JUS - 2017 - 3

In Sergio Cotta’s philosophical thought, the law introduces human beings to the authentic sense of life, because it constitutes the necessary condition and, together, the result of the existence of individuals in their relationality and reciprocity of rights and duties. In this thought, there is an implicit dialectics between various polarities, among which theory and practice, universality and empirical particularity, infinity and finitude, as well as between natural law and positive law. Hence, emerges the need to reunite these contrapositions in the direction of a concrete concept of “natural law in force”, as a living reality of law characterized by symmetry and measure. At last, the ontological and existential horizon of law, and the whole “moral of justice”, tends to overcome its own limits towards the further and asymmetrical “moral of charity”, which is not separate from the law but is within it as “perfect justice”, while remaining two distinct and not confusing dimensions at the same time.

The article analyses an aspect of the philosophy of Sergio Cotta, in order to verify its possible applications to contemporary challenges of pluralistic societies. In particular, the essay focuses on the character of universality, which Cotta indicates as an essential feature of legal relationships, versus the inevitable particularity of political relationships. The essay also asks whether this universality is compatible with the cultural pluralism and super-diversity of Western societies. The article argues that Cotta’s thought is still helpful for understanding current problems; beside this, Cotta’s thought can be fruitfully developed in directions that, although compatible with his thinking, he would not have recognized as such, and it has not developed.

This essay is an attempt to highlight an aspect of Sergio Cotta’s philosophy of law and, in particular, it focuses on the relation between law and anthropological dimension as developed by Cotta. The attention paid to the anthropological research (especially but not only Lévi-Strauss), in combination with an original re-interpretation of classical perspectives and phenomenological orientation as well, allows Cotta to elaborate an existential-structural anthropology which is based on the idea of “universal (constant) dimensions”. According to this model the anthropological point of view becomes a philosophical anthropology as a whole: within it law, identified as regards its methodological-epistemic autonomy and different from other ambits (for instance politics), represents an inescapable anthropological-philosophical category. Finally: law is an anthropology.

From the very beginning of his reflection until to his last years, Sergio Cotta was deeply interested in defining the boundary between law and politics, or, better, between the legal form of co-existence and the politic one. A good point of view to understand the thesis of Cotta is the linguistic analogy: no grammar can confirm the possibility of translation between different languages, if there is no intention to understand the human experience of foreign people.

The proceedings, directed at the application of the law in a specific case and carried out within a linguistic universe, imply a hermeneutic activity concerning the reconstruction of the fact not only for the necessary link between quaestio facti and quaestio iuris, but also for the need to understand the imputation and allegations of the party, as much as the formulations and evidentiary evaluations. In the proceedings, the verification of the statement, which forms the basis of judicial applications, is carried out using the cadences of external evidentiary dialectics (where the adversary system is implemented), as well as internal ones. These concern the rational criteria of verisimilitude, pertinence and relevance of evidence admission, ensuring the methodological neutrality of the judge, who must not adhere to any factual and reconstructive hypotheses during the inquiry.

The present essay aims at reconstructing Ulpian’s thought on sheep wool, linum and versicoloria legacies through the exegesis of D.32.70 pr.-12 which will be gradually accompanied by the comparison with Paul. Sent. III 6.82. It also proposes to indicate the differences between legacies of sheep wool and legacies of linum and the differences between legacies of sheep wool, linum and versicoloria on the one hand and legacies of vestes or vestimenta on the other. The analysis of the texts will be completed by explanations (taken from ancient agronomic sources, Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, modern studies on ancient textiles and archaeological findings) on the process of textile manufacture widespread all over the ancient world.

This paper analyses relationships in the health care system between public administration, doctors, patients and their families. It points out the need to manage complexity of these relationships, especially if patient is unable to give or deny informed consent in person. The scope of the paper is to clear up value’s framework within these relationships lie, in order to prove that certain bioethically relevant conflicts could be avoided or solved by a therapeutic approach participatory, equal and procedural. It aims to encourage the search for shared solutions by facilitating the judicial conflicts’ settlement and the role of the public agents involved.

This article analyses some of the most important aspects of a recent ruling of the Corte Suprema di Cassazione, criminal section no. VI, March 14th, 2017, no. 12175, the so-called “Montefibre II”. It is a pivotal judgment in the field of criminal liability for asbestos diseases. Some aspects come to light from this judgement in order to claim that current scientific knowledge does not allow for a certain establishment of the temporal setting of mesothelioma induction. On the contrary, claiming that the current scientific knowledge allows for the assessment of causal link in the case of mesothelioma would clash with standards established by the Jurisprudence of the Suprema Corte di Cassazione in the “Cozzini” judgement. Though, problems come to light from the statement of the Corte di Cassazione according to which the issue of the existence of scientific knowledge on the accelerator effect can not be referred to the Sezioni Unite. With regard to the control of the judge over scientific knowledge, according to the Court, the economic interest which possibly binds the expert together with the asbestos multinational company involved in the trial can not lead to label the expert as unreliable, in the absence of other elements. On the contrary, this claim should be underpinned by actual circumstances.

The theme of “trial as a game” is situated within the broader ludic paradigm of law. In relation to both contexts, some common thematic intersections are evaluated, such as the relationship between learning and sociability, the comparison with tenson and war, the pathological drifts of hazard and gambling, the role of physicality and multisensory communication, the derivation from the sacred and the ritual dimension, the relationship with the truth as a prerequisite of justice. It is highlighted that every legal metaphor contains a potential for "openness to the possible", but also a risk of reductionism and confounding factors. Specifically, critical issues are noted regarding the idea of play as an unproductive activity, indifferent to the truth. Nonetheless, the implications of the ludic paradigm are valued as copious and stimulating, above all with reference to its capacity to describe trial and law in their various possible relational declensions and in their evolutionary potentialities, partially still unexplored.

The article deals with the legal meaning of «enti religiosi civilmente riconosciuti» in the context of the newly adopted Code for Third Sector (legislative decree No. 117 of 3 July 2017). The author offers new/different interpretations, in conformity with delegation law No. 106 of 18 June 2016 or with constitutional principles pertaining to the freedom of religion or belief. For each suggested interpretation, the Author considers pros and issues arising from it.

The globalization of technology has brought about a vast spread of the deviant phenomenon of cyberhate and, namely, of hate speech committed online. The European institutions are addressing such a phenomenon by engaging on a triple strategy: (i) encouraging monitoring and self-regulation by IT providers, as well as the spreading of counter-narratives; (ii) obligating the ISP to remove hate content from their platforms; and (iii) holding accountable both the author of online hate speech and the ISP. By examining the European policy documents, the normative tools and the jurisprudence, as well as its influences on the Italian (criminal) system, the paper wishes to frame the state of the art and the changing trends of the European policy on cyber hate speech.