are divided into special sections. The journal Giurisprudenza di merito is, instead, specialized in the publication of the decisions of the Magistrate's Courts, the Courts and the Courts of Appeal.
b) " Massimari " (collections of "massime"):
Only the "massime" (abstracts) of the decisions of the Italian Supreme Court are published monthly in the following collections of "massime": Massimario della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan), Massimario della giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) and Massimario del Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna).
c) " Repertori " (Digests):
The digests annually publish only the "massime" (case abstracts) of all the decisions and other judicial measures published in the Journals and Collections of "Massime", organised in a systematic manner under "headings" and "sub-headings" indicating the journal or the collection of "massime" they have come from. In searching for case law, from the methodological point of view, the digests are the first tool to consult: after that, the user needs to go back to the journal in which the full text of the decision that interests him/her on each occasion is published, for the purpose of being informed not only about the facts of the case on which the court bases its decision but also to verify how exact and congruous the principle of law expressed in the "massima" in the digest is.
Among the Digests of a general nature, we would like to indicate the Repertorio del Foro Italiano ("Il Foro Italiano" - Zanichelli, Bologna), the Repertorio della giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin), and the Repertorio generale annuale di legislazione, bibliografia e giurisprudenza (Giuffré, Milan). The characteristics of these works are the annual frequency of their publication and the fact that they contain subject indexes, under whose headings the lists of the sources held to be in force are set out, together with the bibliographical details of the different law journal articles published during the year under consideration as well as the "massime" of the decisions, often with references to the journals where they are published in their entirety. Other indexes of the published case law material include a chronological index and an index of the names of the parties in the legal actions.
One characteristic element which distinguishes " Repertori " (or " Massimari ") from law journals is the fact that, in the former, only the "massime" (case abstracts) of the decisions are published, whereas the latter also give the text of the decisions of greatest interest, often accompanied by a case note or references to judicial precedents, becoming, in this way, useful supplementary tools. Also, in this case, there are more general and more specialised journals. Here, it is sufficient for us to provide only some limited information about the former by mentioning Foro italiano (Zanichelli, Bologna), La Giurisprudenza italiana (UTET, Turin) and Giurisprudenza di merito (Giuffré, Milan).
1.3. Legal Authority
There is a very vast amount of scientific material, found in handbooks, encyclopedias, journals, treaties and monographs. Digests and bibliographies prove to be useful tools for consultation. Also, we must point out that there are various kinds of these tools, both general and specific, taking the shape of appendices to larger works, as in the case of encyclopedias and legal dictionaries (as we saw above, in relation to legislative data), or autonomous works. Obviously, journals are an important tool for documenting scientific output, especially those specializing in the sector in which a user conducts his/her research.
a) Bibliographical Digests:
Among the Digests of a general kind, we must, in the first place, cite the Dizionario bibliografico (Giuffré, Milan), edited by V. Napolitano (1964- 2001). In this work, all the articles, which have appeared since 1865, in the journals examined, are classified on the basis of a special index, as well as law books published since 1964.
b) Bibliographical Guides:
A panorama of bibliographical guides at the international level can be found in the Sistema della bibliografia giuridica. Strumenti e metodi della ricerca bibliografica per la scienza del diritto , published by A. Meloncelli (Giuffré, Milan, 1977). Other bibliographical guides of a general nature are: Introduzione alla ricerca dei dati giuridici , edited by G. Sciullo (Giappichelli, Turin, 1989); Diritto , edited by G. Armani (Garzanti, Milan, 1989); the same author has also written Come si cerca il diritto. La ricerca di leggi, giurisprudenza e letteratura attraverso biblioteche, bibliografie e banche dati. Strumenti e metodi (Maggioli, Rimini, 1990), in which there is a very long list of Italian law journals; A. Meloncelli, Come si cerca il diritto (Maggioli, Rimini, 1990); G. Pascuzzi, Cercare il diritto (Zanichelli, Bologna, 1997).
c) Dictionaries:
We shall only mention some of the more recent: the Dizionario enciclopedico del diritto , diretto da F. Galgano (Padua, CEDAM, 1996); and the Nuovo Dizionario giuridico (Edizioni Simone, 2008).
d) Encyclopedias:
In legal encyclopedias, individual subjects are subdivided into "entries", set out in alphabetical order and containing an extended treatment of the single issues dealt with in relation to the various branches of the law. The Novissimo Digesto Italiano (UTET, Turin, vols. 20, plus 7 volumes updating it as an Appendix ) is directed towards satisfying the needs of legal practitioners, while the Enciclopedia del diritto (Giuffré, Milan) has a more markedly theoretical nature. The Enciclopedia giuridica published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana (UTET, Turin, vols. 32, plus 1 vol. of indexes and 6 issues updating it) and the digest published by UTET in four sections ( Discipline privatistiche , Sezione civile ; Discipline privatistiche , Sezione commerciale ; Discipline penalistiche ; Discipline pubblicistiche ) are also very important.
2. Sources of Italian Public Law
2.1. Public Law Legislation
2.1.1. The Italian Constitution
The fundamental law of the Italian State is represented by the Constitution, published in a special issue of the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica on 27 December 1947 and coming into force on 1st January 1948. The text of the Constitution comprises 139 articles and is subdivided into four parts: "Fundamental Principles", "Rights and Duties of Citizens", "Organisation of the Republic" and "Transitional Provisions". The so-called "Transitional Provisions" can be found in 18 articles, all listed with Roman numbers.
Among the English translations of the text of the Italian Constitution, we shall only mention a few here: The Constitution of the Italian Republic. Rules of the Chamber of Deputies (Rome, Camera dei Deputati, Segreteria Generale, 1990); Constitutions of the Countries of the World. Italy , edited by A.P. Blauistein and G.H. Flanz (Vol. IX, Dobbs Ferry, New York, Oceana, 1994). An English translation of the text of the Italian Constitution , revised and updated to 2003, can currently be found A. Tschentscher (ed.), International Constitutional Law (edited by C. Fusaro ). It is a translation, prepared by International Constitutional Law (ICL), a scientific organisation that also translates other material relating to constitutional documents, providing a series of cross references aimed at enabling a user to easily and rapidly compare texts dealing with the same topic.
The Commentario della Costituzione, in thirty volumes, edited by G. Branca and A. Pizzorusso (Zanichelli, Bologna, 1975-1996), is still today the most extensive treatise on Italian Constitutional Law. The most updated publications are: Commentario alla Costituzione, edited by R. Bifulco, A. Celotto, M. Olivetti (UTET, Torino, 2006) and Commentario breve alla Costituzione, edited by S. Bartole, R. Bin (CEDAM, Padova, 2008).
2.1.2. Constitutional Laws
After its promulgation, the Italian Constitution was integrated with numerous Constitutional Laws, passed within the period between 1948 and 2014. For a detailed list of the laws amending the Italian Constitution, as well as the articles of the Constitution "etched into" by Constitutional laws, it is advisable to consult the Web site of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Italy , which can be consulted in five languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish); and the website Consulta online . In particular, Law 23 November 1999, No. 2 introduced in the Italian Constitution the principles of the so called "giusto processo" ("fair trial"), such as the equality of the parts, the cross examination method, the neutrality of the court and the reasonable length of the trial. Then, the reform of Title V of the Constitution (Constitutional Law No. 3/2001) left many questions unanswered on a doctrinal and operational level. For many issues, the need was widely felt for legislative regulation laying down proper criteria for fully implementing the reform. In this perspective, Law 5 June 2003, No. 131 was enacted, on Provisions for the Adaptation of the Legal Order of the Republic to Constitutional Law 18 October 2001, No. 3 (known as the "La Loggia Law").
Among the other more recent innovations, we would like to mention here:
- Constitutional Law 30 May 2003, No. 1, which amended article 51 of the Constitution and provided the necessary constitutional cover for the enactment of legislative acts aimed at stimulating the participation of women in political life;
- Law 20 June 2003, No. 140, under which immunity from criminal proceedings was introduced for the highest offices of the State (President of the Republic, of the Chamber of Deputies, Senate, Council of Ministers and the Constitutional Court);
- Law 2 October 2007, No. 1, abolishing the death penalty under the military war's provisions;
- Law 20 April 2012, No. 1, which introduced the balanced budget principle in the Italian Consitution.
2.1.3. Acts of the Constituent Assembly
The preparatory work on the Constitution of the Republic of Italy deserves separate discussion. The Atti dell'Assemblea costituente were published immediately after the conclusion of the work of the Assembly: three volumes were dedicated to the work of the Commission in accordance with the way it was divided internally ( Constituent Assembly and Commission for the Constitution ), while eleven volumes collect the debates ( Atti dell'Assemblea costituente , Discussioni ). The initial proposals and reports presented to the Commission for the Constitution were only edited as "proofs". See also the database created by the Chamber of Deputies .
An index relating to the activities carried out by the individual members of the Constituent Assembly is found in the volume Atti dell'Assemblea costituente, Attività dei Deputati. Only in 1980 was an actual analytical index created (M.C. Grisolia, Indice analitico degli Atti della Assemblea costituente , in Verso la nuova Costituzione , edited by U. De Siervo, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1980), regarding the second edition of the Acts, edited by the Chamber of Deputies in 1970 ( La Costituzione della Repubblica nei lavori preparatori dell'Assemblea costituente ).
2.1.4. Other Laws of Public Law Interest
Apart from the official publications and those of a private nature already mentioned with reference to legislation in general, we can indicate here the various "Codes" of constitutional and administrative laws, comprising collections of more frequently used legislative sources, created by experts in the material in different sectors of interest. These legislative collections are not, of course, to be confused with the five proper Italian Codes, which collect together the fundamental rules in force within the field of civil law, civil procedure, criminal law, criminal procedure and navigation.
Among the most up-to-date texts, we shall only mention here: the Repertorio amministrativo dello Stato , edited by L. Zanobini, published by Giuffré since 1984 and specifically referring to State administrative legislation (the last update was published in 1995, but refers to 1994); the Codice costituzionale ed amministrativo edited by G. de Vergottini and F.A. Roversi Monaco (Maggioli, Rimini, 1998); Le leggi fondamentali del diritto pubblico e costituzionale , edited by M. Bassani, V. Italia, C.E. Traverso (Milan, Giuffré, 2010); the Codice delle leggi amministrative fondamentali , edited by L. Tramontano (Hoepli, Turin, 1999); and the Atlante normativo di diritto costituzionale by M. Carducci (Giuffré, Milan, 1999).
The Dizionario di diritto pubblico, directed by S. Cassese (Milan, Giuffré, 2006), is the most extensive treatise on Italian Public Law.
It has to be mentioned even the Digital Administration Code (CAD), one of the most important legislative text concerning the implementation of the information society in Italy, introduced by legislative decree no. 82 of 2005, commonly referred to as the "digital administration code", subsequently integrated and amended by supplementary provisions and the corrective legislative decree (d. Lgs no.159 April 2006).
Thanks to the d.lgs No. 104/2010, on 16th September 2010 came into force the so called "Codice del Processo Amministrativo" ("Administrative Trial Code"), which regulates the administrative trial in front of the Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali ("T.A.R.") and the Consiglio di Stato (in second instance). The Code, which was reformed in 2011 with the d.lgs No. 195, has to be considered the sixth code of the Italian
Civil legislation.
2.2. Public Law Jurisprudence
Apart from the case law sources mentioned with reference to Italian law in general, we would like to make note of the following among the specialised digests: the Repertorio delle decisioni della Corte costituzionale , edited by N. Lipari (Giuffré, Milan), which publishes the "massime" (case abstracts) of constitutional decisions on the basis of a subject index, an index by article of the Constitution and an index of the provisions subject to judgment and the Massimario completo della giurisprudenza del Consiglio di Stato (Italedi, Milan), which, since 1982, publishes an annual volume containing all the decisions of the Italian Council of State, classified by subject matter.
There are many public law journals. These include: Giurisprudenza costituzionale (Giuffré, Milan), which publishes all the decisions and orders of the Constitutional Court, as well as the remission orders to the Court; Il Foro amministrativo (Giuffré, Milan); Il Consiglio di Stato (Italedi, Milan); and I Tribunali amministrativi regionali (Italedi, Milan).
2.3. Public Law Legal Authority
a) Handbooks:
Apart from the encyclopedias and dictionaries, we have already cited in the part relating to Italian law in general, institutional handbooks of constitutional, parliamentary and administrative law represent important reference works for learning about Italian public law.
For Constitutional Law, the following are among the most recent and important handbooks: T. Martines, Diritto costituzionale , Giuffré, Milan, 1997; P. Barile, E. Cheli, S. Grassi, Istituzioni di diritto pubblico , CEDAM, Padua, 1998; and G.U. Rescigno, Corso di diritto pubblico , Zanichelli, Bologna, 1999; R. Bin, G. Pitruzzella , Diritto costituzionale , Giappichelli, Turin 2010; P. Caretti, U. De Siervo, Istituzioni di diritto pubblico , Giappichelli, Turin 2010; A. Barbera, C. Fusaro, Corso di diritto pubblico , Il Mulino, Bologna, 2010; A. D'Atena, Lezioni di diritto costituzionale , Torino : Giappichelli, 2012
For Parliamentary Law, reference should be made to: A.P. Tanda, Le norme e la prassi del Parlamento italiano , Colombo, Rome, 1996; A. Manzella, Diritto parlamentare , Il Mulino, Bologna, 2003; L.Ciaurro, V. Di Ciolo, Il diritto parlamentare nella teoria e nella pratica , Giuffrè, Milano, 2003; M.L. Mazzoni Honorati, Lezioni di diritto parlamentare , Giappichelli, Turin, 2005; A. Mannino, Diritto parlamentare , Giuffré, Milan, 2010, N. Lupo, L. Gianniti, Corso di diritto parlamentare, Bologna, 2011; T. Martines, G. Silvestri, C. De Caro, V. Lippolis, R. Moretti, Diritto Parlamentare , Giuffrè, Milano, 2005; Cicconetti, Diritto parlamentare , 2010; E. Colarullo, La rappresentanza politica e le forme di governo, Torino : G. Giappichelli, 2012.
For an overall but concise view of Italian Administrative Law, the following can usefully be referred to: F. Bassi, Lezioni di diritto amministrativo , Giuffré, Milan, 1998; S. Cassese, Le basi del diritto amministrativo , Garzanti, Milan, 1998; and G. Landi, G. Potenza, V. Italia, Manuale di diritto amministrativo , Giuffré, Milan, 1999. V. Cerulli Irelli, Lineamenti di diritto amministrativo, Giappichelli Turin 2010 ; D. Sorace, Diritto delle amministrazioni pubbliche , Il Mulino Bologna 2010, F.G. Scoca (a cura di), Diritto amministrativo , Giappichelli, Turin 2008, G. Corso, Manuale di diritto amministrativo , Giappichelli, Turin 2010, E. Casetta F.Fracchia, Compendio di diritto amnministrativo , Giuffrè, Milan 2010; L. Torchia (a cura di), Lezioni di diritto amministrativo progredito , Il Mulino, Bologna 2010; S. Cassese Istituzioni di diritto amministrativo , Milano : Giuffrè, 2012.
b) Journals:
The main journals in which authoritative contributions in the sector of public law are published include the following: Quaderni costituzionali (Il Mulino, Bologna), Giurisprudenza costituzionale (Milan, Giuffrè) the Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico (Milan, Giuffré), Diritto pubblico (CEDAM, Padua), Politica del diritto (Il Mulino, Bologna), Diritto e Società (CEDAM, Padua). From the point of view of the legal history of Italian public law, the work entitled Il Parlamento italiano. Storia parlamentare e politica dell'Italia 1861-1992 (Nuova CEI, Milan, 1988 - 1992) is of great scientific interest.
3. Sources of Italian Civil Law
3.1. Civil Law Legislation
3.1.1. The Civil Code
There are several editions of the Civil Code, all preceded by the text of the Constitution. In choosing one edition rather than another, the accuracy of the transcription of the official text, its updating with the later provisions of repealing laws or the amendment of individual articles and with the abrogating decisions of the Constitutional Court and the selection of the main special laws found in the appendix to the Code must all be kept in mind. The most accredited and most frequently updated editions are those published by the publishing houses CEDAM of Padua ( Codice civile e leggi complementari ), Giuffré of Milan ( Codice civile con la Costituzione e le principali leggi speciali ) and Zanichelli of Bologna ( Codice civile e leggi collegate ). There are also editions, in a single volume, which bring together both the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, or all of the four Italian Codes (Civil, Civil Procedure, Criminal, and Criminal Procedure).
We would like to mention here, within the ambit of the series of Hypertext Codes published by UTET of Turin, the hypertext Civil Code on CD-ROM, edited for the same publishing house by G. Bonilini, M. Confortini and C. Granelli, who have, in turn, coordinated more than one hundred authors, chosen from among the greatest experts in the various sectors of civil law. The work, in this case, only available on CD-ROM, contains comments on all the articles of the Civil Code updated with the introduction of the most recent legislation and case law. Special attention is paid to the articles of Book V, the object of the recent company law reform, in force since 1st January 2004, including the Ministerial Report by way of explanation and comment. The database of case law, especially rich in material in the first edition, has been further widened and today contains approximately 33,000 documents, while the legislation database has been updated up until the early months of 2003.
a) Commentaries:
Furthermore, there are editions of the Civil Code in which, in correspondence to each article, information is briefly given on the main trends in case law and legal authority. Among these, we would only like to mention here the Commentario breve al Codice civile by Cian and Trabucchi (CEDAM, Padua) and the Commentario al Codice civile by Cendon, published in seven volumes (UTET, Turin).
b) Preparatory works:
For a detailed view of civil law matters through knowledge about the preparatory work behind the drafting of the Civil Code, it is necessary to consult the work in six volumes by Pandolfelli, Scarpello, et. al., Codice civile (Milan, Giuffré, 1940-'43).
3.1.2. Other Laws of Civil Law Interest
Here, reference should be made to a specialized journal entitled Le nuove leggi civili commentate (CEDAM, Padua), which publishes, on a quarterly basis, a selection of legislative instruments relating to the material, supplementing them with in-depth comments relating to both the laws as a whole and to the individual articles of which they are composed.
3.1.3. Private Collections of Thematic Legislation
Also in the field of private law, there are additions to periodical publications which, under the general name of "Codes", collect together all the legislation relating to specific topics, such as renting ("Code of Renting"), labour ("Code of Labour Laws"), etc.
3.2. Civil Law Jurisprudence
With specific reference to civil law case law, there are journals and "Massimari", digests and reviews, edited by the major Italian publishing houses specialised in this legal domain.
a) Journals:
The following journals contain civil law case law: the monthly journal Giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan) and the bimonthly journal La nuova giurisprudenza civile commentata (CEDAM, Padua). Other journals specialised by subject matter dedicate a special section to the publication of decisions relating to that subject matter. We have set out here a basic list of these journals: Il diritto di famiglia e delle persone (Giuffré, Milan), Il diritto d'autore (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista di diritto commerciale (Nuova Libraria, Padua), Giurisprudenza commerciale (Giuffré, Milan), Le società (IPSOA, Milan), Rivista bancaria (Rome), Banca, borsa e titoli di credito (Giuffré, Milan), Diritto fallimentare (CEDAM, Padua), Il fallimento (Pirola, Milan), Rivista di diritto ipotecario (Giuffré, Milan), La giurisprudenza annotata di diritto industriale (Giuffré, Milan; published annually, contains all the decisions on competition, intangible property and trade names), Rivista di diritto industriale (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista giuridica dell'edilizia (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista del diritto agrario (Giuffré, Milan), Nuovo diritto agrario (Rome), Giurisprudenza agraria (Rome), Rivista di diritto minerario (La Tribuna, Piacenza), Archivio giuridico della circolazione e dei sinistri stradali (La Tribuna, Piacenza), Responsabilità civile e previdenza (Giuffré, Milan), Assicurazioni (INA, Rome), Rassegna di diritto cinematografico (Rome), Rivista di diritto sportivo (Giuffré, Milan).\
b) "Massimari", Digests and Reviews:
Here we shall cite the Massimario della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan) among the specialised "massimari" on civil law. Among the digests, there is the Repertorio della giustizia civile (Giuffré, Milan). The reviews are characterised by the fact that they contain a logical and systematic description of the case law. Two large works, published in many volumes but still a long way from completion, need to be mentioned in specific reference to civil law matters: I grandi orientamenti della giurisprudenza civile e commerciale (CEDAM, Padua) and Giurisprudenza sistematica civile e commerciale (UTET, Turin). La Rassegna di giurisprudenza sul codice civile (Giuffré, Milan) is more concise.
3.3. Civil Law Legal Authority
a) Handbooks:
We will mention only the most important and popular titles: Trabucchi, Istituzioni di diritto civile (CEDAM, Padua); Torrente, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Giuffré, Milan; the later editions were updated by Schlesinger); G. Branca, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Zanichelli, Bologna); P. Rescigno, Manuale del diritto privato italiano (Jovene, Naples); P. Trimarchi, Istituzioni di diritto privato (Giuffré, Milan).
The following works are dedicated to commercial law as a subdivision of private law: Cottino, Diritto commerciale CEDAM, Padua, vols. 2; G. Ferri, Manuale di diritto commerciale (UTET, Turin); Galgano, Diritto commerciale (Zanichelli, Bologna, vols. 2); Graziani, Minervini, Manuale di diritto commerciale (Morano, Naples).
Instead, the following have labour law as their specific theme and they include: Assanti, Corso di diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua); Mazziotti, Diritto del lavoro (ETS, Pisa); Mazzoni, Manuale di diritto del lavoro (Giuffré, Milan); Pera, Diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua); Riva-Sanseverino, Diritto del lavoro (CEDAM, Padua).
b) Treatises:
These are mainly aimed at those practising the law (judges, attorneys, public notaries, etc.), and they are clearly distinguished from handbooks for the greater degree of depth in dealing with the material and, therefore, also for their wider coverage. Within the ambit of the vast amount of literature existing on the Civil Code, we recommend: F. Messineo, Manuale di diritto civile e commerciale (Giuffré, Milan, vols. 6, but no longer updated after 1962); F. Galgano, Diritto civile e commerciale (CEDAM, Padua, 1999, vols. 5); and, finally, the Trattato di diritto privato , directed by P. Rescigno (UTET, Turin).
The series of volumes by different authors, organised on the basis of a plan, which provides for overall coverage of the disciplinary area under consideration also belong to the category of Treatises. In this regard, we are able cite several works of great scientific importance as well as having a considerably broad coverage (although all still remain unfinished): the Trattato di diritto civile e commerciale , directed by Cicu and F. Messineo and followed by Mengoni (Giuffré, Milan); the Trattato di diritto civile directed by Grosso and Santoro-Passarelli (Vallardi, Milan) and the Trattato di diritto civile directed by Vassalli (UTET, Turin). Other Treatises have for their object only some of the specific sectors within civil law, such as the Trattato di diritto commerciale e di diritto pubblico dell'economia , directed by F. Galgano (CEDAM, Padua) and the Nuovo trattato di diritto del lavoro , directed by Riva-Sanseverino and Mazzoni (CEDAM, Padua).
c) Commentaries:
Commentaries are distinguished from Treatises in that, being specifically directed towards the needs for interpreting and enforcing the law, they follow, article by article, the order of the legislative text examined. The most widely used work among lawyers practising Italian private law is, undoubtedly, the Commentario del codice civile Scialoja e Branca , directed by F. Galgano (Zanichelli – Il Foro Italiano, Bologna - Rome) and made up of several dozen volumes. The Commentario del codice civile , edited by university professors and judges (UTET, Turin) is more concise and is of a prevalently informative nature, although it is still unfinished.
d) Encyclopedias:
In general legal encyclopedias, the single topics of interest to the civil lawyer are also dealt with and subdivided under "headings", set out in alphabetical order and containing a broad treatment of the individual themes being examined. For the main encyclopedias, see those that have already been discussed here in relation to Italian law in general.
e) Journals:
The following journals are among the main Italian private law journals: the Rivista trimestrale di diritto e procedura civile (Giuffré. Milan), the Rivista di diritto civile , which is published bimonthly (CEDAM, Padua), the Rassegna di diritto civile (quarterly, ESI, Naples), the Rivista critica di diritto privato (quarterly, Jovene, Naples), and Contratto e impresa (CEDAM, Padua).
There are also numerous journals specializing in specific sectors of private law. Apart from those already cited as also being important for the case law they contain, the following belong to this category: the Rivista delle società (Giuffré, Milan), Diritto del lavoro (Rome), Giornale di diritto del lavoro e delle relazioni industriali (Angeli, Milan), Notiziario giuridico del lavoro (Turin), Rivista di diritto del lavoro (Giuffré, Milan), Rivista giuridica del lavoro (Rome), Trasporti (CEDAM, Padua) .
Some other law journals, mainly characterised by their ideological orientation or for their methodological approach also involve the private law domain, such as Politica del diritto (Il Mulino, Bologna), Democrazia e diritto (Editori riuniti, Rome), Justitia (Giuffré, Milan). Finally, some journals of a legal history nature (like the Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno , Giuffré, Milan; Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica , Il Mulino, Bologna) and sociological kind (like Sociologia del diritto , Giuffré, Milan) are also of interest to the private law scholar.
f) Monographs:
Monographs, usually published as part of a "Series" of specialised publications edited by university faculties or scientific institutes, deal in-depth with specific themes within the branch of the law under consideration. Because they are the result of legal research, they play an essential role in setting out in a systematic fashion the problems dealt with on each occasion, proposing path for investigation and, sometimes, even methods and original solutions. Volumes, which collect together the contributions of more than one author or the Proceedings of Conferences, may also be of a monographic kind, in the sense of referring to a single main topic.
3.4. Intellectual Property Law
According to the common systematics, the intellectual property – its rules and its instruments of protection – is structured in 2 parts: the industrial property and the copyright. The first one protects any kind of inventions, in every field of technology, which are new, involve an innovative step and are susceptible of industrial application (art. 52, EPO – European Patent Convention). The second one safeguards every kind of intellectual creations, regarding music, literature, figurative arts, theatre and cinema, regardless of any form or way of expression (art. 1, legge n. 633/1941).
The regulation of the intellectual property in the Italian system comes from 3 sources:
1. internal rules;
2. international conventional rules.
3. EU's rules.
As regards the internal rules, the industrial property law is regulated by the Industrial Property Code , d.lgs n. 30/2005. The Code is structured in eight parts and contemplates several kinds of industrial patents and trademarks.
As regards the international conventional rules, in 1973 Italy signed the European Patent Convention and joined the E.P.O. (European Patent Organization). The so called Münich Convention didn't introduce a unique European industrial patent, but developed – and still offers – unified proceedings to get the national patents regarding the same invention faster.
As regards the EU's rules, we have to distinguish between the trademark regulation and the patent one. On the one hand, the EU introduced a European common regulation of trademarks in 1994. The current regulation of the UE trademark is provided by CE reg. 2009/207 .
On the other hand, any EU's common regulation has come into force yet about industrial patents. Since 2011, the UE's Council started an enforced cooperation about industrial property law and industrial patents in particular. Therefore, reg. 2012/1257 was adopted by the EU's Parliament and Council and the EU's unitary patent protection was introduced. However, this regulation hasn't come into force yet and it won't, until each EU's State will sign the related agreement.
More than anything, we have to underline that Italy – and Spain – didn't agree with EU's point of view about the uniform patent regulation and refused to take part of the enforced cooperation about that. So, as you can see from this quick overview of the Italian Industrial Property Law sources of regulation, the matter is still a national matter in Italy.
4. Sources of the Italian Civil Trial
4.1. The Civil Procedure Code
The sources of regulation of the civil trial are:
the Constitution (artt. 24, 101-113);
the Civil Procedure Code;
several other special laws, as regards specific matters.
As regards specifically the Civil procedure Code, it came into force in 1942 and is structured in 4 parts:
1) General rules (art. 1-162);
2) Trial of examination (art. 163-473);
3) Trial of execution (art. 474-632);
4) Special proceedings (art. 633-840).
4.2. Further sources
Several other special laws regulate the Italian civil trial in specific matters. The Civil Code, first of all, contains many rules about the jurisdictional protection of rights (artt. 2907 – 2933). R.D. n. 267/1942, which was modified by d.lgs n. 5/2006, regulates the failure proceedings. Then, l. n. 533/1973, which disciplines job litigation and previdence matters. We can remember l. n. 392/1978 too, about house locations; the Industrial Property Code, d.lgs n. 30/2005; the Consumer Code, n. 206/2005, and the Private Insurance Code, dl.gs n. 209/2005; then, l. n. 99/2009, which introduced class actions in the Italian system, and d.lgs n. 28/2010, which established mediation as permanent a.d.r. (alternative dispute resolution). All the just mentioned sourced are out of the Code and regulate the Italian civil trial in specific matters.
4.3. The Telematic Civil Trial
The so called Telematic Civil Trial ("Processo Civile Telematico", PCT) is one of the measures that the Italian Government recently developed to get the civil proceedings faster, according to E.U.'s claims.
The goal of the PCT is to develop a complete system of informatic instruments, rules and proceedings in order to allow the informatization of the civil trial. After a sperimental phase, the PCT came into force on the 30 th of June, in 2014 and is now running in every court in the country. As regards the source of regulation of the PCT, we have to refer to D.M. n. 44/2011, which substituted D.M. 17 luglio 2008. As regards the informatic instruments the PCT is based on, they're essentially these ones:
1) the so called "PEC" ("certified electronic post"), which is an e-mail with legal value;
2) the digital sign, i.e. the common way to identify with legal value the author of an informatic document;
3) the so called "PDA" ("point of access"), which is the informatic platform that allows lawyers and other practicals to deposit jurisdictional acts and documents in the PCT system.
Every public or private subject or organization is allowed to elaborate its own PDA. Here you can see the PDA of the Florence Lawyer Order (LINK) and the Regione Toscana's one (LINK), just for instance.
As regards the PCT functions, we can mention:
1) the notification with legal value of jurisdictional acts;
2) the deposit of jurisdictional acts and documents during a civil trial (all of them, except the introducing ones);
3) the consultation of every court data about every kind of private litigation (job litigation, civil executive proceedings, etc.).
Since the 30 th of June 2014, lawyers have to deposit jurisdictional acts and documents next to the introducing ones only through the PCT system.
5. Sources of Italian Criminal Law
5.1. Criminal Law Legislation
Within the sphere of Italian criminal law, on the basis of the "principle of the legislature's exclusive power to create crimes", the legislature is reserved legislative monopoly in the field: sources of criminal law are, therefore, limited only to laws or to acts having the force of law (" nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege poenali scripta ").
As a result, both non-written sources and sources written in a different way from laws or "acts non comparable to them" are excluded as criminal law sources. With this last expression, we are referring, within the Italian legal order, to so called "material laws", consisting of acts passed by bodies different from the legislature, but having the "force of law". In particular, the term includes: 1) "Delegated Laws" or "Legislative Decrees", enacted by the Government on the delegation of the legislature (Arts. 76 and 77 (1) of the Constitution); 2) "Decree Laws", enacted by the Government under its own responsibility in extraordinary cases of necessity and emergency (Art. 77 of the Constitution); 3) and finally, "Governmental Decrees in Wartime", enacted on the basis of the essential powers attributed by Parliament to the Government during wartime. All the other legislative acts of the Executive (namely, "Regulations" and "Ordinances") cannot constitute Criminal Law sources.
5.1.1. "Ordinary Criminal Law": the Criminal Code and the Penitentiary Legal System
The main source of criminal law currently in force is the Criminal Code , which was passed under the R.D. (Royal Decree) of 19 October 1930, No. 1398, and came into force on 1 July 1931. It was integrated then by the Co-ordinating and Transitory Provisions (R.D. of 28 May 1931, No. 601) and amended by various legislative measures, among which those introduced (above all in the period between 1975 and 1987) for combating terrorism, subversive activities and the various forms of organised crime are worth special mention. Specific amendments were brought about by the Constitutional Court, in conformity with its recognised powers within the Italian legal order. The Criminal Code is a pre-eminent part of so-called "Ordinary Criminal Law", in consideration of the fact that most of its provisions apply to all parties indiscriminately.
Apart from the Criminal Code , we need to cite the legal system relating to prisons (Law 26 July 1975, No. 354, which substituted R.D. 18 June 1931, No. 787) from which "Prison Law" derives and which increasingly tends to link up to substantive and procedural Criminal Law.
Just as we did for the Civil Code, we would like to draw attention here to the publication – within the series of Hypertext Codes by UTET of Turin – of the hypertext Criminal Code edited by M. Ronco and S. Ardizzone, who have, in turn co-ordinated a large group of professors, attorneys and judges. The paper-based work, to which the CD-ROM is appended, is structured as a commentary, in the sense that article by article it offers a very strict and in-depth analysis of the legislative provisions, taking into due consideration the contributions of greatest interest found in the most important legal authority and case law on questions of law and on the merits. On the CD-ROM, it is possible to display through hypertext tools all the "massime" (case abstracts) of the cited cases (16,000) and all the legislative references (850 provisions currently in force) inserted in the comment. In this way, it is easy to carry out an entire series of searches, which also enable the work to be consulted in a transversal way.
5.1.2. "Special (or Complementary) Criminal Law"
Among the many other sources which give life to so-called " Special Criminal Law " (or " Complementary Criminal Law "), in the broad sense understood as criminal law only applicable to some categories of parties because of their legal capacity or condition in which they are found, the following should be noted:
a) the Codice penale militare di pace [Military Criminal Code in Peacetime] and the Codice penale militare di guerra [Military Criminal Code in Wartime] (R.D. 20/2/1941, No. 303), as well as Law 23/3/1956, No. 167 and Law 11/7/1978, No. 382, amending the former, which constitute so-called " Military Criminal Law ";
b) Law 7/1/1929, No. 4, having as its object the suppression of breaches of financial laws. This Law, together with D.L. (Decree Law) No. 429/1982, converted into Law No. 516/1982, constitutes the principal source of so-called " Criminal Tax Law ", which punishes "fiscal crimes", harmful to a financial interest of the State, and for which there are partially different rules from those found in ordinary criminal law;
c) D.L. No. 20/7/1934, No. 1400, converted into Law of 27/5/1935, No. 835, for the establishment and functioning of the Juvenile Courts, with amendments made under D.L. of 15/11/1938, No. 1208, and by Law 13/10/1965, No. 1771, which constitute the sources " Juvenile Criminal Law ";
d) D.P.R. (Decree of the President of the Republic) 27/10/1958, No. 956, on regulating road traffic (the so-called Road Code ), amended by Law 26/4/1959, No. 207, and by Law 14/2/1974, No. 62, as well as by Law 3/5/1967, No. 317, on the decriminalisation of the regulations on road traffic;
e) the Consolidated Law on Public Safety (R.D. 18/6/1931, No. 773, with amendments under D.L.L. 10/12/1944, No. 419, and Law 27/12/1956, No. 1423), which continues to survive despite attacks by the Constitutional Court and bills to reform it.
5.1.3. Other Laws of Criminal Law Interest
Among the numerous laws in which criminal regulations can be found, apart from the Civil Code itself, we shall only mention the Royal Decrees 14/12/1933, No. 1669, 21/12/1933, No. 1736, 15/12/1990, No. 386 (on promissory notes, cheques, etc.), the R.D. 16/3/1942, n, 267 (on bankruptcy), which constitute the sources of so-called " Commercial Criminal Law "; the " Code of Navigation " (R.D. 31/1/1941, No. 327); the Consolidated Law on Customs (D.P.R. 23/1/1973, No. 43); the Law on Hunting of 5/6/1939, No. 1016 (amended by Law 2/8/1967, No. 799); the Law on Fishing of 8/10/1931, No. 1604; the Consolidated Law on Public Health (27/7/1934, No. 1265); the Law on the Press of 9/2/1948, No. 47; the D.P.R. 9/10/1990, No. 309, on drugs ; Law 20/2/1958, No. 75, on prostitution ; Law 2/12/1967, No. 895, and Law 18/4/1975, No. 110, on arms ; Law 9/10/1967, No. 962, on genocide ; as well as the Laws on social insurance , on health and safety at work , on consumer protection , on pollution , on the termination of pregnancy , on urban planning , on taxation , on secret societies , etc.
5.2. Criminal Law Jurisprudence and Legal Authority
a) Journals:
Within the sphere of criminal law case law and legal authority, we shall only point out here some of the main Italian journals dealing specifically with the subject matter, noting that many of them take into consideration not only case law and legal authority, but also legislation on the matter. The bimonthly journal Archivio della nuova procedura penale (La Tribuna, Piacenza) covers both legislation and case law and legal authority, not only within procedural criminal law but also substantive criminal law, criminological sciences and forensic medicine; Archivio penale (ESI - Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Naples), during the fifty years of its existence (1948-1998), as a "quarterly publication on special and comparative criminal law, procedure and legislation" has also had as its object the analysis of both legislation and case law and legal authority relating to the matters indicated here. The monthly journal Diritto penale e processo (IPSOA, Milan), the monthly journal La Giustizia penale (Rome), the journal L'Indice penale (CEDAM, Padua) published every four months, the Rivista penale (monthly, La Tribuna, Piacenza), the Rivista penale dell'economia (quarterly, E.S.I. - Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Naples) and the Rivista trimestrale di diritto penale dell'economia (CEDAM, Padua) have the same type of coverage.
The monthly journal Cassazione penale (Giuffré, Milan), the quarterly journal Critica penale (Panozzo Editore, Rimini) and the Rivista italiana di diritto e procedura penale (quarterly; Giuffré, Milan) also contain legal authority and case law on substantive and procedural criminal law, as well as criminological sciences and forensic medicine. The journal La Legislazione penale (UTET, Turin), instead, deals with legal authority and legislation, but not with case law.
The following journals have an even more specific thematic approach, within the sphere of criminal law materials: the journal Rassegna penitenziaria e criminologica (Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome), the Rivista di polizia (published monthly by the publishing house Progresso of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, it deals with legal authority and legislation, but not with case law, within the field of criminal law, criminological sciences, forensic medicine and administrative law) and the Rivista giuridica di polizia (bimonthly, Maggioli, Rimini).
b) Handbooks:
Among the most recent and authoritative handbooks on criminal law, we shall only mention the following here: R. Garofoli, Manuale di diritto penale , Giuffré, Milan, 2006, pp. XXV+1078; F. Antolisei, L. Conti, Istituzioni di diritto penale , Milan, Giuffré, 2000, pp. XX+460; F. Antolisei, Manuale di diritto penale , Parte generale (updated and fully revised by L. Conti), Giuffré, Milan, 2003, pp. XXIX+864; Id., Manuale di diritto penale , Parte speciale I (updated and fully edited by L. Conti), Giuffré, Milan, 2002, pp. XII+602; Id., Manuale di diritto penale , Parte speciale II (updated and fully edited by L. Conti), Giuffré, Milan, 2003, pp. X.+666; A. Pagliaro, G. Tranchino, Istituzioni di diritto e procedura penale , Giuffré, Milan, 2000, pp. 364; G. Marinucci, E. Dolcini, Manuale di diritto penale , Giuffré, Milan, 2009; P. Tonini, Manuale di Procedura penale, Giuffré, Milan, 2010; F. Mantovani, Diritto penale , CEDAM, Padua, 2001, pp. LX+1028; TO ADD D. Pulitanò, Diritto penale, III edizione, Giappichelli, Torino, 2009; TO ADD G. FIANDACA, E. MUSCO, Diritto penale. Parte generale , Zanichelli, Bologna, 6° ed., 2009;
6. Sources of the Italian Criminal Trial
The sources of the Italian Criminal Trial are essentially three:
1) the Italian Constitution;
2) the criminal preoceeding Code;
3) the international sources.
1. The Italian Constitution (1948) admits several articles which are relevant in the criminal trial, such as artt. 24, 25, 27, 111 and 112.
2. The criminal proceeding Code was published in 1988. It replaced the 1930's Code and radically innovated the Italian criminal trial. In particular, it introduced the accusatory principles, in substitution of the inquisitory ones, and the separation between the inquiring and the judging functions.
3. As regards the international sources, you have to distinguish the European ones from the others. In particular, the first ones can be identified in the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (E.C.H.R.), entered into force in 1953, and in the EU acts regarding the Criminal Justice Cooperation (artt. 82 – 86 T.F.E.U.).
B. Online Italian Legal Information: Portals, Search Engines, Guides, Sites of Legal Interest
1. Portals
Like search engines or directories , portals appear, from a certain point of view, to be in contradiction with the philosophy of the Internet. Their objective is, in fact, to structure and to give a hierarchy to information in a world characterized by nets and a horizontal nature.
In fact, it is not very easy to give an exhaustive definition to a term which is currently much abused [ [i] ] and which includes sites with very different features under the same label. The closest definition we have been able to find is the following: "a portal is an online editorial product which plays the role of a preferential access point to the Web for users and which provides them with the information resources, personal communication services and tools with which to localize and reach the online contents and services they commonly need" [ [ii] ] .
Roughly speaking, portals are generally divided into two large sub-classes:
· horizontal (or generalist) portals aimed at an undifferentiated user group, with a variety of contents ranging over all kinds of knowledge (e.g., Yahoo! , Lycos and, in Italy, SuperEva and Virgilio );
· vertical portals (also called "Vortal" or "Niche Portals"), aimed at a well-defined user group and focused on specific sectors (for example, for the Law: Normattiva , among institutional portals; FiloDiritto and IusSeek among private portals).
By adopting an arbitrary but currently used nomenclature, we cite the following typical terms and expressions:
· " Search Tools ": we have already indicated search engines and directories;
· " Channels ": thematic sections through which each portal organizes the information;
· " Services ": mailing lists, newsgroups and forums, lists of links to sites of interest, often divided by category, collaborations ( through sending of articles, proceedings, papers and theses ), online advice, reviews, surveys, reports, FAQ, chat, online courses;
· " Utilities " (secondary services): found in a very large number of portals, aimed both at professionals in specific sectors (e.g., staying within the legal domain: software for notaries, public registers, Court fees , calculation of legal interest, notes of registration on a roll, monetary revaluation, Chamber of Commerce searches, Land Registry searches, checks of VAT numbers, calendar of Court hearings, domicile elections), and simple users (such as forms of every type, looking for and offers of work or property rents/sales, automatic translations, encyclopedias, glossaries for company searches , Euro-converters, questionnaires, price lists, sending SMS free-of-charge , bank codes , information regarding tax codes, calculation of road tax, property tax, VAT code, maps, weather reports, traffic, latest news, railway timetable, highways, underground railways, airports, phone books, telephone codes, yellow pages, postal codes , hotel searches, TV programmes , finding films at the cinema and so on);
· " Customization Systems ": through which the user creates a customized version of the portal's interface [ [iii] ] .
1.1. Institutional Portals
Among the Institutional Portals, an important place should, undoubtedly, be attributed to the following site:
Italia.gov.it , the Italian portal at the service of the citizen, was ealized and is managed by the National Center for the Informatics in the Public Administration (CNIPA). According to d.lgs No. 177/2009, CNIPA was trasformed into the so called DigitPA ("Ente nazionale per la digitalizzazione della Pubblica Amministrazione"). Then, according to l. No. 134/2012, DigitPA was replaced by the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale . This portal offers an unitary point of access, intuitive and rapid, to the information and the services made online available by Administrations and Corporate Bodies (central and local). It is a virtual place in which the citizen can find support to the carrying out of the administrative practices, answers to doubts and curiosities, news on the facts of the day and on the principal events of the institutional world, a help in the most important moments of the life (choice of the school, search of job, etc).
Italia.gov.it is the knowledge manager system and the search engine for the development of the Digital Public Administration. Realized and ruled by the "Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale", it offers a complete and systematic view of the Italian Public Administration online services. According to the Digital Administration Code (d.lgs No. 82/2005), Public Administrations and private subjects who rule public functions have to project and realize on-line services to satisfy the needs of the citizens. Since January 1th 2014, the telematic services (including certified electronic mail, the so called "p.e.c.") are the only ones available to press charges, to pay every kind of taxes and to ask for whatever certification or document you need from Public Administration, even as regards social security and insurance matters. Since that day, the same institutional subjects have to use only their on-line services as regards every kind of statements or communications. The Digital Administration Code ordains that Public Administrations have to refresh their on-line services periodically, according to the latest informatic and telematic innovations and even to the citizens' satifaction. Italia.gov.it cooperates to ensure the correct application of the Digital Administration Code. A search engine was created to reach this goal. Its beta-version is now available.
The user that prefers to sail in Internet in order to discover the services offered by the portal can use the menu of navigation that is always in the heading of the site. Such menu contains the following voices:
· "Io sono" ("I am") : in this section the contents are organized on the basis of the different typologies of people (child, boy, elderly, Italian to the foreign countries, etc.);
· " Eventi della vita" ("Events of Everyday Life") : the citizen can find all the information and services regarding every aspect of daily life (education, employment, travel, health, entertainment, etc.);
· " Aree tematiche ("Thematic areas") : the contents are organized for matter in alphabetical order (environment, art and culture, justice, education and training, etc.);
· " Moduli on line" ("Online Forms") : the forms made available by the Public Administrations, organized for matter;
· " Servizi on line" ("Online Services") : the services that the Public Administrations make available on the Net, organized for matter.
Besides, the citizen can know better public institutions visiting their sites organized in categories or in alphabetical order, but also sailing through the links of Italian Regions, Provinces and Municipalities (see the section "L'Amministrazione dalla A alla Z - "Public Administration from A to Z") .
There are also a section dedicated to "Contributi e facilitazioni" (contributions, facilitations and incentives disbursed by the State and by the local Corporate Bodies with regard to matters as environment, technological innovation, health and welfare, etc.) and a section on the "Carta Nazionale dei Servizi" (National Card of the Services - CNS), that is an electronic device (smart card), of the dimensions of a credit card, endowed with a microchip containing the "certificate of personal authentication" (composed by the identification data of the person: name, last name, sex, date and place of birth); through this tool the citizens are recognized online in order to take advantage of the services disbursed by the Public Administrations.
Through its search engine, the Portal allows a user to carry out also an advanced search. Besides, it is possible to find the information, sending a question and specifying the matter of interest and all the data that can help to give the answer.
This Portal is a very well organized site, clear in its graphics and approach and of great social interest; it is a meeting point for over 3.000 sites of the Italian Public Administration, with more than 1.000 pages of information and services. As the Ministro per l'Innovazione e le Tecnologie (Minister for Innovation and Technologies) declared – " it has the scope of allowing citizens to easily identify the sites of the Administrations and of guaranteeing the security and reliability of the information found on them". This site is continuously improving, providing citizens with more and more advanced services.
Figure 1 : Home Page of the Portal "Italia.gov.it"
1.2. Private Portals
1) " FiloDiritto ": having been born in 2001, this is one of the most recent sites in the legal domain. It is very rich, well organized and useful not only to the lawyer but also to the citizen. The simplicity of its interface increases its appeal.
This Web Site, one of the best Italian legal Web resources, has been deeply modified whether graphically or from the point of view of the contents. Actually the HomePage is divided into three sections.
In the left section of the HomePage we can consult a large database ("Materie" – "Matters") containing statutes, sentences, articles of legal literature and praxis in relation to Private Law, Commercial Law, Social Law, Obligations and Contracts Law, Labour and Security Law, Privacy Law and Civil Liability, New Technologies Law, Information and Communication Law, etc. Furthermore, there are the "New Codes": Environmental Code, Digital Administration, Private Insurance, Cultural Heritage, Bankruptcy, Consumer, Equal Opportunities, Privacy, Industrial Property. Among the "Legal Utilities" we can find: links to legal texts (statutes, sentences), registration notes of lawsuits, state of administrative recourses, dictionaries and encyclopedias, deontological codes and other utilities (useful Internet addresses for lawyers and citizens: judicial bodies web sites, registration fees, forensic tariffs, firms databases, tax calculation, documentation of public source online, etc.).
The central section contains: news related to the latest significant decisions of legislative, judicial and administrative bodies, recent articles of legal literature, news about Courses and Conferences, reviews of famous ancient literary works of legal interest.
In the right section of the HomePage i t is possible to register at the Newsletter, to contribute to the web site, and to acquire information about the Web Site Editorial Staff, Scientific Committee and Authors.
Figure 2 : Home Page of the Portal "FiloDiritto"
2) " IusSeek " (IusSeek.com, IusSeek.eu, IusOnDemand.eu, RicercaGiuridica.com are Websites coordinated among them so that to be able to offer a series of integrated services to the user).
The original Website, one of the main portals for lawyers, defines itself as "a legal newspaper, search engine and portal, but - above all - a community". Created by "IusOnDemand" , already cited above with regard to intelligent agents, it is furnished with various and sophisticated tools for research, amongst which a search engine with a proprietary database, exclusively dedicated to the Law.
As the site MindMap explains, with reference to the different branches of the Law the user finds "Segnalazioni", "Documenti" and "Servizi".
1) " Segnalazioni". In this section there are indications, news and recommendations regarding, in particular, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Insurance Law and Fiscal Law.
2) " Documenti". This section contains : a) "Leggi" ("Laws"), including "Gazzette" ("Official Journals") and "Leggi scelte" ("Selected Laws") ; b) "Libri" ("Books"), i.e. book reports with description, table of contents, summary and price ; c) "Sentenze" (decisions of the Constitutional Court , and of the Court of Cassation , besides selected Court Decisions ; d) "Codici" ("Law Codes") containing Cultural Assets Code, Insurances Code, Civil Code, Consumer Code, Communications Code, Industrial Property Code, Code of the Road, Privacy Code, Bankruptcy Code, Consolidated Act on IVA - Tax on Value-Added
3) " Servizi innovativi". New technologies for legal information distribution: eBooks, search engine for news in Internet, newsagent, interactive digital television, mobile phone, podcasting, intelligent tools for online legal information retrieval, personal notes sharing, electronic documents tagging;
Moreover, the "Community" section contains: a) "Commenti" (comments and newsletters on sentences and legal questions of general interest ; b) "Forum" (managed by lawyers for lawyers and citizens: experts present their considerations with regard to legal matters of generale character ; c) "Selected Links" (a large number, subdivided by subject matter and type: around fifty categories of Websites, relating to Environmental Law, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Insurance Law, Fiscal Law, Public Institutions, Private Citizens, Courts, Court Decisions, Laws, Law Journals, Law Libraries, Lawyers, Search Engines, etc. ; d) "Mailing List" (only for specialists in Civil Law) .
Inside the Website the user can search numerous databases, free of charge and with fee (Court Decisions, Laws, decisions of the Constitutional Court and of the Court of Cassation, Law Codes, Official Journals, Databases on Administrative Law, Insurance Law, Fiscal Law and Internet Law). Finally, it is possible to take advantage of specialized services corresponding to personal needs and to ask that specific software products are developed (it is available also a Dictionary of the Internet terms).
Figure 3 : Home Page of the Portal "IusSeek"
2. Search Engines
1) " Cicerone ": proposed by the journal/portal "Diritto e Diritti", in its first version it was a sui generis tool, because, while defining itself as a search engine, it did not allow the user to search by terms but only by the document references; furthermore, it did not act autonomously (that is, on its own index) but on the indexes constructed by other search engines to which it addressed the suitably adapted search string, then gathering the results . In other words, it behaved like an intermediary between users and the real search engines. Subsequently, the Journal created a new version which constituted a proper search engine. "Cicerone" is worth remembering because it is one of the few private search engines which are available free of charge within the legal domain.
In its new version, "Cicerone" queries not only the internal pages of its own portal, but also those ones of many other Italian websites. The consumer can use two different search engines: the old version of " Cicerone " and the new one, which are available on different web pages.
The old version's interface allows a simple and intuitive query of legal documents (acts, administrative orders, sentences, decrees), using two of the most important international search engines, Metacrawler and Hotbot. In the new version of "Cicerone", the query is a free text one; the user can look for more terms connected by the Boolean operators simultaneously. The result will be a list of the websites which include the searched terms in a juridical context.
Figure 4: Home Page of the Search Engine "Cicerone"
2) " Scireleges " — created by Giuseppe Corasaniti (Juridical Informatics Labortory – Informatics Department, Università "La Sapienza", Rome), it allows an intuitive query of open free web sourches.
The consumer can use terms or numerical references, connected by the boolean operators. The query can ben refined using "canali" ("channels") which are focused on Italian websites of juridical interest.
Figure 5: Home Page of the Search Engine "Scireleges"
3) " IusSearch " — IusSearch is based on Google's "Personalized Search" system. Its goal is to allow the user to find documents, information and juridical contents on the web. The juridical sources and web-sites are strictly selected. IusSearch gives the opportunity to use further search engines realized in the same project ( IusSearch Tribunali , IusSearch Consumatori and IusSearch Quotidiani ).
Figure 6: Home Page of the Search Engine "IusSearch"
4) " Quid Juris " – "Il metamotore della ricerca giuridica in Italia" (LawServer.it, Google Custom Search, powered by Elabora.org) is a recent search engine available free of charge for the legal domain.
Figure 7 : Home Page of the Search Engine "Quid Juris"
5) " Arancia OutLaw " – Among the recent legal search engines, " Arancia OutLaw " is directed to students of Law, Lawyers and other professionals in the field. Only documents and Web pages of legal interest are indexed. The site HomePage is very simple, containing a dialogue window provided with some fundamental options, such as "Help", "Comments", and "Suggestions". There is no notice in the site about the developers of it. The data contained in the "Arancia OutLaw" search engine result from the analysis of Web pages, public or available for private citizens. Documents analysis, data selection and ordering are determined by algorithms.
Figure 8 : Home Page of the Search Engine "Arancia OutLaw"
6) " RicercaGiuridica " " — Questo sito costituisce una guida gratuita alla ricerca giuridica in Rete. Comprende, oltre ai principali Codici aggiornati, sentenze in testo integrale, massime della Corte di Cassazione, Gazzette Ufficiali e rassegne di siti giuridici.
Figure 9 : Home Page of the Search Engine "RicercaGiuridica"
7) Infoleges " – Infoleges is much more than a "legislative meta-search engine", as it's defined. It's truly a huge juridical on-line database. It holds billions of documents concerning EU's legislation, State and Regional legislation, and even EU's and Italian jurisprudence and collective contracts. A section is specifically dedicated to Italian legal literature. Infoleges is realized in cooperation by ITTIG (Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica), CASPUR (CIBER – Comitato Interuniversitario Basi di dati ed Editoria in Rete), Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Camera dei Deputati's and Senato's Library, Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato, almost fifty Italian Universities and F.A.O. Italian Juridical Office. It's a very important search engine, which is basically realized for universities and public administrations.
Figure 10 : Home Page of the Search Engine "Infoleges"
8) Specialistic juridical search engines – We can mention, just for instance: Civile (which is focused on Private Law matters); Penale (specifically realized for Criminal Law); Amministrativo (which regards Administrative Law); Cittadino Lex (it's the entry site of Kataweb, concerning Enivironmental Law, and even job, previdencial and fiscal matters); dirittodautore.it (which regards legislation, judjements and every kind of juridical information about Copyright Law); Azienda Lex (which is developed by Kataweb and dedicated to economic topics).
3. Guides
Law Web Guides are principally consulting instruments. Many of institutional sites and online reviews contain them.
1) " Guida al Diritto" ("Il Sole 24 ore")
Collegata al giornale "Il Sole 24 ore" – quotidiano politico, economico e finanziario italiano, fondato nel 1885 –, costiruisce un completo sistema d'informazione giuridica a stampa e online . Si occupa di tutte le principali branche del diritto fornendo notizie, articoli, note a sentenza, documentazione, banche dati, formulari, strumenti e servizi (tra questi: il calcolo del danno biologico e il testo integrale delle sentenze).
1) " Diritto Italia " (Italy Law) - Realized by the Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica (ITTIG) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), " Diritto Italia" is a database which identifies references to materials and information of legal and administrative interest, existing on Italian Websites. The database, last updated on November 2002, is organized in documentary units corresponding to the individual types of material taken into consideration; as a result, each site may appear in more than one survey form according to the richness of the documentation possessed. The survey form contains a lot of information in order to orient the user in retrieving the data he/she is interested in. The information relates to providers, access (free-of-charge or for a fee), the type of material (Laws, Jurisprudence, Legal literature, etc.), the ambit (national, regional, European Community, etc.), the documentary unit (full text, references, etc.), the manner in which the data is presented (list, database), whether there is a search engine or not, and the date of the survey.
Three solutions have been prepared for those wishing to carry out a search:
· two groups of "pre-packaged" searches: one relating to every single category of providers and the other to each type of material;
· a "direct search", which allows the user to use one or more terms combined with the available operators, functioning on the level of the entire form;
· a "guided search" with a query form that is divided into free or menu-based search fields, with already explicit values;
" Diritto Italia" represents an example of methodology. Actually the "Diritto Italia" database is not up-to-date; in fact, the principal purpose of the project was to provide a model of document research and retrieval on the Web, hoping that other operators go on with this kind of enterprise. It is right to point out that the updating of these Guides is crucial for their efficiency since URLs and contents of the Websites continually change, while the cooperation process, that is at the base of the Web philosophy, is still now disregarded.
Figure 11 Home Page of the Guide "Diritto Italia"
2) " Documentazione di Fonte Pubblica in Rete " (DFP – "Public Source Documentation on the Web"): is a very reliable guide, developed by the Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB – Italian Libraries Association ) with the objective of providing a support for Italian librarians and documentalists, so they would be able to orient themselves in identifying public information available on the Web . DFP is a structured list of Italian Internet resources, which makes public information available, focusing special attention on legislative information and legal information in general ; it is also integrated with the discussion list of the Italian AIB-CUR ( Italian Libraries Association – Research University Center ) librarians , in the sense that it gathers reports transmitted on that list.
The DFP is a very selective directory that points out Websites but, above all, resources that often are not in evidence in the HomePage of the public sites. DFP is organized in three sectors:
1) General Documentation : Official Gazettes, Official Bulletins of the Regions, general collections of legislation, lists and services of legislative amendments, jurisprudence files, services updating jurisprudence, general statistics, legal information Websites;
2) Sectoral Documentation : with an especially thorough selection, given the very large number of potentially relevant resources. Public bodies are prevalent (each sector presents one or more national body of reference), but there are also private and commercial sites when they give information of a public source available;
3) Digest of public sites : constituted by a simple list of URLs relating to public institutions subdivided into wide categories. The bodies are represented up to the level of the Region. For Provinces, Municipalities and other local bodies, reference is made to already existing digests.
In particular, the DFP tends to highlight: aggregation points of resources already online; relevant databanks, above all when hidden inside the Websites (administrative acts, procedures, projects, statistical data, organization charts, etc.); online journals of information and updating inside the public sites; set of documents produced by various corporate bodies; newsletters of information and updating for glossaries users, guides to the online search in specific sectors; single documents of remarkable and enduring interest; Websites that have a very strong character of "best practice".
Figure 12: Home Page of the Website "DFP"
3) " Associazione Italiana Biblioteche" (AIB-Web) - The AIB is the professional association of Italian librarians. Founded in 1930, AIB is the only general library association in Italy, the only national association member of IFLA ( International Federation of Library Associations ) and by far the oldest and largest association in this field in Italy. The site provides information about libraries and pertinent services (online catalogues, calendars of events, inventories in the field of training and labour, directories of products and services, discussion groups). The "Internet Guide" section – that contains directories of Italian and foreign (English, in particular) Guides, Hand Books, News Bulletins, Forums and Mailing Lists – is worthy of pointing out since it gives useful suggestions on how to use Web research tools (search engines and meta-engines) in the right way. Every Web resource is described by means of a form containing its name, URL, and a brief description.
Figure 13 : Home Page of the Website "AIB-Web"
4. Sites of legal interest
Apart from these resources aimed at retrieving legal material and access to the sources of Italian law, there is now a great variety of institutional or private online sites, structured as portals rich in information and services.
4.1. Parliament, Government and Ministries
With the premise that not only the Websites of Parliament and Government, but also those of all Government Departments can be found on the Web, we shall only concentrate on those we consider worthy of special attention.
4.1.1. " Parlamento Italiano " (Italian Parliament)
This is the official Website of the two Houses of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.
Enriched in the contents and renewed in the graphics, this Website aims to represent an informative resource of easy and intuitive access to the life of the parliamentary institution. Through the home page the citizen can not only reach the sites of the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate of the Republic, but can also directly consult the most remarkable results of the joint activity of the two Chambers, as the approved laws or the joined activities of the bicameral bodies, besides the international activity of the Italian Parliament. A specific area of the site concerns the "Polo Bibliotecario" (Parliament Library Pole) and its services, first result of the effort of the two Chambers to empower the information and search tools at the disposal of the parliamentaries and all the citizens, overcoming at the same time duplications and inefficiency. The "Piattaforma Costituzionale" (Constitutional Platform) represents the product of a common job in order to furnish support of training for all the Italian schools.
The site contains a database of Italian normative acts of primary range (laws, law decrees and legislative decrees, starting from 1996) which can be searched in chronological order, by type and by subject matter, based on the TESEO [ [iv] ] classification system. For every law number and date of publication (with the link to the corresponding text), title, subject, publication details and a summarizing table of the relative parliamentary iter (from which it is possible to access the texts of the preparatory works) are furnished. Furthermore, for the enabling acts a details table supplies the list of the single dispositions of delegation and the relative implementation decrees. The most requested laws, decrees approved but not promulgated or published, and decree laws under way to be converted in law can also be retrieved. There is also a database of legislative decrees (which implement delegated laws, EC Directives, or special Statutes) that can be searched on the server of the Chamber of Deputies through a search engine.
As already specified, the site of Parliament is divided into two sectors: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.
a) " Camera dei Deputati " (Chamber of Deputies)
The website is structured in 7 sections: "Conoscere la Camera", "Deputati e Organi", "Lavori", "Documenti", "Europa", "Internazionale" e "Comunicazione". Apart from providing information about its role, the work underway, as well as initiatives and events, the Chamber of Deputies furnishes latest news and press releases. The users of the Website have direct access to various sections: "Relations with the citizens", "Italian Public Administration", "Italian Constitution", "Regulation of the Chamber", "Laws and Bills", "Direction and Control Action", "Official Records of the Sessions", and "Previous Legislatures". Especially important are the following databases: Acts of Guidance and Control, Regional Laws, Professional Databases, Not Legislative Activity, Parliamentary Debates (in uncut version), Amendments, Pollings. The database concerning the Parliament direction and control action allows the data related to questions, interpellations, motions, decisions, agendas, both of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic, to be searched and retrieved. In this new version, the database substitutes the earlier database, known as "Sindacato ispettivo" ("Inspecting Parliamentary Action"). The following are its characteristics: the user-friendliness and intuitive nature in the use of the database of regional laws which contains all the laws in full text of the Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces from their constitution. The original nucleus, entirely realized by the Chamber of Deputies, was made available on the Web through the joint efforts of the Chamber of Deputies, the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Regional Councils. Since 1998, the legislative texts have been directly supplied by the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces. Normative references of the laws are provided by the Supreme Court of Cassation, while the Library of the Chamber of Deputies takes care of the overall management and updating.
b) " Senato della Repubblica " (Senate of the Republic)
Il sito comprende 6 sezioni: "L'Istituzione", "Composizione", "Lavori del Senato", "Leggi e documenti", "Attualità" e "Relazioni con i cittadini". Beside providing information about its role, members, work, documents and latest news, the Senate of the Republic site provides an entire section of the website is completely dedicated to the texts which are submitted under Parliament consideration: bills, points of order, motions.
4.1.2. " Governo e Ministeri " (Government and Ministries)
Please see also here .
Above all, it is necessary, in relation to the sites of the Ministries, to underline that they constitute an important source of information for the legal and administrative worlds. As we have already mentioned, each Ministry can be found on the Web with its own site, often divided into several sectors, starting with the Prime Minister's Office , which not only provides more general information and services, but also gives news about the course of Government provisions.
In nearly every case, the sites of the Ministries are presented as Portals with a variety of very important information and services (see, in Appendices , paragraph1.1.3. - Italian Government ).
As regards the reform process which is now operative in Italian Public Institutions, you can consider the so called "Ministri senza portafoglio", who don't have indipendent financial powers: Affari regionali , Riforme Costituzionali e Rapporti con il Parlamento , Semplificazione e Pubblica Amministrazione .
The " Ministry of the Economy and Finance " (MEF) consists of four Departments: Dipartimento del Tesoro (DT), Dipartimento Ragioneria Generale dello Stato (RGS), Dipartimento Amministrazione Generale, del Personale e dei Servizi (DAG), Dipartimento delle Finanze (DF). The MEF homepage, contains information on the structure and role of the Ministry, and provides information about the Taxation Agencies, the CIPE, the Administration of State Monopolies, and the like, and a list of links – organized by type – to institutional sites. The DF homepage is divided into numerous sections (see G.U. No. 150, 1° July 2009).
Besides press releases, dossiers on specific subjects and guides, studies and fiscal statistics, exchange rates, forms, due dates for the payment of taxation, online taxation, journals and in-depth studies, the documentation sector offers a database of taxation documentation prepared by the " Centro Ricerche e Documentazione Economica e Finanziaria " (CeRDEF - Economics and Finance Documentation and Research Center) containing tax legislation enacted after the reform of 1972, also prior legislation if still in force, European Community legislation, administrative practices (circulars, resolutions, press releases) produced by the Financial Administration for the interpretation and proper enforcement of the legislation, and finally the Italian and European Community Jurisprudence on taxation including the opinions of the Advisory Council for the application of the anti-evasion rules. It also offers a useful sector relating to services, including a guide to the services of the Departments, the calculation of road tax, the duplication of the Tax Code, information on taxation commissions and so on. It also contains a list of sites organized by type and a software sector on fiscal, cadastral and customs matters.
The Ministry of Justice site is structured in 10 sections regarding the Ministry organization and functions, and the description of the basic institutional activities. The "Strumenti" section contains a selection of national and international legislation and recent cases, besides a map of judicial offices, flowcharts of the Ministry departments and offices, applicative itineraries and forms for the practice.
4.2. Organs and Bodies of National Importance
Of particular importance in this sector are the sites of the independent Authorities and security and supervisory Commissions: " Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato — A.G.C.M." (Antitrust Authority); "" Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione – A.N.AC. " (before known as " Autorità per la vigilanza sui contratti pubblici per lavori, servizi e fornitur e" (Public Works Vigilance Authority); " Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni – A.G.COM " (Broadcasting Authority); " Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale - AgID " (since 2012: " Autorità per l'Informatica nella Pubblica Amministrazione – A.I.P.A. " since 1993 up to 2003; " Centro Nazionale per l'Informatica nella Pubblica Amministrazione - CNIPA " (National Centre for Informatics in the Public Administration) since 2003 up to 2009; " Ente Nazionale per la Digitalizzazione della Pubblica Amministrazione – DigitPA " dal 2009 al 2012); " Commissione di garanzia sull'esercizio del diritto di sciopero " (Commission Guaranteeing the Exercise of the Right to Strike); " Autorità garante per la protezione dei dati personali "; " CONSOB – Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa " (Companies and Stock Exchange National Commission); " Autorità per l'energia elettrica, il gas e ilsistema idrico "; "Istituto per la Vigilanza sulle Assicurazioni – IVASS" and "Autorità garante per l'infanzia e l'adolescenza" (since July 2011). These sites generally set out the legislative framework of reference, provisions, recommendations, and give a wide variety of documentation.
Other national bodies should also be kept in mind: ACI – "Automobile Club d'Italia" (Automobile Club of Italy), ANAS – "Ente Nazionale per le strade" (National Authority for Roads), "Banca d'Italia" (Bank of Italy), ISTAT – "Istituto Nazionale di Statistica" (National Statistics Institute), CONI – "Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano" (Italian National Olympic Commettee), INPS – "Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale" (National Social Insurance Institute), "Camere di commercio" (Chambers of Commerce), ARAN –"Agenzia per la Rappresentanza Negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni" (Representative Agency Competent for Collective Bargaining in the Public Administrations), "Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato" (State Polygraphic Institute and Mint).
The " Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato ", which is in charge of printing and distributing (also with computer-based tools) the Official Gazette and other State publications, offers the user the possibility of accessing free-of-charge the last 60 Gazettes and, through the Ispolitel-Guritel services, makes its many databases available for a fee: Guritel (Official Gazette), Comitel (Commercial Databases), Albitel (Professional Rolls), Cetel (Official Journal of the European Community), Concorsi (Public Competitive Examinations), Publitel (Publications of the Public Administration), Farmatel (Pharmaceutical Databases), Tributi (Taxation Database) and Supplements.
ARAN – " Agenzia per la Rappresentanza Negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni " offers not only events and news but also consultation of the Databases of National Collective Agreements and of Ordinances .
4.3. Local Public Bodies and Civic Networks
This website includes even a list of all the Italian Regions and of their websites, such as the Emilia-Romagna region .
We would also like to mention the " Conferenza dei Presidenti delle Regioni e delle Province autonome " (Conference of the Presidents of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces); ANCI – " Associazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani " (National Association of Italian Municipalities); ANCITEL – " Rete dei Comuni Italiani " (Network of Italian Municipalities); UNCEM – " Unione Nazionale Comuni Comunità Enti Montani " (National Union of Mountain Municipalities, Communities and Bodies); UPI – " Unione delle Province Italiane " (Union of Italian Provinces); UPITEL – " Rete telematica delle Province Italiane " (Online Network of Italian Provinces); AICCRE – " Associazione europea di Comuni, Province, Regioni e delle altre Comunità locali – Sezione italiana del Consiglio dei comuni e delle regioni d'Europa " (European Association of Municipalities, Provinces, Regions and other Local Communities – Italian Section of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions).
4.4. Courts and Judicial Offices
The site of the Italian Constitutional Court not only provides useful information about the offices and the judges of the Court starting from 1956, monthly reviews, press conferences and the legislative framework of reference, but it also enables the user to search the "Massime" (abstracts of the Court's sentences) since 1956 and the full text sentences for more recent decisions (since 1999).
On this matter, it is, however, helpful to refer to another site, because it is more complete and managed by the same official site, namely " Consulta online" Constitutional Court online , co-ordinated by Prof. Pasquale Costanzo, whose database stores all the Court's decisions and orders dating from 1999. A search may be carried out on the details of the decision, by key words or through the terms which the parties, the court or the subject matter dealt with may refer to. The decisions are in full text. In the part dedicated to "Sources", the legislative framework is set out and, in the part dedicated to "Research", the user is able to participate in a public "Forum". It should also be noted that there is a large number of links to Constitutions and Constitutional Courts throughout the world.
The " Giustizia Amministrativa " ( Administrative Justice ) site is devoted to the "Consiglio di Stato" (Council of State) and to the TAR – "Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali" (Regional Administrative Courts). It has a database containing the decisions of the Council of State and the Regional Administrative Courts (including the Regional Court of Administrative Justice situated in Trento and the Autonomous Division for the Province of Bolzano). On this site, the user can generally find, with some exceptions, decisions published after 1 October 2000, and the most important opinions dating from September 2000.
The sites of the " Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura " (Superior Council of Judges), the " Giustizia tributaria " (the taxation tribunals, Regional and Provincial Taxation Commissions), the " Giustizia Militare " (Italian Military Justice system), the "Corte dei conti" Auditor's Court and many peripheral judicial offices (Courts, Public Prosecutor's Offices, Courts of Appeal) are also online.
4.5. European Institutions
We can mention for instance here the portal of the European Union , accessible in twentyfour languages, provides the user with a great deal of documentation on what the European Union is, how it functions, and how to live and interact with it.
4.6. Universities and Research Bodies
All Italian universities and public and private law faculties have sites on the Web, containing a great deal of information and documents and with many services for students. we can just refer here to the web-site of Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca and to the one of Centro Studi Orientamento
To get general information about universities, their structures and faculties, the user can search the online database " Cerca Università ", or else he/she can search through a special form by using various parameters (University, Faculty, Region or key words).
Here, we shall look, as an example, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Catania , which presents interesting initiatives online, such as " Labour Web ", a virtual documentation centre on the evolution of Labour Law, industrial relations and the social state in the European Union, and at the Law University of Trento, which hosts "The Cardozo Law Bulletin" , the first European University electronic journal.
With regard to Research Institutes, we feel obliged to mention the " Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica " (ITTIG – Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques) of the " Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche " (CNR – Italian National Research Council) born in 2002, following the rationalization process of the network of the CNR Institutes, which, among other things, lead to the unification of the "Istituto per la Documentazione Giuridica" (IDG – Institute for Legal Documentation) and the "Centro di Studio sul Diritto Romano e Sistemi Giuridici" (CSDRSG – Centre of Studies on Roman Law and Legal systems).
he databases and the guides to which users have access free-of-charge are especially important on the site in question. In particular, these include the following.
A) Current updated ITTIG online databases are:
- " DoGi – Dottrina Giuridica Italiana " (Italian Legal Literature database): it contains bibliographical documents with abstracts of articles published in Italian legal periodicals, edited by Elisabetta Marinai (coordinator), Sebastiano Faro and Ginevra Peruginelli (editorial board);
- " BIG – Bibliografia sull'interruzione della gravidanza e sul diritto alla vita in generale "
- " VIPD – Vita Indipendente per le persone con Disabilità " (Independent Life for Persons with Disabilities: national and regional legislation, jurisprudence and lists of Web sites of interest in the field of the independent life of persons with disabilities, edited by Raffaello Belli);
- " Vocanet- LLI – Lingua Legislativa Italiana " (Lexical Heritage of Italian Legislative Language: Codes, Constitutions and Fundamental Laws from 1539 to 2001, edited by Paola Mariani, as regards the linguistic profile, Elisabetta Marinai and Fabrizio Turchi, as regards the information technology profile);
- " Biblioteca dell'ITTIG " (Catalogue of the ITTIG Library: Law and Legal Informatics monographs and periodicals);
- " Circolari del CNR " (Circulars and other Directives of the Italian National Research Council).
- " APAM – Atti delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni "
Prior but now not-updated ITTIG online databases are:
- " APAM – Atti delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni " (deeds of the Italian Public Administration; the database holds a selection of acts, deeds and documents developed by the Italian Public Administration, edited since 1988 to 2002);
- " BIG – Bibliografia sull'interruzione della gravidanza e sul diritto alla vita in generale " ("Bibliography about the pregnancy termination and the right to life", edited by Mario Fameli since 1970 up to 2010);
- " BIGA – Bibliografia Giuridica dell'Ambiente " (Legal Bibliography on the Environment: from 1975 up to 1995);
- " DAUE – Recepimento in Italia delle Direttive Ambientali dell'Unione Europea " (state of implementation in Italy of the Environmental Directives of the European Union until 1997);
- " DoGiS – Foreign Legal Literature. Index of foreign legal periodicals ": TOCs of foreign legal periodicals about human rights, European Law, information and communication technologies and law (since 2000 up to 2009);
- " ITLaw – Information Technology and the Law. An International Bibliography " (since 1958 up to 2001);
- " STOP – Stampa d'opinione " (abstracts of legally important contributions published in the press from 1975 to 1993).
B) The ITTIG Law Guides are:
- " Biblioteche giuridiche " ("Law Libraries in Italy": information and online catalogues, edited by Mario Ragona; updated to 2014);
- " Diritto e Disabilità " ("Law and Disability": databases and Web sites containing information for people with disabilities, edited by Raffaello Belli; updated to 2014).
- " Diritto Italia " ("Italy Law": database of references to online legal and administrative material, edited by Mario Ragona, Loriana Serrotti, Fiorenza Socci e PierLuigi Spinosa; updated since 1998 up to 2002);
- " GIGO – Guida all'Informazione Giuridica Online "
- " ELIOS – Environmental Legal Information Observatory System " (edited by Elio Fameli; last updated on December 2008).
4.7. Professional Orders, Associations and Trade Unions
" Cassa Nazionale di Previdenza e Assistenza Forense " (National Pensions and Assistance Fund for Lawyers") provides a valuable guide in the search for organizations and associations of lawyers, as well as a national list of lawyers registered on the roll.
As regards political parties and trade unions, a useful site is " Politica on line – Il Portale della Politica italiana " ("Politics online – The Portal of Italian Politics"), which also has numerous links to the sites of Italian and international political parties.
The Web site " CNF – Consiglio Nazionale Forense " ("National Bar Counci"l) puts the Forensic Deontological Code online and enables the user to retrieve, through the jurisprudence related to the CNF, opinions, circulars, events, the Bar's activities, proposals, the history of its members, the calendar of Court sittings and annual reports. It also provides information, reviews and lists of sites of interest for lawyers.
A particular attention is dedicated to the evolution process which is regarding the Italian legal profession nowadays, which is confirmed by the new Italian Forensic Order, introduced by legge No. 247/2012.
The " CNN – Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato " ("National Council of Public Notaries") is divided into various subject headings, rich in information: "Il Cittadino" (The Citizen), "L'Impresa" (The Business), "Gli Stranieri" (The Foreigners), "Il Sociale" (The Social Phenomenon).
A specific attention is dedicated to the presentation of the notary's position in the present society ("the Public Notary": who he/she is, the cost of notarial deeds, studies of the Italian Notary Profession, Public Notaries and information technology, etc.), and to the private citizens' activities which are juridically relevant ("Private Parties": buying a house, loans, gifts, successions and wills, the family),"Non Profit Organizations" (recognized and non-recognized associations, foundations, legal persons, committees, charities), "Companies" (the general characteristics of a company, the contract, types of companies, taxation aspects, enterprises), "Training" (the State – Public Notary relationship, notarial procedures, schools for notaries, the open examinations for notaries, their appointment and the exercise of the profession), and "News" are further relevant sections of this web site. A database of different kinds of documentation including legislation is also online. There is also a service on how to find a public notary, studies and research, conferences and congresses, guides and handbooks.
" ANM– Associazione Nazionale Magistrati " ("National Association of Judges":), founded in 1906, most of the Italian judges on active service joined this association; it is a founding member of the "International Association of Judges".
" OUA– Organismo Unitario dell'Avvocatura Italiana " ("Unitary Organism of the Italian Bench and Bar") represents the structure – direct emanation of the National Bar Congress – where all the institutions and bar associations converge for the purpose of expressing the thoughts of the Bench and the Bar on all the most important issues relating to the Justice and the legal profession, whilst respecting the autonomy of each component. The site provides online information about Congresses and Conferences, documents, news, reviews and press releases, and many articles.
" AIGA– Associazione Italiana Giovani Avvocati " ("Italian Association of Young Lawyers"): nelle varie sezioni del sito è presentata la struttura dell'Associazione, sono descritte le principali attività svolte o ancora in programmazione ed è fornita agli utenti una serie di servizi specialistici (manuali, formulari, articoli specialistici, rassegna stampa, comunicati e notizie).
" U.N.C.C.– Unione Nazionale delle Camere Civili " ("National Association of the Territorial Civil Chambers") presents a list of the Territorial Chambers and information about Conferences, Links, Members' Pages, and News.
" U.C.P.I. – Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane " ("Union of the Italian Criminal Chambers") is the official site of the Italian Criminal Chambers; it contains analitic information about sthe structure and the composition of the Union and of the Chambers organs, and holds documents and news about Criminal Law.
" Consulta per la Giustizia Europea dei Diritti dell'uomo " ("Council for European Justice on Human Rights"), set up on 13 June 1986, has the scope of making the professional and cultural associations of lawyers and judges in Italy aware of the instruments for protecting human rights, guaranteed by international rules, in particular, the procedural rules for presenting individual cases before the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, in order to denounce violations of the European Convention on Human Rights which may have been committed by the Italian State.
" A.I.C. - Associazione Italiana dei costituzionalisti " ("Italian Association of Constitutional Lawyers") originates out of the initiative of a group of experts and aims "to encourage in-depth research into Constitutional Law and the methods for teaching it, promoting and co-ordinating both meetings between experts and common research". The A.I.C. is a member of the International Association of Constitutional Law; the relative site not only presents a newsletter but also debates, news, materials (including conference proceedings, the European Constitutional Convention, legislative acts, special measures, forecasts about the future, and bills), new publications, and a list of Italian and foreign links of interest.
4.8. Private Initiative Sites
" Iusimpresa – Osservatorio bibliografico del Diritto dell'economia" ("Bibliographical Observatory of Economic Law") is a bibliographical observatory on the world of the economy, which can be searched in six languages (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese). Its objective is to offer a rapid, complete and user-friendly tool which, on the basis of a selection made at the source, provides (with updating made possible through the availability of the material) the bibliographical details of legal literature regarding the Law of Economics, published since January 2001. The main idea is to realize a "transversal collection" of legal and technical data in order to monitor the many "branches" of the law (Civil Law, Administrative Law, Banking Law, Labour Law, Commercial Law, Criminal Law, European Community Law, etc.). Not only the section dedicated to news is interesting, but also the section regarding books, which – thanks to the publishing houses permission – enables users to browse summaries and tables of contents.
4.9. Publishing Houses
Among the publishing houses specialized in the legal sector, we would like to mention:
1) " Leggi d'Italia Professionale ", again for a subscription fee, offers the user numerous online databases including "Le Leggi d'Italia" ("Laws of Italy") with the text of Italian legislation in force and co-ordinated jurisprudential notes of decisions of all the Italian Higher Courts, organized by summaries, legal literature of distinguished jurists and historical texts, " I codici d'Italia " (Codes of Italy: Civil Code, Criminal Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Navigation, Code of Military Procedure in Peacetime, Code of Military Procedure in Wartime), " La prassi delle leggi d'Italia " (Procedures of the Laws of Italy) , " Il Diritto Comunitario " (European Community Law) , " Le Leggi regionali " (Regional Laws) , " Enti locali " (Local Authorities) , " Diritti dei Minori " (Minors Rights) , " Fisco online " (Online Treasury) , and many others, as well as the catalogue, various services and a newsletter.
The new "Leggi d'Italia" web-site is structured in four sections. Each one of them is dedicated to a different target of users: Local Public Administrations employees; Central Public Administrations employees; lawyers, judges and notaries; business consultants and companies. A further innovation is the "Leggi d'Italia Mobile" system, which allows the user to play the search engine even on smartphones and tablets.
2) " Giuffré " gives access, always for a subscription fee, to the Iuris databases (national, regional and provincial legislation, the Codes, the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Regional Administrative Courts, the Council of State, etc.) and also to " Diritto & Giustizia " (Law and Justice) online, and the journals " Giurisprudenza di merito on-Line " and " Il Foro amministrativo on-Line " . The Giuffré catalogue, which is also available in a CD-ROM version and online, currently contains more than eight thousand titles with an annual increment of over four hundred new titles. Giuffré also publishes about sixty law journals and legal databases. The online catalogue is updated daily with data on all the volumes published, both those currently on the market and those in print in the past.
The so called " Diritto di tutti ", finally, is a precious instrument of juridical information, which is dedicated to the global public of the citizens.
3) " Il Sole 24 ore ", largely dedicated to the world of the economy, makes an important contribution to the legal sector. It provides services, texts, periodicals and many offline and online databases which are distributed against payment of a subscription fee.
The following are among the most important services in the legal sector:
A) " Lex24 " constitutes the legal-legislative database of " Il Sole 24 Ore ", which the user can search either on the Internet or on DVD-ROM, through which he/she can retrieve, quickly and in an intuitive way, all the Legislation in its current form, with the Jurisprudence referring to it, the Notes taken from professional journals and the Questions of the "Answers from the Expert" column.
The database of " Lex24 " is in constant evolution; it can be searched at any time and is updated in real time on the basis of the latest amendments taking place daily. In particular, with regard to the legislation, it makes the following available to the user:
· State laws and decrees published in the Official Gazette from 1860 up until today in their current form;
· the Civil Code, Criminal Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Navigation, Road Code, Code of Military Procedure in Peacetime, Code of Military Procedure in Wartime, together with their implementing provisions;
· European Community Law: decisions, directives and regulations of the European Community issued before and after the Treaty on the European Union signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, which have been received into the Italian legal order;
· Regional Law: a wide selection of provisions passed by the Regions constituted under ordinary or special Statute and the Autonomous Provinces, published in the Official Bulletins since 2002;
· Judgments of the Authorities;
· a wide selection of judgments of the Constitutional Court, the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Council of State, the main lower Courts and the European Court of Justice;
· a review of the Notes taken from the professional journals of " Il Sole 24 Ore " ("Guide to the Law", "Legislative Guide", "Guide to Local Authorities", "Guide to Employment", "Company Law and Practice", "Environment and Security", "The Building Industry and Land Use", etc.);
· the questions of citizens and the replies of experts taken from the column in " Il Sole 24 Ore " entitled "Answers from the Expert";
· finally, there is a special section which contains the latest News regarding legislation or News selected and commented on by the Editors.
Specific sections regard very important topics, such as family, job, companies, real estates, responsbility and reparation, the mediation and the telematic civil trial.
B) " Guida al Diritto " (Guide to the Law), which offers subscribers of the weekly of the same name the possibility of navigating free-of-charge in the site, in order to search:
- the "Massimario" (Collection of the Courts' Holdings in Cases): database which collects together all the Courts' findings in cases published in the journal from 1994 until today;
- the Four Codes of the "Guida al Diritto", structured in the same way as in the paper-based volume and available in PDF format, with all the legislative amendments and updates and questions of constitutional legitimacy occurring throughout the year and in-put in real time;
- the periodical newsletter: produced by "Lex24", weekly and/or monthly with the most important news about legislation and jurisprudence;
- the "Guida al Diritto" also enables the user to display the weekly issue of the same "Guida al Diritto" in advance with respect to the paper-based copy
4) " IPSOA ", which, for a subscription, makes available to the user a large number of databases of legislation, jurisprudence on taxation, Company Law and Labour Law available on the Web. It also furnishes numerous online services, such as the "Quotidiano giuridico", which offers every day prompt and influential updates to lawyers, judjes and notaries; the on-line commented versions of the Civil Code and the Civil Trial Code; expert advices in legal and fiscal matters.
5) " Simone " contains useful services (mailing list) and a great deal of information. The catalogue, made available by the publishing house, enables the user to consult the electronic cards relating to over one thousand published volumes updated in real time. Simone allows its users to search its Law Codes free-of-charge: Constitution, Civil Code, Criminal Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, annotated and explanatory Treaties of European Community, as well as a large number of Dictionaries (Roman Law Dictionary, Italian-English Legal-Economic Dictionary, Dictionary of Psychological Sciences).
6) " Zanichelli " provides documentation, catalogues and services, which are also generally offered by the best publishing houses specialized in the field.
The Juridical Catalogue, which can be downloaded in PDF, holds codes, educational and juridical literature books.
7) " UTET – Unione Tipografica Editrice Torinese " – provides a multimedia online catalogue which the user can search in full text. The " Utet giuridica " sectorholds databases, juridical journals, books and codes.
The publishing houses CEDAM, UTET and IPSOA recently joined together to offer to the users one only product, called "Pluris online". It holds juridical journals, hyper-textual codes and UTET's database and Digesto.
4.10. Online Law Journals
1) " Diritto & Diritti " ("Law and Rights"), historically one of the first to appear on the Web and also one of the richest, having officially come into being in 1996. Today, the document search can be developed through "Channels" (almost fourty, including the principal juridical matters, the most important jurisprudential sources and some of the most interesting topics) and "Indexes", which direct the users to the websites where they can find legislation, jurisprudence, and administrative acts. The "Utilities" section contains free downloadable documents, forms and formularies, and highlights books and services which can be useful for jurists, such as cadastral certificates, company registrations and various kinds of online expert advisories. The "Link" section contains a very broad material, going from lists of the Law Faculties and Associations to lists of Law firms, sites and journals. Finally, this site provides a Newsletter giving the user updated information.
2) " IusSeek " - as we have already mentioned in the section devoted to "Portals", this site describes itself as "a legal newspaper, search engine and portal but, above all, a community".
3) " The Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin ", established in 1995 as one of the world first Law Journal on the Web, is a peer-reviewed English and Italian language journal concerned to provide an international forum for academic research exploring the thresholds of legal theory, judicial practice and public policy, where the use of a "comparative law and literature" approach becomes crucial to the understanding of Law as a complex order. Apart from containing a series of important articles and contributions, it presents the annotated Italian Civil Code, the Italian Constitution, and lists of Italian and international sites.
The following can be listed among the typically specialized journals:
4) " InterLex " contains general and scientific information and information related to the legal world. It is, therefore, a proper electronic journal; among the most prestigious within the Italian legal panorama on the Web, with many articles regarding legal literature, organized by subject matter or argument through a chronological index (the historic archive contains more than 4.000 pages, since 1995 until 2001).
5) " Forumcostituzionale " The "Forum di Quaderni costituzionali" is the telematic section of "Quaderni Costituzionali". In the "Giurisprudenza" ("Cases") section comments on the main decisions of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts are available. The "Papers" section hosts real essays. In the section, "Temi di attualità" ("Current topics") are provided comments about constitutional law topics currently under discussion among scholars and public opinion. The section "Euroscopio" presents updated abstracts of the main decisions released by the European Court of Human Rights, sorted by topic. The "Telescopio" section makes available comments on foreign current topics in the public law field.
6) " Italian Journal of Public Law " is the first Italian Law Journal entirely published in English. It was established in 2009 by a group of Italian scholars based in several Italian Universities, with the encouragement and support of scholars from other countries.
7) " Osservatorio sulle fonti " is dedicated to deepen the theme of the system of the sources of Law. The website contains "Rubriche", "Saggi", "Note e Commenti" e "Novità editoriali". A new section was uploaded recently, called "Sources of Law in the European Union Member States".
8) " Federalismi " is a journal focused on Italian Public Law, Comparative and EU Law.
9) " Astrid " is a foundation established in 2009 by scholars from various political and cultural backgrounds. Astrid operates mainly through seminars and workshops whose outcomes consist of researches, analysis and proposals. The topics of discussion include: governance, reform of international organizations and European institutions, the constitutional and electoral reforms, the modernization of Public Administration, the liberalization of local public utilities, the reform of local and regional policies for quality of regulation and simplification.
10) " Italian Labour Law e-Journal " is a journal which falls within the sphere of interest which basically coincides with that of the site Italian Labour Law Online, where it is to be found: Italian labour law, in the traditional sense including industrial relations, employer-employee relations, and social security law, from their domestic and international viewpoints as well as international and comparative Labour Law. The journal was founded in 1999 and stopped publishing in 2008
11) " Gnosis Online " is the journal of "intelligence and professional culture", the first issue of which was published in 1995, originated with the objective, amongst other things, of introducing new forms of communication inside and outside SISDE (" Italian Intelligence and Security Service ") .
This service ran until 2007; in that year it was replaced by " AISI" (Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna). It also portrays itself as a qualified place for reflection and in-depth study, unique in the Italian editorial panorama, on issues related to intelligence and national security. The Journal publishes essays, forums, interviews, articles, curious historical anecdotes, book reviews and bibliographical notes, reports of interventions by important persons from the world of politics, culture and the institutions. It has also edited a full and systematic collection of the Italian and foreign documentation in the sector (reports of parliamentary and governmental organs, bills regarding intelligence bodies, legislation and jurisprudence of interest). The Journal also publishes the proceedings of the numerous cultural initiatives promoted by the Training School of the "Italian Intelligence and Security Service". In the journal online archive it's possible to read every number of the journal published until 2003.
12) " Diritto & Questioni pubbliche – Rivista di Filosofia del Diritto e cultura giuridica " ("Law and Public
Questions – Journal of the Philosophy of Law and Legal Culture").
13) The journal publishes online essays about law, philosophy and anthropological sciences. In addition
to the last number essays, there are many further sources available for the user, such as the "Recsnsioni e discussioni" section, a historic archive which contains each contribution published since 2001 and lots of links to online juridical journals, foreign and Italian universities and Public Administrations.
10) " Studiumfori ". This journal deals with: Tax Law, Lease and Condominium Law, Family, administrative sanctions, and Forensic Deontology.
11) " Jei—Jus e Internet ", online since 1996, this website calls itself as "the first press service online for juridical operators". It is divided into several sections including: Legal Informatics, In-depth Legal Studies, Case Law News, and Editorial News. Privacy and Copyright Law are the main thematic areas.
12) " Lexambiente " (Environment Law). This journal is rich in information, case law and legislation on the environment contributing to the discussion on this topic. It has also a Newsletter, which keeps users up-to-date on what is happening in the field.
4.11. Law Libraries
Many libraries, especially if they are of considerable importance, like University libraries, have transformed their catalogues into databases, usually making them available to the user free-of-charge. These catalogues come under the name of OPACs (Online Public Access Catalogues). OPACs represent a valuable source of information, enabling the user to retrieve information from his/her computer and allowing him/her to identify where the volumes can be found quickly and in more than one library.
There are now also groups of these under the same organization which has created collective catalogues or MetaOPACs.
For a full search on the OPACs and MetaOPACs we suggest:
1) SBN online is the " Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale in linea " (National Library Service online). The SBN OPAC is the collective catalogue of over 5.000 Italian Libraries (belonging to the State, the Regions, public and private Institutions, and Universities), which have joined the "National Library Service". It is a network of Italian Libraries created by the "Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del Turismo" (Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Tourism) in collaboration with Regions and Universities. Currently, it provides access to the bibliographical news, which are periodically downloaded from the databases of the SBN Index: Modern Book, Antique Book, Music, Grasphics, and Cartography. At present, the catalogue contains about 13 million of bibliographical descriptions and 70 million of localizations.
2) Italian OPACs Directory of the " Associazione Italiana Biblioteche " (Italian Libraries Association) provides exhaustive lists of Italian Libraries, divided by type (Public Libraries, State Libraries, Ecclesiastical Libraries, School Libraries, University Libraries, Research Institute Libraries and other Libraries) within the type by geographical coverage. This Directory, created and initially maintained by Riccardo Ridi, has since February 1999 automatically generated and updated from the database of the MetaOPAC Azalai Italiano (MAI), managed by the joint AIB-CILEA editorial board.
3) The "Guide to " Biblioteche d'interesse giuridico in Italia " ("Italian Libraries of Legal Interest"), created by the ITTIG - " Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica " of the " Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche " ("Italian Research Council) is also worth mentioning because it is dedicated, in particular, to Law Libraries.
C. Italian Legislation, Jurisprudence and Legal Authority on the Net: Institutional Web Sites, Off-line Databases, Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
1. The "Normattiva.it" (Italian Legislation on the Net) Project
The " Norme In Rete " – NIR ("Italian Legislation on the Net") Portal, the major institutional portal for Italian and Community legislation, has been replaced by the " Normattiva.it ". The initiative falls within the framework of the reform of the Italian Public Administration aimed at guaranteeing transparency and simplification in its relationship with citizens. The new portal includes all legislation published in the Official Gazette from 1946 until today.
Figure 14: Home Page of the " INormattiva " documentation system
The Normattiva system is based on the use of innovative technologies for the creation of reliable, free and full information on Italian laws, in this way implementing Article 107 of Law no 388 of 2000. The database includes primary and secondary legislation together with circulars and some relevant administrative orders.
Two search options are given to the user: " simple search" and " advanced search" . The former allows users to search for legislation by indicating the following information: day, month, year, number, words in the title and/or text. By selecting this option user can search the documents in the database and display the full text or part of the text (section or articles) in the version applicable at the date of consultation. The " advanced search" enables more complex queries allowing the user to utilize his/her specific legal knowledge indicating day, month, year, number, type of act (law, decree, decree), words in the title, and words in the text and publication period.
The database is continuously updated and the Project is still in progress. In the next future the user will be able to carry on conceptual retrieval and to search for legislation by utilizing EUROVOC descriptors.
2. The "Suprema Corte di Cassazione" (Italian Supreme Court of Cassation) Databases
The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation was a pioneer in the sector: through its "Centro Elettronico di Documentazione" - CED ("Electronic Centre of Documentation") it created for the first time a system that can be evaluated as the best, on a European level and even on a global level, for the mass of documentation and for the features of its information retrieval system. The service was already activated in the early 1970's, but only for a limited number of Courts. From 1980 onwards, there was a gradual incrementation and consolidation of the system and definition of the access modes, provided free-of-charge for the Central Administrations and against payment for other user groups.
Access to the consultation of the databases is, regulated by law (DPR 21/5/1981, No. 322, modified by DPR No. 759/1985; DPR No. 195/2004; DPR No. 7/2006). The new documentary retrieval system in the database of the Supreme Court, called " ItalgiureWeb ", has become available on the Internet .
The users can access the website and its data just connecting to this address ; so, the system can be used as any other website. However, at present, the possibility of consulting the system it is reserved only for users who have the right to link up free-of-charge and it will be come into effect through a gradual release, organized by categories.
The ItalgiureWeb documentation system includes 41 databases, with a total of over 4 million documents.
In particular, in the field of international and European Community legislation there are:
1) CONVES: full text of the international agreements not subject to ratification (only the titles of agreements ratified by law are stored);
2) TITCON: particulars of the international agreements in which Italy is a party and which are currently in force;
3) EURLEX: full text of Community legislation (regulations, directives, decisions).
4) EURVAR: this database is subdivided into three sub-databases: a) EURPRE: full text of the opinions expressed by Community organisms in the preparatory phase of the procedure for drafting Community law; b) EURNAZ: particulars and sources of the publication of the legislation with which Member States implement directives; c) EURPAR: full text of the written and oral questions presented by Members of the European Parliament to the Council or the Parliament starting from June 1979, the date of the first direct election.
In the field of national and regional legislation there are:
1) CODICI: current text: a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure approved under D.P.R. 22 September 1988, No. 447; b) of the implementing, co-ordinating and transitional provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (D.LG. 28 July 1989, No. 271); c) of the regulations bringing the Code of Criminal Procedure (Decree 30 September 1989, No. 334) into force; d) of the new Highway Code (D.LG. 30 April 1992, No. 285); e) of the regulations bringing into force and implementing the new Highway Code (D.P.R. 16 December 1992, No.495);
2) LEXS: full text of the legislative measures and only the title of measures of strictly administrative kind published in the Official Gazette from 1971 up until now;
3) LEXPRE: full text of the legislative measures published from 1/1/1904 until 31/12/1970;
4) TITLEX: references to legislative measures (the title of the laws and decrees of which the full text has been stored in the LEXPRE and LEXS databases and the title of other measures amongst the most important published in the Official Gazette from 1860 up until now);
5) LEXR: full text of the legislative measures of the Regions both under ordinary and special statute published since 1947;
6) ECO: references and/or full text of measures of a legislative, administrative or statistical kind on ecological and environmental matters;
7) LAVORO: full text of national collective employment contracts.
In the field of national, Community and foreign jurisprudence there are:
1) COSTMS: " massime " (case abstracts or headnotes) of the rulings of the Constitutional Court;
2) CIVILE: " massime " of the rulings of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court;
3) PENALE: " massime " of the rulings of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court;
4) CONSTA: " massime " of the decisions and opinions of the Council of State, Council of Administrative Justice of the Council of the Region of Sicily and the Special Commission;
5) ACQUE: " massime " of the rulings of the Supreme Tribunal of Public Waters and of Regional Water Tribunals;
6) TRIBUT: " massime " of the rulings of the Central Taxation Commission;
7) MILIT: " massime " of the rulings of the Supreme Military Tribunal;
8) CORTEC: " massime " of the rulings of the Auditors' Court;
9) TAR: " massime " of the rulings of the Regional Administrative Courts (selection);
10) MERITO: " massime " of the rulings of the Magistrates' Courts, Courts of Appeal, Courts of Assizes, etc. (selection);
11) COSTSN: full text of the rulings of the Constitutional Court;
12) EURIUS: full text of the rulings of the European Court of Justice;
13) LIBERT: " massime " of the jurisprudence on the Human Rights Convention;
14) ENLEX: " massime " of the jurisprudence of the Member States of the European Union in the field of the environment.
15) RELCIV, a collection of specific civil quarrels and relevant legal issues and on legislative news.
16) RELPEN, a collection of specific criminal quarrels and relevant legal issues and on legislative news.
Ministerial circulars databases include:
1) CIR: Ministerial circulars published in the Official Gazette since 1st January 1992;
2) CIRMGG: circulars of the Ministry of Justice;
3) CIRPCM: circulars of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (since 1976);
4) CSM: rulings of the Italian Council of the Judiciary (circulars, resolutions, answers to questions and opinions).
National and international legal authority databases include:
1) BID: abstracts of Italian and foreign publications on "Computers and the Law";
2) BNI: bibliographical information on books published in Italy as listed in the Italian National Bibliography;
3) BIGIUR: bibliographical units relating to volumes acquired by the Central Law Library of the Ministry of Justice;
4) DOTTR: abstracts relating to: a) Legal authority taken from specialized publications that can be searched through the DoGi (" Dottrina Giuridica " – Italian Legal Authority) sub-database (since 1970); b) Political and legal de iure condendo debate taken from Italian daily newspapers and periodicals that can be searched through the STOP (" Stampa di Opinione ") sub-database (1975-1993);
5) FIURIS: study and interpretation of Roman Law sources. It is organized in two sub-databases that can be searched independently: a) FIURIS: bibliographical references to contributions published in the main European Roman Law journals; b) INDEX: indexes of " Corpus Iuris Civilis ";
6) RIV: bibliographical details of law journals in which the decisions from which the " massime " taken from the jurisprudence databases ( Civile , Penale , Costit , Consta , Cortec ) are published or noted. It also contains the titles of articles of legal authority from 1975 up until now;
7) CASLIB: bibliographical details edited by the " Libreria Casalini " of Italian works published abroad.
Figure 15: Home Page of the " ItalgiureWeb " documentation system
Information, documentation and utility databases include:
1) ALBO: contains, for every lawyer or trainee lawyer registered on the roll, the data transmitted to the National Bar Council;
2) ARMI: description of the arms registered in the National Catalogue of Common Fire Arms;
3) CULTUR: list of registered buildings under Law 1 June 1939, No.1089, sent to the Superintendency of Architectural, Artistic, Historic and Environmental Heritage;
4) SCHEMA: general classification table for documents stored before 31 December 1988;
5) SCHEMB: general classification table for documents stored since 1989.
3. The Italian Legal Authority Portal
This is one of the tools being experimented with at ITTIG, the objective of which is to give unified access to material relating to legal authority distributed on the Web by different public or private, institutional, scientific and commercial organizations to provide a series of specialist services (forums, distribution of documents, data interchange, etc.). It is also to create the maximum integration with the other national and international initiatives in existence, both legal initiatives, directed towards different documentary types, and those on a more general level (for example, the "Dafne" Project for academic-scientific literature).
Figure 15 : Home Page of the Portal "Italian Legal Authority"
The " Portale della dottrina giuridica " ("Legal Authority Portal") should be able to provide:
a) identification of the material with research tools based on the semantics of the documents (bibliographical and conceptual elements) and on specific identifiers;
b) access to information supports, like tables of contents, summaries, abstracts, reviews, etc;
c) localization of material through links to legal libraries catalogues of journals, publishing houses, sites, etc;
d) specific services such as mailing lists, lists of links to sites of interest, FAQs, reviews, surveys, online courses;
e) utilities aimed at professionals in specific sectors (software for public notaries, public registries, etc.) or simply aimed at users (forms, encyclopedias, glossaries);
f) more advanced tools, like interactive dictionaries (databases containing definitions and legal institutes descriptions), e-books (online text and handbooks), intelligent agents and customized desktops.
4. CD-ROMs
" Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana " ("Official Gazette of the Italian Republic"): issued annually by the " Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato " ("State Polygraphic Institute and Mint"), the electronic edition of the Official Gazette contains the full text of all the measures published from 1 January until 31 December of each year in the whole series of the O.G., Part I (General Series + 4 Special Series).
" Juris Data", edited by Giuffré, certainly deserves a special position. It is a series of CD-ROMs (also available now on DVD), often with the possibility of updating online, relating to:
· " Legislazione e Codici " ("Legislation and Codes"): legislative collection on two CD-ROMs of legislative measures of the Italian State, in the original historic version accompanied by a rich selection of legislative texts, and in the current text in force together with the collection of the Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Criminal Military Codes and the Code of Navigation;
· " Giurisprudenza " ("Jurisprudence"): collection of " massime " with online updating divided into two CD-ROMs, one constantly up-dated, covering the years from 1992 up until now, and the other with the years covered by the Digest from 1979 until 1991;
· " DVD-ROM Juris Data ": national legislation (both historic and currently in force) and the Codes, the " massime " of the jurisprudence based on the decisions of 64 Authorities, the decisions of the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Supreme Court, the decisions of the Constitutional Court, regional legislation;
· " DVD-ROM Juris Data Maior ": national legislation (both historic and currently in force) and the Codes, the " massime " of the jurisprudence based on the decisions of 64 Authorities, the decisions of the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Supreme Court, the decisions of the Regional Administrative Courts and the Council of State, the decisions of the Constitutional Court, regional legislation, Notes and Legal Authority;
· " CD Juris Data - Leggi Regionali " ("CD Juris Data – Regional Laws"): collection of the legislative measures of all the Italian Regions and the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano;
· " CD Juris Data - Sentenze della Cassazione Civile " ("CD Juris Data - Decisions of the Civil Division of the Italian Supreme Court"): collection of decisions in full text format and officially reported, on two CD-ROMs containing decisions from 1986 until 1995 and decisions from 1996 to the present.
Also edited by "Giuffré" publishing house are:
· " CD Arianna ": a database that collects together all the legislation in the credit and financial sector. It applies the rules of the legislation in force so the users are given a complete and effective picture;
· " CD Teseo ": a specialized and innovative database originating from the integration of brief "forms" relating to all the financial tools and banking products existing on the market which refer to both legal and financial measures;
· " CD – Il processo penale " ("CD – Criminal Proceedings"): hypertext of schemata, legislation and jurisprudence on criminal procedure;
· " DVD-ROM Enciclopedia del Diritto " ("DVD-ROM Encyclopedia of Law"): 52 volumes of "entries", an index of 18,000 terms, an alphabetical list of more than 1,600 authors, each followed by the title of the published entries;
· " CD – Lavoro ": database of labour law and social security;
· " ReMIDA - Rivalutazione monetaria e interessi " ("King MIDAS – Currency and Interest Revaluation"): software allowing the user to perform, with utmost simplicity and precision, all the operations necessary for calculating interest (legal and ordinary interest, or that relating to special taxes) and the ISTAT (" Istituto Nazionale di Statistica " – "Italian Institute of Statistics") revaluation on monetary credits, guiding the user in the in-put phase in terms of the data requested;
· " ReMIDA - Danno alla persona " ("King MIDAS - Personal Injuries"): software for personal computers, which consists of an electronic legal advisor in Windows version. It enables the computer calculation of the amount of damages for personal injuries, using the tables for biological injuries laid down in the Law 57/2001 and those used in most of the Italian Courts;
· " E-LEX Software Gestionale " ("E-LEX Management Software"): for legal firms, developed by Datamat and distributed by Giuffré Editore. It is an integrated software environment for lawyers, which has the important added value provided by a communication environment, based on Internet, allowing lawyers to link up and exchange information with the Court Offices;
· " CD Le Società " di Giuseppe Alessi ("CD Companies" by Giuseppe Alessi): Jurisprudence, Bibliography, Legislation, Forms. This work contains all the jurisprudence, the legislation and the bibliography regarding the civil, criminal and bankruptcy regulation of companies, co-operatives and consortia.
· " Le leggi d'Italia " ("Laws of Italy") by Vittorio De Martino: Italian laws in their current and co-ordinated version, with comment on the jurisprudence of all the Highest Courts;
· " I Codici d'Italia " ("The Codes of Italy"): the Codes of Italy in their current and co-ordinated version, 153,000 " massime " of the Highest Courts, more than 30.000 grounds for the decisions of the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Supreme Court, all the decisions of the Constitutional Court since 1956;
· " Prassi delle Leggi d'Italia " ("Practices of the Laws of Italy"): collection of circulars and other documents interpreting the provisions of the laws starting from 1996, and passed by over 35 different bodies;
· " Leggi regionali d'Italia " ("Regional Laws of Italy"): the legislation of the 20 Italian Regions and the 2 Autonomous Provinces (more than 60.000 legislative measures);
· " Leggi d'Italia Compact " ("Compact of Laws of Italy"): in an agile synthesis, the Codes, national legislation and the regional and provincial laws;
· " DVD Opere Legali " ("Legal Works DVD"): the most complete and up-to-date Legal Works, capable of being consulted on a single computer support medium;
· " Diritto Comunitario e dell'Unione Europea " ("Community and EU Law"): all the Law of the European Union classified under 25 wide subject areas;
· " Enti locali " ("Local Authorities"): the first Legal Encyclopedia on the world of Local Authorities;
· " I Diritti della famiglia " ("Family Law"): 200 monographic entries classified in 40 subject areas;
· " I Diritti dei minori " ("Minors' Law"): 130 monographic entries classified under 60 subject areas;
· " Diritto del Lavoro " ("Labour Law"): all the topics relating to work under an employment contract, quasi-subordinate employment, self-employment and employment in the public sector. The published documentation is appropriately classified and linked through a system of logical links and references;
· " Repertorio di Giurisprudenza " ("Digest of Jurisprudence"): from 1981 up until now, the Digest collects together over 600.000 " massime ", relating to decisions on the law and on the merits, published in the main Italian and foreign law journals.
" IPSOA" publishing house co-ordinates all national and regional legislation, in its current and prior
version, and gives the interpretation of all the Highest Courts, linking it to the individual articles of the
law. In particular:
· the official texts of new laws published in the Official Gazette can be searched in full text directly in the database (each measure is immediately available in its co-ordinated version with all the latest amendments that have been made);
· all national and regional legislation in its current version and all the prior versions beginning from its publication; with links among the various provisions;
· the jurisprudence of all the Highest Courts, classified and correlated to the legislation, with an indication of precedents in conformity or dissenting from the decision, so the subscriber can evaluate the issues in the light of the approaches taken by the different Courts;
· in addition, the online up-dating, which interacts directly with the " La Legge " ("The Law") database, both on CD-ROM and DVD, informs the subscriber daily about new developments concerning legislation and any amendment that have been made;
· also, by purchasing the "Plus Version", the subscriber is provided with several autonomous databases on the one DVD – " La Legge " ("The Law") , " La Giurisprudenza di merito " ("The Jurisprudence on the Merits") , " La Legge dell'Unione Europea " ("The Law of the European Union") , " Le Società " ("The Companies") , " I Contratti " ("The Contracts") , " Famiglia e Diritto " ("Family and Law") , " Penale " ("Criminal Law") , " Enti locali " ("Local Authorities") –, capable of interacting and conversing during the search for legislative measures.
" Simone" publishing house encloses the relative CD-ROM with their paper-based publications (Civil
Proceedings, Criminal Proceedings, proceedings before Judges of the Peace, proceedings before Labour
With regard to "Il Sole 24 ore" ("The Sun Twenty-Four Hours") let us just mention:
· " LEX ": legal-legislative database (online and on DVD) for retrieving all the Laws and Decrees of the State currently in force, with Jurisprudence, Notes taken from professional journals, and the Questions of the "Answers from the Expert" column;
· " Diritto di famiglia " ("Family Law"): database on CD-ROM relating to the many civil and criminal aspects of Family Law, Successions and Gifts;
· " Unico Lavoro " ("Only Employment"): a database available on CD-ROM and online, contains legislation, jurisprudence, interpretations, collective bargaining and operational reports, tables, formulas and software;
· " I Formulari del professionista " ("Formularies for Professionals"): interdisciplinary collection of more than 3,000 prearranged forms for Accountants, Lawyers, Judges, Public Notaries, Experts, Technical Consultants and Liquidators;
· " Codice del Condominio e delle Locazioni " ("Code of the Condominium and Renting"): it contains, on CD-ROM and online, laws, practices and jurisprudence (10,801 documentary units and 10,750 UNI – Italian Standards Organization – standards);
· The " Guida Normativa " ("Legislative Guide") offers a double CD-Rom database, rich in content: a) all the issues of the " Guida Normativa " from 1991 up until all of 2003, complete with annexes; b) the last three years of the "Answers from the Expert" column, relating to taxation, employment, companies, credit, the Regions, the environment and other sectors.
" UTET" publishing house presents:
· " DVD Banche Dati Giuridiche AURUM " ("DVD AURUM Legal Databases") which collect together six databases on the one DVD:
· " Lex + Codex " ("Lex + Code"): approximately 82,000 norms of the State from 1861 up until now in their historic version and, to a large part, in their constantly updated current version; the rulings of the Constitutional Court where there has been unconstitutionality; the Constitution and the four main Codes, accompanied by their implementing and transitional provisions;
· " Lex - Regioni " ("Lex - Regions"): the Regional laws of all the Regions of Italy and the Provincial laws of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano;
· " Lex – La Prassi " ("Lex – The practices"): the Circulars issued from 1996 onwards by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and all the Ministries, including the Ministries from past Legislatures;
· " Repertorio della Giurisprudenza Italiana" ("Digest of Italian Jurisprudence"): the " massime " published in the main Italian law journals dating from 1981, relating to decisions handed down by approximately sixty different adjudicating bodies (on the merits and on the Law); reports of the main legal writings published since 1981; information about the legislation in force, organized by subject matter; authored notes commenting on the " massime ";
· " Cassazione Civile " ("Civil Division of the Supreme Court"): over 65.000 decisions in full text of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court, officially reported and handed down from 1986 up until now;
· " Cassazione Penale " ("Criminal Division of the Supreme Court"): a wide selection of the decisions in full text of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court, handed down from 1995 up until now.
Also there are:
· " I Codici regionali " ("The Regional Codes");
· " Giurisprudenza ipertestuale " ("Hypertextual Jurisprudence");
· " Liability for the Management of Corporations": the CD-ROM accompanies every volume of the series and contains the following:
· " Giurisprudenza " ("Jurisprudence") : contains a Digest of the decisions and other rulings relating to the topics dealt with.
· " Biblioteca " ("Library"): contains the bibliographical units regarding every citation to legal authority.
· " Inventario " ("Inventory"): a list of the topics dealt with in the grounds for the decisions on the liability of company directors and auditors.
· " Materiali" ("Topics"): contains documents concerning the different topics dealt with, as well as some Italian and foreign legislation.
· " LEX " collects together the full text of the legislation of the Italian Republic from 1861 up until now.
· " Repertorio della Giurisprudenza Italiana " ("Digest of Italian Jurisprudence"): this collects together the " massime " published every year in the main Italian law journals (concerning decisions handed down by all adjudicating bodies), the bibliographical details of the most important authored law (notes to decisions, articles, volumes or entries in Encyclopedias) and the citation of legislation in force regarding the main Headings under which all the documents are classified.
· " La Cassazione Civile " ("The Civil Division of the Supreme Court"): this contains, in full text, all the decisions handed down by the Civil Division of the Supreme Court dating from 1986, officially reported by the Court Reporter's Office and available to the public.
· " La Cassazione Penale " ("The Criminal Division of the Supreme Court"): it contains the full text (heading, particulars, fact and law, grounds, etc.) of a very wide selection of criminal decisions of the Supreme Court dating from 1995. Each decision is classified under the same system used in the Headings of the " Repertorio della Giurisprudenza Italiana"
· " Il Diritto di famiglia ipertestuale " ("Hypertext Family Law"): accompanying the volume, this is the complete work of legal authority on CD-ROM, created on the basis of a very analytical index of the material to which all the topics useful for the research are combined.
· " Digesto ipertestuale " ("Hypertext Digest"), edited by P.G. Monateri (2003): approximately 2,100 entries relating to civil, commercial, criminal and public law are collected together on a single CD-ROM, with the possibility of directly searching most of the citations found in the comments.
· " Manuale ipertestuale del diritto privato " ("Hypertext Manual of Private Law"): conceived and created for the first time in hypertext format in order to utilize the teaching potential of the computer tool, this manual is made up of a paper-based and electronic version, designed to complement each other.
" Zanichelli" publishing house produces:
" Cd-ROM Repertorio del Foro Italiano " ("CD-ROM Digest of Italian Court")
" Cd-ROM Foro e Cassazione civile " ("CD-ROM Forum and Civil Division of the Supreme Court") presents material found in the following databases:
· " Foro Italiano ";
· Civil Division of the Supreme Court.
" DVD of Foro Italiano " contains more than a million documents, divided into the following databases:
· Jurisprudence;
· Bibliography;
· Architecture;
· " Foro italiano ";
· Civil Divisions of the Supreme Court;
· The Four Codes
5. Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
We shall cite, as an example, " Diritto & Diritti ", which offers various "Mailing Lists" (one dedicated to Administrative Judges, one focused on online Administrative Proceedings, one aimed at the Judges of Taxation Commissions, and one on "Cybercrime" and procedure).
Among the best services available, we would like to mention not only that offered by Google , which through a special search engine enables the user to carry out a full text search within the messages, but also that offered by Arianna .
D. Open Access Online Legal Information Sources
In the following lines, an overview of open and free access sources of Italian legislation, case law and legal journals is provided. A distinction is also done per typology and area of law.
1. Legislation
Comune di Jesi System:
The Comune di Jesi can be accessed here . It offers the access to a database of Italian legislation as published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale from 1999. There is the possibility of navigating and browsing that database according to thematic areas and chronological order. G oogle search functionalities for retrieving into the website are also available. No multilanguage version is available.
The Umbrialex System:
The Umbrialex System can be accessed here and includes local legislation of the Umbria Region from 1975. Text is linked among them and with other relevant legislative sources such as national and European ones till 2012. Contributions of legal authority are also available. No multilanguage version is available.
The Notarlex.it System:
The Notarlex.it System can be accessed here and it includes a rich database of national legislation and codes. Studies and legal authority contributions are also present and organized per thematic area of law. No multilanguage version is available.
1.1. Case-law of Lower Courts
Giurisprudenza Piemonte System:
The Giurisprudenza Piemonte System can be accessed here . It is part of the DirittoePiemonte initiative and website offering access to legislation at national, European and local level as well as to legal authority and case law of the Piemonte region. It is maintained and fostered by a group of lawyers. In some cases the system directly links the user to the website where the information is published. For each type of sources some hypertext links with other relevant information included in the website are given. This is a very useful tool for browsing regional and local legal reality. No multilanguage version is available.
Sentenze Toscane system:
The Sentenze Toscane system can be accessed here where a collection of relevant regional case law can be consulted. Civil, criminal and administrative case law is provided on the base a volunteer contribution. No multilanguage version is available.
Pistoiaiuris System:
The Pistoiaiuris System can be accessed here . It can be considered as on observatory on the Pistoia municipality legal reality including case-law, legal authority, conferences, events. No multilanguage version is available.
2. Thematic Systems
The Civil law systems Civile.it:
The Civile.it system can be accessed here where all relevant civil law information can be consulted: legislation, codes and case law by browsing internally by the civile.it search engine or externally by utilizing google search functionalities. No multilanguage version is available.
The Commercial Law system Bancalex:
The Bancalex system can be accessed here . It is specialized on bank law. A classification helps the user finding all bank law legal information. No multilanguage version is available.
The Dirittodautore.it system:
The Dirittodautore.it system can be accessed here where some relevant database on copyright relating to legislation, case law and legal authority can be consulted. Documentation is only in part freely accessible: some sources can be accessed only on charge. No multilanguage version is available.
The Amministrativo.it system:
The Amministrativo.it system can be accessed here where specific legal information relating administrative law can be consulted. A classification schema facilitates searching and browsing internally the site. Search engines such as Iuseek and Google allows users to search relevant connected sources in other websites. No multilanguage version is available.
The Appalti in Linea system:
The Appalti in Linea system can be accessed here where specific legal information relating public procurement and e-procurement can be consulted. Information relating ongoing competition at European, national and local level is also provided. No multilanguage version is available.
Some other administrative law relevant websites:
a) the Rivista Amministrativa della Repubblica Italiana is a journal on administrative law, accessible here ;
b) The expropriation for public purposes website can be accessed here where relevant sources of legal information such as legislation, case law and legal authority can be consulted.
2.1. Criminal Law
The Penale.it System:
The Penale.it System can be accessed here where specific legal information relating criminal law can be consulted. Browsing functionalities are strengthen by a classification schema allowing to search into the website scratching from a specific area of criminal law. Legal documentation includes: legislation, case-law, legal authority and comments. No multilanguage version is available.
2.2. Labour Law
D&I Journal:
The D&I Journal can be accessed here where legal information relating labour law can be consulted. The system considers legislation, case-law and comments from legal authority. A classification schema of relevant concepts of labour law facilitates browsing and searching by the user. No multilanguage version is available.
2.3. Environmental Law
The AmbienteDiritto.it System:
The AmbienteDiritto.it System can be accessed here where a very specialized database on environmental law can be consulted. Legislation at European, national and local level is considered together with case-law and legal doctrine. Legal information relating labour law can be consulted. The system considers legislation, case-law and. A classification schema of relevant concepts of environmental law facilitates browsing and searching by the user. No multilanguage version is available.
The Ambiente.it System:
The Ambiente.it System can be accessed here where legal information on environmental law can be consulted. A very specialized classification schema of relevant concepts of environmental law facilitates browsing and searching by the user internally and on the web. No multilanguage version is available.
The Tutto Ambiente System:
The Tutto Ambiente System can be accessed here where legal information on environmental law can be consulted. This website considers legislation organized per year, case-law at national and local level organized by a classification schema and a section devoted to comments by experts and academics. No multilanguage version is available.
Other interesting websites on Environmental Law can be accessed at the following addresses: Lexambiente and SINAnet – Rete del Sistema Informativo Nazionale Ambientale (Environmental National Information System).
2.4. Urban planning law
The Diritto and Progetti System:
The Diritto and Progetti System can be accessed here where qualified information on urban planning, public procurement and environment can be consulted. Thematic legislation, case-law and legal authority can be browsed by using a specific search engine user oriented with search facilities. Documentation is organized according to a classification schema. No multilanguage version is available.
Law of the Air:
The Fog.it system on Maritime, Air and Transport Law can be accessed here . Where International Uniform Transport Law, Italian Maritime, Air and Transport Law Cases, Transport Law Revue (Rivista "Diritto dei Trasporti") and the The Aviation & Maritime Journal can be consulted. A search engine allows users to search inside the website as well as in the web. The site can be accessed in English and relevant international legal texts are also available in English.
2.5. Fiscal Law
Some useful websites:
The Fisco e Tasse System can be accessed here where in the section "NORME" a complete collection on tax legal documentation can be consulted.
- Il commercialista telematico (online fiscal accounting) can be accessed at the following address here where a very interesting selection of the most important Italian case-law on tax can be consulted. No multilanguage version is available.
- the Società e fisco on line system can be accessed here where an interesting collection on taxes of laws, administrative orders and case law can be consulted. Unfortunately only the list of documents can be consulted for free. Full text is charged. No multilanguage version is available.
- TAX & Lex system can be accessed here where a rich collection on taxes of legislation, administrative orders case -law and legal doctrine can be accessed. No multilanguage version is available.
E. Appendices
1. Main Italian Legal Web Sites
1.1. Italian Parliament, Government and Ministries
1.1.1. Italian Parliament
· Bibliografia del Parlamento Repubblicano
· Leggi dalla XIII Legislatura (dal 9 maggio 1996)
· Leggi Regionali (banca dati)
· Fascicolo degli Atti di Indirizzo e di Controllo (banca dati)
1.1.2. President of the Italian Republic
1.1.3. Italian Government
· Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministr i
220.127.116.11. Ministries
· Ministero degli affari esteri
· Archivio Trattati Internazionali
· Italiani nel mondo ( Italia Estera )
· Ministero dell'ambiente e della tutela del territorio e del mare
· Ministero dello sviluppo economico
- Direzione generale per le risorse minerarie ed energetiche
- TuttoConsumatori: il portale del Consiglio Nazionale dei Consumatori e degli Utenti
- Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi
· Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo
- Direzione Generale per le Biblioteche, gli Istituti culturali e il Diritto d'autore (DGBID)
- Direzione Generale per gli Archivi (DGA)
· Ministero dell'economia e delle finanze
- CIPE - Comitato Interministeriale per la Programmazione Economica
- Dipartimento dell'Amministrazione Generale, del Personale e dei Servizi
- Dipartimento delle Finanze
- Dipartimento per lo Sviluppo e la Coesione Economica
- Dipartimento della Ragioneria Generale dello Stato
- Dipartimento del Tesoro
- Agenzia del demanio
- Agenzia delle dogane e dei Monopoli
- Agenzia delle entrate
· Ministero delle infrastrutture e dei trasporti
- Dipartimento della Protezione Civile
- Dipartimento per gli Affari interni e territoriali
- Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza
- Dipartimento per le Libertà civili e l'Immigrazione
- Dipartimento dei Vigili del fuoco, del Soccorso pubblico e della Difesa civile
- Dipartimento per le Politiche del personale dell'amministrazione civile e per le Risorse strumentali e finanziarie
· Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca
· Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali
· Ministero delle politiche agricole, alimentari e forestali
126.96.36.199. Ministers without portfolio
- Affari Regionali
- Riforme Costituzionali e Rapporti con il Parlamento
- Semplificazione per la Pubblica Amministrazione
- Politiche Europee
- Politiche per la Famiglia
- Dipartimento per le pari opportunità
- Dipartimento della Gioventù e del Servizio civile nazionale
1.2. Italian Public Bodies
· ACI – Automobile Club d'Italia
· AGCM – Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato
· Agenzia per la protezione dell'ambiente e per i servizi tecnici
· ARAN – Agenzia per la rappresentanza negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni
- Contratti del settore pubblico (banche dati dei Contratti ARAN e delle Ordinanze)
· Autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas
· Autorità per la vigilanza sui lavori pubblici
· Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni
- CCIAA - Camere di commercio, industria, artigianato e agricoltura
- Unioncamere - Unione italiana delle CCIAA
- Il Portale delle Camere di Commercio italiane
- Camera di Commercio di Milano
- RisolviOnline (servizio di risoluzione online delle controversie)
· CIDE – Centro Nazionale di Documentazione e Informazione Europea
· CNEL – Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro
· CNIPA – Centro Nazionale per l'Informatica nella Pubblica Aministrazione
· Commissione Europea – Rappresentanza in Italia
· CONI – Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano
· CONSOB – Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa
· Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali
· ICE – Istituto Nazionale per il Commercio Estero
· IPA – Indice delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni
· IPZS – Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
· ISS – Istituto Superiore di Sanità
· ISTAT – Istituto Nazionale di Statistica
· SIAE – Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori
· UNI – Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione
· URL degli URP: gli URP in rete
1.2.1. Regions
· Conferenza dei Presidenti delle Regioni e delle Province autonome
· Conferenza dei Presidenti dell'Assemblea dei Consigli Regionali e delle Province autonome
· Centri Regionali di Competenza per l'e-Government e la Società dell'Informazione
1.2.2. Provinces
· UPI - Unione delle Province d'Italia
· UPITEL - Rete Telematica delle Province d'Italia
1.2.3. Communes
· ANCI – Associazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani
· Ancitel – La Rete Telematica dei Comuni Italiani
1.3. Judicial Bodies and Offices
· CSM – Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura
· Giustizia amministrativa (Consiglio di Stato e Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali)
· Giustizia tributaria (Commissioni Tributarie Regionali e Commissioni Tributarie Provinciali)
1.4. Associations and Labour Unions
· ABI – Associazione Bancaria Italiana
· ANM – Associazione Nazionale Magistrati
· Associazione culturale per lo studio del Diritto e dell'Informatica
· Associazione italiana della comunicazione pubblica e istituzionale
· Associazione Nazionale Forense
· Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato
· Consulta per la Giustizia Europea dei Diritti dell'Uomo
· ELSA – The European Law Students' Association - Italia
· EuroJuris Italia – Gli studi legali italiani in Europa
· FTI – Forum per la Tecnologia dell'Informazione
1.5. Traditional and Online Magazines
· Cahiers européens – European Forum of Public Law
· The Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin
· Diritti & Doveri (Rivista telegiuridica)
· Diritto & Giustizi@ – Quotidiano di informazione giuridica
· Foro Europa (Rassegna di giurisprudenza comunitaria e diritto europeo)
· Foroeuropeo.it (Il portale del giurista - rivista giuridica telematica)
· Il Foro Italiano (Rivista on line)
· Forum di Quaderni Costituzionali (Rivista on line)
· Gazzetta Ufficiale gratuita (Ultimi sessanta giorni)
· Guida al Diritto on line – Il Sole-24 Ore
· InfoDir.Net (Rivista di Informatica, Telematica e Diritto)
· Informatica e Diritto (Rivista Internazionale di Informatica e Diritto)
· Italian Journal of Public Law ( the first Italian law journal entirely published in English )
· InterLex – Diritto, Tecnologia, Informazione
· Leggi d'Italia – quotidiano giuridico (Guida aggiornata per aree tematiche su tutta la normativa italiana ed europea)
· LexItalia.it (Rivista Internet di diritto pubblico)
· LexLegis ( Notiziario Giuridico Telematico )
· Palomar – Osservatorio di diritto costituzionale (Notiziario trimestrale di diritto costituzionale redatto nell'ambito del Dottorato di ricerca in Diritto pubblico comparato della Facoltà di Economia dell'Università di Siena)
· Quaderni Costituzionali ( Dal 1981 ospitano il dibattito sui temi relativi alle istituzioni di governo e sulle questioni di fondo della democrazia italiana )
· Studiocelentano.it (Quotidiano di diritto e delle nuove tecnologie informatiche)
1.6. Private Initiative Web Sites
· Censis – Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali
· CyberLex (Portale giuridico delle nuove tecnologie)
· E-jus.it (Legislazione e Giurisprudenza italiana inerenti al Diritto di Internet)
· Gazzetta no problem (consultazione gratuita di tutti i sommari della Gazzetta Ufficiale, Serie generale)
· GIURAMM – Giurisprudenza Amministrativa (also here )
· GURI – La Gazzetta Ufficiale (a cura di Connect; servizio a pagamento)
· Infoleggi (Internet e le sue leggi)
· JeI – Jus e Internet (servizi in abbonamento per il giurista)
· Leggiweb – Leggi italiane (ricerche sui 4 codici, codice della strada, Costituzione)
· Privacy (tutto sulla tutela dei dati personali)
· STING – Sistema Telematico d'Informazione Giuridica (Gazzetta Ufficiale italiana e avvisi di gare d'appalto [a pagamento]) [actually "Under Construction"]
1.7. Law Libraries
· Ministero della giustizia: Biblioteca centrale giuridica
1.8. Research Institutions
· CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (for a complete List of Research Institutions click here )
- IRSIG – Istituto di Ricerca sui Sistemi Giudiziari – Bologna
- ISGI – Istituto di Studi Giuridici Internazionali – Roma
- ISSiRFA – Istituto di Studi sui Sistemi Regionali Federali e sulle Autonomie "Massimo Severo Giannini" – Roma
- ITTIG – Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell'Informazione Giuridica - Firenze
· ENEA - Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile
1.9. Italian Legal Documentation
1.9.1. Legislation
· Accordi Internazionali [Min. Esteri]
· Contratti del settore pubblico [Aran] (Banche dati dei Contratti ARAN e delle Ordinanze)
· Contratti e accordi collettivi di lavoro [CNEL]
· Direttive comunitarie [Min. Politiche Comunitarie]
· Gazzetta Ufficiale gratuita [IPZS] (ultimi 60 giorni)
· Gazzetta Ufficiale [Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato]
· Gazzette, leggi e normative [Rete civica Aesinet]
· Leggi dalla XIII Legislatura (dal 9 maggio 1996) [Parlamento]
· Leggi italiane [LeggiWeb] (4 codici, codice della strada, Costituzione)
· Leggi Regionali [Camera dei Deputati]
· Legislazione comparata [ParlaLex] Normativa europea [Unione Europea]
- Eur-Lex (il diritto dell'UE)
- Celex (tutto il diritto comunitario)
- Ted (gare d'appalto)
- Scad (sintesi della legislazione)
- PreLex (procedure interistituzionali)
- Normativa italiana ed europea [NIR - Norme in Rete and Normattiva.it .] (documentazione proveniente dai siti istituzionali)
· Normativa comunitaria e internazionale, codici e leggi nazionali e regionali, contratti collettivi – ItalgiureWeb [Ced-Cassazione] (ricerche a pagamento)
· Trattati Internazionali [Min. Esteri]
1.9.2. Jurisprudence
· Giurisprudenza comunitaria [Unione Europea] (Corte di Giustizia e Tribunale di primo grado delle Comunità Europee)
· Giurisprudenza costituzionale [Corte Costituzionale] (pronunce dal 1999 e massime dal 1956)
· Giurisprudenza costituzionale [Consulta Online]
· Giurisprudenza della Cassazione e delle altre supreme Corti, comunitaria, di merito, TAR, tributaria - ItalgiureWeb [Ced-Cassazione] (ricerche a pagamento)
· Giurisprudenza amministrativa [Segretariato generale giustizia amministrativa] [Consiglio di Stato e Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali]
1.9.3. Parliamentary Acts
· Disegni di legge, ordini del giorno, resoconti assemblea, attività senatori, giunte e commissioni [Senato]
· Atti di controllo e di indirizzo politico (interrogazioni, interpellanze, mozioni, risoluzioni, ordini del giorno) [Camera dei Deputati]
1.9.4. Legal Authority
· Bibliografia con abstracts delle riviste giuridiche – DoGi [ITTIG-CNR]
· Bibliografia dei periodici di economia, diritto e scienze sociali [ESSPER]
· Dottrina giuridica e sentenze edite e annotate – ItalgiureWeb [CED-Cassazione]
· Dottrina giuridica [Dottrina.it]
1.10. Web Guides to Italian Law
· Diritto e Società On Line (DSOL)
· Diritto Italia (ITTIG - CNR)
· DFP – Documentazione di Fonte Pubblica in rete
· GIGO – Guida all'Informazione Giuridica Online (ITTIG - CNR)
· LIUC Virtual Library: diritto
· Ricerche giuridiche in rete (a cura della Biblioteca di Giurisprudenza, Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università di Milano)
1.11. Italian Legal Search Engines and Portals
· Altalex – Quotidiano di informazione giuridica
· Cicerone
· Dottrina.it (il motore di ricerca della dottrina)
· Erga Omnes – Diritto alla fonte
· ItaLex
· Italia.gov.it: il portale nazionale del cittadino (a cura del Dipartimento per l'Innovazione e le Tecnologie)
· IusReporter – esplorazioni giuridiche
· IusSeek
· Juranet
· Kataweb – i portali giuridici
· NIR – Norme in Rete and Normattiva.it .
· RicercaGiuridica.com (catalogo sistematico delle pagine Web giuridiche)
1.12. European Community, Foreign, and International Law
- Ufficio delle pubblicazioni
- GUCE - Gazzetta Ufficiale dell'Unione Europea
- Ricerca numeri della GUCE
- Biblioteca Centrale
- ECLAS - catalogo integrato delle biblioteche
· Banche dati dell'Unione Europea
- Eur-Lex (il diritto dell'UE)
- Celex (tutto il diritto comunitario)
- Ted (gare d'appalto)
- Scad (sintesi della legislazione)
- PreLex (procedure interistituzionali)
- OEIL – Osservatorio legislativo (in inglese)
- Ufficio per l'Italia
· Consiglio dell'Unione Europea
- Bollettino dell'Unione Europea
- Direzioni generali e Servizi
- Rappresentanza in Italia della Commissione europea
· Corte di Giustizia e Tribunale di primo grado delle Comunità Europee
· Banca europea per gli investimenti
· Fondo europeo per gli investimenti
· Comitato economico e sociale
· Europol – European Police Office
· Interpol
· UAMI – Ufficio per l'Armonizzazione nel Mercato Interno (marchi, disegni, modelli)
· Ufficio comunitario delle varietà vegetali
- Corte europea dei Diritti dell'Uomo
- Commissario per i Diritti dell'Uomo
- ONU – Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite
- Corte internazionale di giustizia
- ONU – International Law
- ONU – Tribunale penale internazionale
2. Glossary of the Most Frequently Used Italian Legal Terms
Abrogazione [Repeal]: the ceasing of a legal norm or a legislative act's enforceability. The repeal can be expressed (by an explicit statement of legislator) or implied (because of inconsistency with subsequent law). Moreover it can be a consequence of referendum or due to intrinsic causes (special laws issued for a limited period or in particular circumstances).
Appello nominale [Roll call]: one of the ways in which the Houses of a Parliament vote. It consists in the calling in alphabetical order of each single Member of Parliament, who is expected to openly and publicly cast his or her vote.
Assemblea costituente [Constituent Assembly]: special and provisional collegial body elected to draw up and to approve a Constitution, as well as to carry out the legislative tasks normally appertaining to Parliament.
Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite [General Assembly of the United Nations]: United Nations body made up of all the Organization's Member-States.
Associazione [Association]: organized complex of people and property having no financial ends.
Associazione Nazionale Magistrati [A.N.M. – National Association of Magistrates]: free association to which almost all Italian magistrates belong. It is divided into different currents that elect its Governing Committee and propose candidates for the election of the " Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura " (Superior Judiciary Council).
Atti di alta amministrazione [Upper Administrative Acts]: fundamental directives adopted by the Public Administration in order to meet Government policies on the management and care of its functions (these therefore act as links between policy and administration).
Atti aventi valore di legge [Legally binding Acts]: decrees law, legislative decrees and normal Regional laws are defined as such. They are characterized by the fact that, although having all the effects of law, they are limited in terms of their duration or in what they regulate.
Atti di concerto [Collegial Acts]: acts that invest more than one authority and more than one particular competence and for which more than one body concurs with respect to what is regulated.
Atti di controllo [Controlling Acts]: second level regulations to reform – or to re-examine – a previously passed act or procedure (the following are examples of these: visas, approvals, authorizations, validations or annulments during checking procedure).
Atti definitivi [Definitive Acts]: administrative acts that cannot be altered by ordinary administrative procedures.
Atti generali [General Acts]: Public Administration acts dealing with general or abstract matters that apply to an indeterminate number of parties.
Atti giuridici [Legal Acts]: conscious and voluntary behaviors that has legal effects.
Atti giuridici comunitari [European Community Legal Acts]: this expression defines the "derived European Community Law", that is the set of regulations drawn up by European Community Institutions, whose direct basis is Treaties (original European Community Law).
Atti ispettivi del Parlamento [Parliamentary Inspecting Acts]: a posteriori acts (usually passed separately by each House) that politically control the activity of the Government. These make up the parliamentary "political inspection". In certain cases they take on a preventive form in order to solicit a decision such as, for example, in the case of parliamentary questions.
Atti normativi [Normative Acts]: acts that affect an indeterminate number of subjects and can modify or renovate the existing legal system. They are therefore a "source of the Law".
Atti parlamentari [Parliamentary Acts]: acts resulting from the work carried out by each House of Parliament (Deputies and Senators). Parliamentary acts also include summary reports of Committee meetings, that contain all the bills presented in the Houses.
Atti politici [Political Acts]: through these acts Government policy (that is the supreme will of the State) is implemented.
Atto unilaterale [Unilateral Act]: acts through which a single party (in particular a State) sets down rules that result in rights and obligations in the legal relationships existing between international community parties.
Autarchia [Autarchy]: the ability of bodies other than the State to dispose of public authority; it consists in the ability, inherent to public bodies, to administer their own interests by carrying out an administrative task that has the same character and the same legal efficacy as that of the State.
Autogoverno [Self-Government]: expression that comes from institutions that are typically found in Anglo-Saxon legal systems ("self-government"). It stands for the particular condition of certain public bodies that are permitted to administer themselves by means of internal institutions and procedures.
Autonomie locali [Autonomous Local Bodies]: local bodies that the State recognizes as autonomous authorities; they have the right and the effective ability to regulate and to administer – within the bounds of the Law and on their own responsibility – a significant part of public affairs.
Autorità amministrative indipendenti [Independent Administrative Authorities]: public bodies or institutions created by the legislator in order to guarantee autonomy and impartiality in specific and particularly important areas for the State and/or the economy; they are therefore organizationally and financially autonomous, are self-auditing and have substantial independence towards the Government.
Avvocatura dello Stato [State Attorney-General Office]: auxiliary organ with general competencies that the State Administration institutionally entrusted of the representation and the defense in judgment involving ordinary, administrative and special jurisdiction, arbitration colleges and constitutional jurisdictions.
Bicameralismo perfetto [Pure Bicameralism]: in a twin House parliamentary system both Houses have identical powers and functions.
Bilancio dello Stato [State Budget]: law consisting of an accounting document in which, in accordance to specific criteria, the State's income and expenditure for a given period is set down.
Bollettino Ufficiale [Official Bulletin]: a periodical issue edited by Public Bodies and Administrations which publishes internal regulations and, more in general, the laws and rules regulating the administrative sectors within the competencies of the Body that publishes the Bulletin.
Burocrazia [Bureaucracy]: complex of offices and personnel that apply the regulations drawn up by the organs of the Public Administration.
Capacità giuridica [Capacity to have rights]: capacity to be holder of legal rights and obligations.
Capacità di agire [Capacity to exercise rights]: capacity to acquire and to exercise subjective rights and to take on obligations; it is therefore the aptitude to create, modify or to extinguish one or more legal relationships.
Casellario giudiziale [Criminal Records Office]: filing cabinet established in each Public Prosecutor's Office, that has the task of collecting and preserving the abstracts of regulations and notations concerning all the people born in the District in relation to which registration is required by Law.
Catasto [Land Register]: general list of all property (land or real estate) that determines the consistency and the income of property through its description, measurement and estimation.
Circondario [District]: territorial area that delimits the competence of an ordinary Court.
Coalizione di Governo [Government Coalition]: coalition of Parties that, taken together an absolute majority in Parliament, provides the parliamentary basis for the Government. It pursues a coordinated and common political line with respect to the political Parties that it comprehends.
Codice [Code]: systematic and organized set of laws relating to the same subject or sector (for example: Civil Code, Penal Code, etc.).
Codificazione [Codification]: ordered and coherent system of norms and regulations in a particular field.
Comitato delle Regioni [Committee of the Regions]: consultative body set up by the Treaty on European Union. It is made up of the representatives of Local and Regional Councils and it is nominated on the basis of proposals from the respective Member-States.
Comitato Regionale di Controllo [CO.RE.CO – Regional Inspection Committee]: Regional body, regulated by State Law, that inspects the legitimacy of Provincial and Communal acts.
Commissione europea [European Commission]: executive organ of the European Union that implements Community acts and treaties.
Comune [Commune]: territorially defined public body headed by a Mayor elected directly by the citizens.
Conferenza permanente tra Stato e Regioni [Permanent Conference between State and Regions]: corporate Body that has an information, consultation and coordinating role with respect to general policies (barring foreign policy, justice and national security).
Conferenza Stato-Città [State-City Conference]: has a coordinating role in the relationship between the State and Local Bodies, and educational and information role for tackling problems regarding policies that may have a direct impact on assigned or delegated functions (Provinces, Communes, Mountain Communities).
Consigli giudiziari [Judicial Councils]: organs of the Ordinary Magistracy at each Appeal Court. They have an administrative character, that is compulsorily determined by Law and they are competent for all magistrates of the District.
Consiglio comunale [Communal Council]: highest institutional organ of the Commune. The Communal Council represents the local community by which it is directly elected. It has duties of policy and of political-administrative control.
Consiglio dell'Unione Europea [Council of the European Union]: European Community organ which has important functions with regard to the creation of legal acts and treaties. Its presidency is assigned on a six-month in rotation to each Member-State of the European Union.
Consiglio di gabinetto [Cabinet Council]: organ that assists the Prime Minister and the Vice-Prime Minister in their political activity, notwithstanding the powers of the Council of Ministers.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche [C.N.R. – National Research Council]: national research organization, with general scientific competence and with scientific research Institutes distributed over Italy, which carries out activity of primary interest for the promotion of science and the progress of the Country. CNR has the legal status of a public organization, and defines for itself autonomous rules and regulations, in accordance with the existing laws and the Civil Code.
Consiglio notarile [Notarial Council]: established in each Notarial District, it has a watch role on the notarial profession and on the conduct of notaries registered in the District.
Consiglio dell'Ordine degli Avvocati [Bar Association Council]: established in each Court District, it is an organ that performs various tasks related to the professional roll control, to the watch over registered practitioners, to the advice in honorary matter and the profession prestige safeguard.
Consiglio provinciale [Provincial Council]: representative collegial organ that has a guiding and political-administrative inspection role in the context of the Province.
Consiglio regionale [Regional Council]: the highest deliberative and representative organ of the Region. It has normative and administrative competencies as well as organizational, financial and book-keeping autonomy.
Consiglio di sicurezza [Security Council]: it is the most important organ of the United Nations Organization and has a fundamental task in the maintenance of international peace and security.
Consiglio di Stato [Council of State]: an organ that has a jurisdictional and consultative function in the administrative sphere. In its consultative role it pronounces on all matters regarding the Public Administration through "opinions". These can be "compulsory" or "binding". As a jurisdictional organ, it is competent to re-examine on second level the judgments pronounced by the Regional Administrative Tribunals (TAR).
Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura [C.S.M. – Superior Council of the Magistracy]: body provided for under the Italian Constitution (article No. 104). It is a self-governing body of the Magistracy. It issues orders for the appointment, assignment, transfer and promotion of magistrates (judges and public prosecutors) together with having responsibility for disciplinary judgements. It is made up of the President of the Italian Republic (acting as its Chairman), by the first President of the Court of Cassation and by the Court of Cassation's Public Prosecutor (all these being members as of right). There are also thirty elected members holding office for four years: two thirds are ordinary magistrates (elected by the Magistracy) and one third are full professors in Law and lawyers with 15 years of practice (so-called "lay members" elected by the Parliament in joint session).
Consuetudine [Custom]: source of Law that consists of a behavior, conforming to the Law, which is kept in a constant and uniform way by the citizens. It is a primary level source in the hierarchy of norms of the international legal system.
Consultazione popolare [Popular Consultation]: system of inquiry: opinion poll, through which the attitude of citizens with respect to political-administrative orientations is verified.
Corte Costituzionale [Constitutional Court]: body set up by the Italian Constitution to carry out the following functions: to adjudicate on the constitutionality of laws (deciding whether they comply with the provisions of the Constitution); to adjudicate on conflicts between State Powers (legislative, administrative, judicial), between the State and Regions or between different Regions; to adjudicate on the admissibility of repealing referendums; to adjudicate, in cases provided for under the law, on criminal charges brought against the President of the Italian Republic. The Court is made up of fifteen judges holding office for nine years.
Corte d'Appello [Court of Appeal]: body forming part of the ordinary civil and criminal Court system. It is made up of three judges. It represents the second level of the judicial system that of appeal against decisions of the first instance Court ("Tribunale"). It has territorial jurisdiction within its own District, generally corresponding to a Region. The Court is normally located in the Region capital.
Corte d'Assise [Court of Assizes]: Court with ordinary jurisdiction in criminal matters with competence to try a number of serious offences at first instance. It is made up of a President (a judge qualified for the Court of Appeal), a judge qualified for an ordinary Court (" giudice a latere ") and six jurors. In carrying out their functions, the jurors have equal status to the Court judges: their votes count for the same as those of the judges when the Court reaches a sentence.
Corte dei Conti [Court of Accounts]: body set up under the Italian Constitution (articles No. 100 and 103). It is responsible for checking the legitimacy of the activities of the Government and of the Public Administration. It is also responsible for checking the management of the accounts of the State, of the Public Administrations generally and of the bodies subsidized by the State. It also has a judicial function in the field of public accounting and in relation to pensions of State officials. It is divided into "checking" divisions and "judicial" divisions. When dealing with matters of particular significance it sits in United Sessions. The Court of Accounts also has a consultative function (when asked to give opinions on specific matters) and a referral role when it is called upon to report directly to the Houses of Parliament on the results of the checks it has carried out.
Corte di Cassazione [Supreme Court of Cassation]: as Italy's Supreme Court, it is entrusted with ensuring the precise observance and uniform interpretation of the law. Questions relating to conflicts of jurisdiction, competence and powers within the Magistracy are also referred to it for adjudication. It hears appeals both in civil and criminal matters against decisions reached by lower Courts but only on points of law (assessment of legitimacy). It is thus concerned to ensure that the Court dealing with the merits of the case has correctly applied and interpreted the law in reaching its decision. It is a collegial body dealing with ordinary jurisdiction. It is divided into so-called "simple" divisions (6 criminal, 3 civil and 1 for labour cases). In cases of particular importance it sits in United Sessions. Its offices are in Rome and it has jurisdiction over the whole territory of the Italian Republic.
Corte di giustizia della Comunità Europea [Court of Justice of the European Community ]: the Court of Justice of the European Community (often referred to simply as "the Court") was set up in 1952 under the Treaty of Paris (establishing the "European Coal and Steel Community"). Its job is to ensure that European Union legislation (technically known as "Community Law") is interpreted and applied in the same way in each Member-State, in other words, that it is always identical for all Parties and in all circumstances. The Court has the power to settle legal disputes between Member-States, European Union Institutions, businesses and individuals. The Court is composed of one judge per Member-State, so that all the EU's national legal systems are represented. Even after enlargement, there will still be one judge per Member-State, but for the sake of efficiency, the Court will be able to sit as a "Grand Chamber" of just eleven judges instead of always having to meet in a plenary session attended by all the judges.
Corte europea dei diritti dell'uomo [European Court of Human Rights]: international Court established by the European Convention for the safeguarding of Human Rights. It can be appealed to for violations of rights and liberties guaranteed by the Convention.
Corte Internazionale di Giustizia [International Court of Justice]: Supreme International Court established in 1945. In accordance to the Statute it is an organ of the United Nations. It is made up of fifteen judges of various nationalities who are elected on the basis of their competencies and moral standing.
Costituzione [Constitution]: fundamental law of the Republic that sanctions the fundamental principles, the duties and rights of citizens. It also regulates the State organization.
Decreto-legge [D. L. – Decree Law]: normative Government act. It is used in very particular and urgent cases and has a time limit of sixty days from the date of its publication on the " Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica " ["Official Gazette of the Republic"]. Decrees law can be converted to laws by Parliament.
Decreto legislativo [D. Lgs. – Legislative Decree]: a provision that has the binding force of law. It is adopted by the Government with a deliberation of the Cabinet and it is passed by the President of the Italian Republic on the basis of a delegated law (" legge delega ").
Decreto ministeriale [D. M. – Ministerial Decree]: secondary normative act with a solely regulatory purpose that individual Ministers can issue in the context of their Department and by virtue of a law that expressly predisposes it.
Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica [D. P. R. – Presidential Decree]: provision with which the President of the Italian Republic issues acts provided by the Constitution or by Constitutional Law, those relative to the organization of the personnel of the Secretary of the Presidency, as well as all the acts that are expressly listed by the law 13/'91 (for example, the nomination of State Undersecretaries, the decision on extraordinary appeals, granting of Italian citizenship, dissolution of Communal and Provincial Councils).
Demanio [State Property]: complex of properties of the State, Regions, Provinces and Communes. Its scope is to serve the public interest and, as such, it is subject to different rules than those that govern private property. This kind of property is, in fact, inalienable and from it cannot accrue any right to a third part.
Democrazia diretta [Istituti di, Institutions of Direct Democracy]: Institutions provided by the Constitution through which the people, in whom sovereignty rests, directly exercises its powers. These institutions are: popular initiative of bills and laws, right of petition and the popular referendum.
Deputati [Members of Parliament]: members of Parliament elected by direct universal suffrage, some by means of majority voting system and others by means of proportional representation system. All citizens over twenty five years can be elected as long as they are not in a state of ineligibility as set out by Law. Their mandate lasts for five years, which is for the whole legislature.
Deregulation : progressive suppression of norms issued by public authority that regulate, in particular, economic activity. In practice this means the abolition of controls having social objectives that limit the free initiative of entrepreneurs.
Direttiva comunitaria [Community Directive]: in European Community Law a directive is a legislative instrument that is binding on the Member-States to which it is addressed as regards the result to be obtained, but leaves them free to determine the form and methods. Directives may be adopted under the European Community Treaty either by the European Parliament and the Council or by the Council or by the Commission. The Community institutions use "Regulations" more often than "Directives" in judicial cooperation in civil matters. Once adopted, Community Directives still have to be transposed by each of the Member-States, that is to say they must be implemented by national Law.
Diritto amministrativo [Administrative Law]: branch of the Law that regulates, within the bounds of the Constitution and of the Law, the administrative activity of the State in all its facets. It is concerned with the organization, property, means, forms and the safeguarding of the activity of the Public Administration.
Diritto costituzionale [Constitutional Law]: the fundamental principles and regulations of the State, citizens and all other community parties. These regulations are contained in the Constitution (see " Costituzione ") and in the constitutional laws.
Diritto internazionale [International Law]: set of rules on which States regulate their political, economic and social relationships. Amongst International Law sources, international Treaties are of particular importance.
Diritto pubblico [Public Law]: set of regulations that govern the formation, the organization and the activity of the State and Public Bodies, as well as their relations with private parties in cases in which the State or Public Bodies are in a position of superiority that derives from the fact that the latter are acting as public authorities.
Disegno di legge [Draft Bill]: normative text drafted as articles, proposed for the approval of the Senate, presented by the Senators, the Government, at least fifty-thousand electors, a Regional Council or by the " Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro " (CNEL – National Council for the Economy and Work). In the Chamber of Deputies a " Progetto di legge " (bill) issued by the Government is referred to thus (in order to distinguish it from a "proposta di legge", which is not proposed at the initiative of the Government).
Disposizioni sulla legge in generale o preleggi [Provisions for law in general or Pre-laws]: norms that are premises of the Civil Code that regulate the entire Italian legal system. There are two types: the first is concerned with Law sources; the second sets norms in relation to Law application criteria (binding effect, effects over time, interpretation of Law, treatment of foreigners).
Disposizioni transitorie e finali della Costituzione [Transitional and Final Provisions of the Constitution]: provisions, marked by Roman numbers, which contain norms that have the same formal value as the Constitution. The majority of these are aimed at regulating and guaranteeing, by means of transitional norms, the correct establishment of the new constitutional regime.
Elettorato [Electorate]: the exercise of a public power attributed to all the electors expected to vote. Belonging to the electorate is documented and attained through being registered in the electoral register. It can be distinguished as "active" (the capacity to vote) and "passive" (the capacity to be elected).
Elezioni [Elections]: popular consultation through which the citizens, with the exercise of their right to vote, choose their representatives in the various institutional organizations (e.g. Parliament).
Enti locali [ Local Bodies ]: public bodies that operate in a restricted territorial area for matters that are of strictly local interest; in order to carry out this task they are, at various levels, politically and legally autonomous.
Enti pubblici [Public Bodies]: legal persons through which the Public Administration carries out its administrative activity.
Federalismo [Federalism]: model of State decentralization, typical of liberal-constitutional governments, in which political power is constitutionally shared between a (central) federal State and its Member-States (Cantons, Länder, etc.).
Fonti del diritto [Sources of the Law]: each of the various types of facts or acts that, in the context of a given legal system, can give rise to, can modify or cancel legal norms. These acts or facts are referred to as "sources of Law production", while norms of constitutional nature that grant them the power to produce laws are referred to as "sources on Law production". Both are referred to as "Law sources in the formal sense".
Forma di governo [Form of Government]: the way in which the political power of a State is organized and managed. In particular, in relation to the way in which executive and legislative power is divided, the form of government can be parliamentary or presidential.
Funzione pubblica (Dipartimento della) [Public Administration (Department for)]: activity carried out in the interest not only of the party exercising that power but of the community as a whole. All the functions of the State are included in this notion (legislative activity, jurisdiction and administration).
Gazzetta Ufficiale [G.U. – Official Gazette]: periodical publication (published by the State Printing Office) that has the scope of diffusing awareness of laws and decrees and to establish the date from which they come into force. As well as normative acts, the Official Gazette publishes all acts of public interest and the notifications and insertions that must be compulsorily announced.
Gerarchia delle fonti del diritto [Hierarchy of Sources of the Law]: way of distinguishing different Law sources according to their importance. The most important source in Italian legal system is the Constitution.
Giunta comunale [Communal Board]: government organ of the Commune. It carries out proposal and orientation activities with regards to the Communal Council. It collaborates with the Mayor in the administration of the Commune and operates through collegial deliberations fulfilling the acts that are not exclusive to Communal Council or that do not fall within the competencies, in accordance with the laws or the Statute, of the Mayor or other organs of decentralized authority.
Giunta provinciale [Provincial Board]: executive organ of the Province. Its competencies include general active administration for all matters that are not attributed to other provincial organs.
Giunta regionale [Regional Board]: executive organ of the Region. It has general administrative competence and the power to issue circulars and to regulate its working through specific internal regulations. Also, it has the task of enacting the political program drawn up by the Council. It can promote bills and laws and can impugn the constitutionality of State or other Regions laws that impinge on its competence.
Giurisdizione [Jurisdiction]: it is one of the three typical modes by which the sovereignty of the State is enacted. It consists in public and autonomous authority aiming at the concrete application of the laws of the legal system and it is attributed to particular organs of the State, which as a whole constitutes the "Judicial Authority".
Giustizia amministrativa [Administrative Justice]: the complex of institutions that are predisposed for the defense of the citizens or of public or private organizations with respect to the Public Administration. The organs of Administrative Justice are the Regional Administrative Courts (" Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali " – TAR) and, at a secondary level, the Council of State.
Governo [Government]: complex body to which the exercise of the executive power of the State is principally attributed. It consists of a Prime Minister and Ministers, who together make up the Cabinet. The President of the Republic nominates the Prime Minister and, on the suggestion of the latter, the Ministers. The Government also has certain normative powers that are exercised through the enactment of decree laws, legislative decrees and regulations.
Guardasigilli [Keeper of the Seals]: he is the Minister of Justice who, by tradition, is the custodian of the State Seal and in this role countersigns laws and decrees in order to their publication.
Iniziativa legislativa [Legislative Initiative]: is the first step in the "legislative procedure" for creating laws. A bill is drafted in paragraphs and articles and is presented to one of the Houses where it is debated. Those empowered to set this process in motion are: the Government, individual Members of Parliament, the electorate, the National Council for the Economy and for Work (" Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro " – CNEL) and, in the areas of their competencies, Regional and Communal Councils.
Interpellanza [Interpellation]: inspection act consisting of a written question made by a Member of Parliament to the Government (or to a Minister) in order to understand the latter's behavior or intentions with respect to particularly important or general matters. Unlike a parliamentary question, an "interpellation" must be illustrated by its presenter and is always discussed in full Assembly (whilst a question can also be answered in a Committee) with the aim of obtaining an answer from the Government on subjects that are considered worthy of debate.
Interrogazione [ Parliamentary Question]: political inspection act consisting of a written question made by a Member of Parliament (usually of the Opposition) to the Government or to a Minister on a particular situation in order to be granted information or explanations with regard to a particular issue or the provisions that have been made or will be made in its regard.
Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato [State Printing Office and Mint]: it is a body of public economic Law. Set up in 1928, it is under the control of the Ministry of Treasury, the budget and the financial planning. It has the task of exercising graphic arts in the interest of the State, the management of publications and of the State Stationery Office. It publishes the Official Gazette of the Republic and distributes public databases. To its original tasks, others – such as minting, the creation of official seals, and, on the authorization of the Treasury, minting for foreign States – have been added.
Italgiure: online legal database realized by the Italian " Centro Elettronico di Documentazione della Corte Suprema di Cassazione " (Documentation Electronic Center of the Supreme Court of Cassation). It contains about forty databases of legal electronic documents (regarding legislation, jurisprudence, legal authority and bibliographies). It can be consulted through the ItalgiureFind querying language or via "Easy-Find" software. The ItalgiureWeb querying system is currently available on the Web and is freely accessible only to normal magistrates.
Iter legislativo [Legislative Iter ]: expression commonly used to indicate the course that a bill or any other text presented to Parliament must follow before arriving at a definitive vote.
Lavori parlamentari [Parliamentary Works]: activities carried out by Parliamentary Assemblies, Boards, Groups and Committees, as well as by other bodies in accordance with Parliamentary Houses regulations, adopted to ensure the proper functioning of Parliament itself.
Lavori preparatori [Preparatory Works]: activities that precede the approval of legislative acts. These include the illustration of bills and their debating in Assembly. The preparatory works of parliamentary laws are particularly important and are registered in " Raccolte degli Atti parlamentari " (Parliamentary Act Collections).
Legge costituzionale e Legge di revisione costituzionale [Constitutional Laws and Constitutional Revising Laws]: Law sources of a constitutional nature that are added to the text of the Constitutional Charter and that, differently from ordinary laws, must be passed by Parliament with specific procedures that are set out in the Constitution itself.
Legge delega [Delegated Law]: it is a provision that defines the subject and the principles that the Government must keep to in enacting a specific legislative decree.
Legge ordinaria [Ordinary Law]: it is a provision that is adopted by Parliament, with the approval of both the Houses – of "Deputies" and of "Senators", is enacted by the President of the Italian Republic and published in the Official Gazette.
Legge regionale [Regional Law]: it is a provision approved by the Regional Council, enacted by the Regional President and published in the Official Gazette.
Legislatura [Legislature]: actual length of time of a parliamentary mandate (five years) for each House (of "Deputies" and of "Senators"), excepting in the cases in which they may be dissolved prematurely, or prorogated because of a war. It is articulated into "sessions" and "sittings".
Maggioranza di governo [Government Majority]: coalition of Parties that has obtained the majority of seats in Parliament and that supports the Government.
Maggioritario [Majority System]: electoral formula that divides up national territory into uninominal or plurinominal constituencies. In uninominal constituencies the seat is usually assigned to the candidate who has had the relative majority of votes. In plurinominal constituencies the list that has obtained the relative majority of votes is given the absolute majority of seats or receives a bonus that is a greater number of seats than that which proportionally reflects the electoral result.
Magistratura [Magistracy]: in its wider sense this term includes the whole body of public functionaries, whether their offices are legislative, judicial, executive or administrative. In a more restricted and usual meaning, it denotes the class of officers who are charged with the application and execution of the Law.
Ministero [Ministry]: State bureaucratic apparatus that operates in a specific sector of Public Administration. It depends directly on the central organ of Government as a Minister, who administrates its activities, is placed at its head.
Ministro [Minister]: constitutional organ of the central Administration of the State. It has political and administrative functions and it contributes to the policies of Government in a specific sector of administrative activity.
Ministro senza portafoglio [Minister without Portfolio]: Minister invested with the political-constitutional authority of member of the Government as a collegial organ. He is not, however, at the head of a Ministry but is assigned to carry out tasks of political-administrative nature, which mostly consist in initiative, coordination and inspection functions.
Norma giuridica [Legal Norm]: abstract, general and prescriptive rule whose breach involves a sanction.
Norma interna [Internal Norm]: regulation made by a Public Administration regarding the carrying out of its functions and the way in which its activities are run.
Organizzazione per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo Economico [O.C.S.E. – Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development]: international organization set up in 1960 to aid the economic growth of its Members and the development of international trade.
Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite - ONU [United Nations – UN]: it has been founded in 1945 in order to guarantee peace and international security, economic and social development of the world's populations and the respecting of human rights and fundamental liberties.
Ordinamento giudiziario [Judicial System]: set of norms that regulates judicial functions and the status of the people to which they are assigned.
Parlamento [Parliament]: constitutional organ elected by the citizens and made up of the "House of Deputies" and the "Senate of the Republic". Its main functions are of a legislative, inspection and policy nature.
Parlamento Europeo [European Parliament]: legislative organ of the European Union, made up of the representatives of the people of the Member-States who are elected, as from 1979, every five years by direct universal suffrage.
Prassi amministrativa [Administrative Practice]: a succession of acts of similar kind carried out by the Public Administration, even without the belief they are obligatory. It is not a source of Law and has no effect on legal system, but it can be used for the interpretation of administrative acts.
Prassi costituzionale [Constitutional Practice]: repeated or customary actions with which constitutional organs concretely carry out their assigned tasks. Only a few specific "behavioral practices" followed by the constitutional organs of the State are derived from them.
Prefetto [Prefect]: representative of the Government in the Provinces. Nominated by a decree of the President of the Italian Republic on the suggestion of the Interior Minister and after a Cabinet consultation, he has functions that cover all branches of the State administration and, through the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security, coordinates the strategy for public security in the Province together with the Police Superintender and other Provincial Commanders of the Police Force.
Presidente del Consiglio [Prime Minister]: constitutional organ that has the function of coordinating and directing the Council of Ministers. He is nominated by the President of the Italian Republic following a specific procedure that consists mostly in a series of consultations with Parties leaders and Houses Presidents. The Prime Minister creates the Government and draws up its program; he has also the power to propose the nomination of individual Ministers to the President of the Republic.
Presidente della Repubblica [President of the Republic]: he is the highest institutional office of the State and is elected by Parliament in a plenary sitting and the representatives of the Regions. All citizens over forty-nine years, who have full civil and political rights, can be elected to this office.
Presidenti delle Camere [Houses Presidents]: the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are the organs that preside over the functioning of each House. A qualified majority is required for their election. Institutionally they are "impartial organs" and safeguard the autonomy of the Chambers with respect to other State Authorities. They hold "constitutional attributes" such as the power of extraordinary convocations of the Chambers and have the right to be consulted by the President of the Republic before the Chambers are dissolved.
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri [Prime Minister's Office]: institutional structure that supports the activity of the Prime Minister.
Presidenzialismo [Presidential System]: form of government characterized by a rigid separation of authority. In this system the President is elected directly by the people and is contemporaneously Head of the State and Head of the Government.
Procedimento legislativo [Legislative Procedure]: set of acts aiming at the laws making in which both Chambers take part.
Procura della Repubblica [Office of the State Prosecutor]: office that is part of the Italian judicial system, to which the magistrates who carry out the functions of Public Prosecutor are assigned.
Promulgazione delle leggi [Enactment of Laws]: it is an act of laws control that must be carried out by the President of the Italian Republic within a month from the approval of both Chambers of Parliament. The President controls the law's constitutional legitimacy. With enactment the law becomes enforceable; binding effects for citizens, however, only follow the publication on the Official Gazette of the Republic.
Progetto di legge [Bill]: it is a normative text drafted in articles that is proposed for approval to one of two Chambers. It is presented by a Member of Parliament, the Government, at least fifty-thousand electors, a Regional Council or by the National Council for the Economy and Work (" Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro " – CNEL). The term is used above all in the Chamber of Deputies, where it is distinguished between " disegno di legge" (to indicate a law proposed by the Government) and "proposta di legge" (which is proposed on different initiatives). In the Senate the term "disegno di legge" is normally used for all legislative initiatives.
Proposta di legge [ Bill ]: expression that in the Italian Chamber of Deputies traditionally means a law that is not proposed at the Government initiative, whilst in the Senate the legislative initiatives are denominated as "disegni di legge".
Provincia [Province]: territorial public body that is in between the Commune and the Region. At the head of each Province there is a President of the Provincial Government, who is elected directly by the citizens.
Provvedimento amministrativo [Administrative Provision]: public authority act that provides for one or more concrete cases and with respect to one or more subjects.
Pubblica Amministrazione [Public Administration]: the directly pre-ordained organs and activities that carry out the tasks and the aims considered to be of public interest by the State community.
Pubblicazione della legge [Publication of Law]: the act by which a law is officially made public. It is an act of communication that makes a law operative. A law is published – in the Official Gazette of the republic – within and not beyond thirty days from its enactment.
Pubblico Ministero [Public Prosecutor]: it is an organ of the State present at the "Corte di Cassazione" (Court of Cassation), at the "Corti di Appello" (Courts of Appeal), at the "Tribunali ordinari" (Ordinary Courts) and at the "Tribunali per i minorenni" (Juvenile Courts). Moreover, in each Office of the State Prosecutor attached to the Courts located in the District capitals there is a "Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia" (District Anti-Mafia Division). These divisions are made up of prosecutors specialized in investigating organized crimes. The offices of the "Pubblico Ministero" are held by career judges who exercise their functions under the supervision of the Minister of Justice. Their task is to ensure that the laws are observed, that justice is administered promptly and regularly, that the repression of crimes is promoted (they are entitled to start a criminal action) and that security measures are enforced.
Quorum: legal number required for an assembly or a collegial body voting to be valid.
Raccolta ufficiale degli atti normativi della Repubblica Italiana [Official collection of the normative acts of the Italian Republic]: contains legislative provisions of the State and all Government acts for solely documentary purposes.
Raccomandazioni [Recommendations]: this is the term used in European Community Law for acts emanated by the European Commission or by the Council of Europe that are not legally binding. They have the precise scope to oblige those to whom they are aimed to adopt a comportment judged to correspond more with the European Community interests.
Referendum: direct popular consultation of the electorate through a vote whose object is a legal text or a political question. It is the most important institution of direct democracy seeing as it is a tool by which the people exercises its sovereignty without the intercession of intermediaries. Our legal system envisages: a) the constitutional referendum, for the adoption of laws that modify or add to the Constitution; b) the repealing referendum, for the repeal of a law that is in force; c) the territorial referendum, for the modification of Regional, Communal or Provincial territory; d) the consultative referendum, non-legally binding on questions of particular relevance at the Regional level.
Regione [Region]: is a public territorial body which has legal and administrative competencies. A President who, depending on Regional Statutes, can be elected directly by the citizens or chosen by the Regional Assembly, heads it. There are "Special Statute Regions" for which the Constitution, for political, ethnic and economic reasons, reserves a special treatment and there are "Ordinary Statute Regions".
Regolamenti [Regulations]: legal provisions that regulate specific matters within the limits set by the law. Governmental regulations are approved by a Presidential decree; ministerial regulations are approved by the competent Minister with a Ministerial decree.
Regolamenti comunitari [European Community Regulations]: are the most important normative sources for the European Community Law; they are legally binding and are applied directly in each State of the European Union.
Repubblica [Republic]: form of government in which the Head of State, who can be a single person or a body, is elected by the people directly or indirectly, i.e. through its representatives (Parliament).
Rinvio delle leggi (Potere di) [Returning of laws to the Chambers of Parliament, Power of]: power given by the Constitution to the President of the Republic; its exercise constitutes a veto that temporarily suspends the approval of a law by the Houses.
Risoluzione [Resolution]: in the European Community Law consists in an act adopted by the European Parliament that makes a unanimous statement on a report presented to it by one of its Committees. Resolutions are amongst the "atypical acts" of the European Community, especially when representatives of the Member-States, sitting as the Council of Europe, adopt them.
Risoluzione parlamentare [Parliamentary Resolution]: is a tool that has the function of parliamentary orientation. It can be presented in Assembly or in Committee.
Sanzione [Sanction]: consequence (fine, imprisonment, etc.) that a legal norm provides when it is broken.
Sentenza [Sentence]: jurisdictional provision containing a decision, pronounced by the judge in a trial. Normally it is the concluding or final act of a judgment. Its form is established by Law: it is passed "in the name of the Italian people", with the title "Italian Republic", and it contains a disposition (the pronouncement in short of the judge's decision) and its grounds (the statement of reasons for decision in judgement).
Sindacati [Trade Unions]: collective organizations that represent the interest of specific categories of people (for example the workers).
Sindaco [Mayor]: individual, head of the Communal government and officer of the State.
Sistema elettorale [Electoral System]: complex of rules and procedures through which, on the basis of votes cast by the citizens, seats are assigned to the elected members.
Sovranità [Sovereignty]: authority to establish rules and to have them observed.
Stato [State]: territorial organization that is created through the political organization of a people that are stably set in a territory and under the authority of a government.
Stato federale [Federal State]: political organization where power is split by a system that allows the Member-States to conserve some sovereignty.
Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale (T.A.R.) [Regional Administrative Court]: organ of the Italian judicial system. Its jurisdiction covers the adjudication at first instance of administrative provisions appealed on grounds of legitimacy (that is of compliance with the law) damaging a legitimate interest (that is, the interest of an individual corresponding to a general public interest). In some contexts, the Court has the power to adjudicate on the merits of a case or has exclusive jurisdiction. The Regional Administrative Court has competence within its own geographical jurisdictional area, which coincides with regional boundaries and has its offices in the regional capital. It has several different divisions and decisions are made by a panel of three judges. Appeals against its decisions are made to the Council of State.
Testo Unico [Consolidation Act]: a collection of norms that regulate a particular matter. It is approved by a Presidential decree.
Trattati internazionali [International Treaties]: are sources of international Law. They are agreements through which the States establish common rules of behavior (financial, fiscal agreements, etc.) or institute or modify international bodies.
Tribunale [Ordinary Court]: has jurisdiction in both civil and criminal matters over a geographical area called "circondario". This Court may adjudicate as a collegiate court (with three judges sitting) or with only a single judge. The decisions of the Ordinary Court may be challenged on appeal to the Court of Appeal for reasons based on the facts giving rise to the dispute (on the merits) and before the Court of Cassation on appeal on grounds related either purely to the Law (relating to legal legitimacy) or to jurisdictional powers (jurisdictional grounds).The Ordinary Court also exercises the functions of a Tutelary Court together with other specific functions laid down by the Law.
Tribunale dei Ministri [Ministers Court]: special jurisdictional organ – organized by lot in each Court that is a seat of an Appeal Court District – that judges the penal responsibility of Ministers.
Unione Europea [European Union]: economic, political and institutional organization with very broad competencies to which the majority of European countries already belong.
Vacatio legis : period of time between the publication of a law and its coming into force.
Voto (diritto al) [Vote, Right to]: it is the right, belonging to all citizens, to elect their representatives in Parliament or in other representative organs of the State (Regions, Provinces, Communes, Districts).
Welfare State: expression that indicates the system in which the State takes on the task of promoting the welfare of its citizens through institutional activity (health care, social security pensions, etc.).
3. Free of Charge Databases
As a result of a brief survey of the Internet legal resources above mentioned, only few ones can be classified as free of charge.
As far as the Italian Legislation we can cite:
1) Normattiva.it . The system contains UE legislation, Italian State and Regional laws, judicial decisions and relevant legal documentation [See paragraph C.1.];
2) Parlamento Italiano (Italian Parliament), Camera dei Deputati , Senato della Repubblica . Through the Italian Parliament Web site we have access to the Italian Constitution (in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabian), Constitutional laws, Italian State laws (from 1996 – thirteenth Legislature), Italian State laws of particular relevance , laws of the Italian Regions and the autonomous Provinces from its establishment (in full text), electoral laws , Rule of the Chamber , other Rules ;
3) the oldest one is an initiative of the Municipality of Jesi (Ancona) able to offer to the end user: 1) the Italian Official Gazette collecting Italian legislation from 1998 to 2007 ; 2) a data bank of the published normative acts from 1998 to 2007 ; 3) the Italian Official Gazette of the public competitions from 1997 to 2007 (); 4) access to the European Union Official Gazette and 5) Italian legislation of particular relevance, divided in sixteen thematic areas and chronologically arranged ;
4) Archivio di legislazione : it is a very large database of Italian legislation from 1889 to 2006; the relative Guide is divided in many categories and it is possible to ask the introduction of missing laws.
In relation to the Italian Jurisprudence you can see also:
1) The Corte Costituzionale (Italian Constitutional Court) Web site offers, in addition to Normative Texts , the Court's Jurisprudence ( Pronunce – Court Pronouncements - e Massime – Summaries of Judgements) from 1956 to the present;
2) in the field of Constitutional Law we have also the " Consulta Online " Web site, in which it is possible to search normative texts of constitutional relevance and the Constitutional Court decisions (until from 1956 up until today), as well as "Cronache" (Current Events), "Fonti" (Legal Sources), "Studi" (Scientific Contributions and Surveys);
3) in the " Giustizia Amministrativa " (Administrative Justice) Web site there are databases relative to the judicial activity (Ricorsi, Sentenze, Decreti, Ordinanze –Recources, Judgements, Decrees, Ordinances) of the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State) and of the Tribunali Amministrativi Regionali (TAR – Regional Administrative Courts);
4) the Corte dei Conti Web site contains a database of the Court judicial decisions from 2001 to the present;
5) the databases of the Corte Suprema di Cassazione are free of charge only for specified categories of users (see here ). In relation to the Court decisions of the last five years, from 29 th December 2014 a new direct access website has been created: < http://www.italgiure.giustizia.it/index_it.asp >.
In the field of the Italian Legal Literature:
1) The DoGi (Dottrina Giuridica Italiana) database is actually accessible via subscription, whereas on the Web site only a Demo version is available;
2) free of charge is indeed the consultation of the " Iusimpresa " database (in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese), that is a 'transversal' collection of legal information covering the following areas: Private Law, Administrative Law, Civil Law, Law of Banking and Financial Intermediation, Labour Law, Commercial Law, Insolvency Law, Industrial Law, Criminal Law, Tax Law, European Union Law, Information and Communication Technologies Law, Accountancy, Economics and Finance. The archive provides the user with the following bibliographical data: author; title of the article, case note or monograph; title of the journal in which the article or the case note is contained and the name of the publisher;
3) Italian Legal Literature relative to many sectors of the Law is accessible on the " Diritto & Diritti " Portal, in the web page < http://www.diritto.it/categories >;
4) the Italian Legal Literature with relevance for specific areas is often available in the corresponding Web sites (see, for example, in addition to the above mentioned sites, " AmbienteDiritto.it ");
5) some Web sites contain as legal literature as legislation and judicial decisions, especially in relation to determined fields of the Law (see, for an example, the mentioned site " Diritto & Diritti ").
[ [i] ] Sarah E. Thomas , (" Carl A. Kroch " Cornell University Library ), in her interesting article L'impiego del Portale per l'individuazione di risorse elettroniche specialistiche says: "Il termine 'portale' è diventato molto di moda e spesso è usato in modo piuttosto improprio" (The term 'portal' has become very fashionable and is often used in a rather incorrect way). The New York Times cites more than 1.000 meanings in its articles from 1996, and there are hundreds of vertical portals (specialized in a category of information, like a discipline, or a user group, like academics) or open, general portals, like AOL ("America On Line").
[ [ii] ] See Marco Calvo, Fabio Ciotti, Gino Roncaglia, Marco Zela , Internet 2004, Bari, Laterza, 2004 . A web portal , also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way; apart from the standard search engine feature, it offers other services such as e-mail, news, information and databases.
[ [iii] ] Among the examples, we can cite My Yahoo .
[ [iv] ] Today, the TESEO classification system (" TEsauro del SEnato per l'Organizzazione dei documenti parlamentari " - Senate Thesaurus for the Organization of Parliamentary Documents) is used on the most important parliamentary databases of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies (bills, parliamentary questions and commissions, grey literature, Senate's non-legislative procedures, etc.) and consists of a Thesaurus containing about 3.000 descriptors.