Statutory Law of Italy: Historical and Legal Traditions and Modern State

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the features of the statutory law of Italy in historical retrospect and in modern reality. In order to achieve it, the following tasks must be solved: 1) to study the process of formation of the statutory law of Italy; 2) highlight the specific features of the Italian legal system; 3) disclosure of the function of the institutions of direct democracy, reflected in the statutes; 4) to find out the nature of statutory autonomy; 5) to explore the varieties of statutory sources in Italy; 6) to determine the legal significance of the statutes of Italy during their evolutionary development. The methodological basis of the study is related to the use of a number of methods, techniques and approaches in the study of the statutory law of Italy. In particular, we are talking about historical and comparative law, formal law and semiotic methods, dialectical, anthropological and epistemological methods, as well as structural-functional and systemic approaches. Scientific novelty. Statutes as sources of Italian law are legal acts, the legal force and procedure for their adoption depends on the territory of their distribution (autonomy, region, province, commune), the sphere of their regulation includes the principles of organization of the territorial subject, its legislative and administrative powers, forms of interaction with the state. These sources are the legal basis of Italian regionalism, the «regional» state. Conclusions. The statutes are a feature of the Italian legal system, which is part of the Romano-Germanic legal family, a historical and legal tradition that originates in the first statutes of free cities and developed into the Statute of Albertino – the first Constitution of Italy. These are tools to confirm autonomy (for regions with a special statute), independence on a certain range of issues (for ordinary regions) and regional identity. Modern statutory sources in Italy are divided into several types and differ in legal force, procedure for adoption and revision, as well as the scope of regulation. The special statutes of the 5 autonomies of Italy are sources of constitutional law and have a complicated procedure of adoption and revision, the other 15 Italian regions are based on ordinary statutes (statutes of common law). The constitutional reform of 2001 gave constitutional recognition to the statutes of municipalities, communes and provinces (local acts, second-tier sources). Their experience of adoption and implementation, «statutory autonomy» and other features are of particular importance for the Italian legal system, as well as worthy of attention in terms of improving the legal framework of local self-government in Ukraine and other countries.

Keywords: sources of Italian law; statute; statutory autonomy; special statute; Italian regionalism; lawmaking; Romano-Germanic legal family.