1. What is the Institute.
The Emilio Betti Institute of Theory and History of Law was founded in Teramo, at the Rectorate of the University, with a notarial deed dated 15 December 1995.
The founding members are: Luciano Russi, Giuliano Crifò, Primo di Attilio, Giovanni d’Attoma, Antonio Nasi, Mattia Persiani, Giampiero Proia, Teresa Serra and Francesco Zanchini.
The statutory purposes of the Institute are:
1) the promotion of research aimed at deepening and spreading knowledge of the scientific work of Emilio Betti in Italy and abroad;
2) the organization of national and international conferences and seminars on topics related to Betti’s scientific production;
3) the preparation and care of an archive intended to house and make accessible to scholars the correspondence that Betti had with some of the main figures of international culture of the twentieth century as well as the custody of the book heritage he left;
4) the publication of Betti’s unpublished writings and the republication of works already published but which have become difficult to find.
The bodies of the Institute are: the Assembly of members (which meets at least once a year); the Board of Directors, the Scientific Committee (which meets twice a year); the Secretariat; the President.
A particularly important role is played by the Scientific Committee. It has the task of supporting the President in all decisions regarding the planning of the scientific activity and cultural promotion of the Institute. In particular, the Committee must internally develop the proposal intended to materialize in the conference that the Institute organizes on an annual basis. In fact, from year to year, two or more members of the Committee are responsible for planning and organizing a conference that concerns a topic related to the interests that were of Emilio Betti and that they will have previously proposed to the Committee. The following year, while two other members of the Committee organize the new conference, the previous organizers take care of the publication of the proceedings of the conference that they have been responsible for organizing.
The publications (at least those published in the series ‘La cutura legale’ by the University publisher RomaTrE-press) are available in open access on the publisher’s website or on this same website in the appropriate section.
The figure of Emilio Betti is characterized in particular by the exceptional breadth of his interests. If some ‘Bettian’ themes obviously concern specifically the legal phenomenon (and therefore suggest, precisely in the Bettian perspective, an authentically multidisciplinary discourse between the various fields of legal sciences) other themes (think first of all of the theory of interpretation that Betti elaborates also considering the various profiles of historical and artistic interpretation) instead offer themselves to a discussion capable of involving at the same time jurists, philosophers, sociologists, theologians, art critics, musical and theatrical interpreters etc. This explains why today scholars from multiple disciplines are interested in his works.
In consideration of this, and without forgetting its institutional purposes, the Betti Institute intends to propose itself first of all as a privileged meeting place between scholars of fields of knowledge that are also very distant from each other. An ideal place that facilitates the cultural interrelations that Betti’s work can suggest. Such possible interrelations naturally extend well beyond the national panorama and if Betti’s works – for different reasons – are well known in Latin American and German-speaking countries, more recently an interest in Betti’s work has also been intensifying in the Anglo-American world.
2. What the Institute has done and is doing lately
During 2014, two distinct initiatives were carried out. The first consisted in reprinting the autobiographical volume – now unobtainable – Notazioni autobiografiche. Betti wrote it largely in 1944 and then published it, with a postscript, in 1953. The essay, almost an “examination of conscience” on the occasion of the fall of the fascist regime, is very interesting and, sixty years later, offers countless suggestions and food for thought on the character and on a historical period (the first forty years of the twentieth century) that is today at the center of a broad and lively cultural debate. The anastatic reprint was accompanied by an introductory essay and an analytical index edited by Eloisa Mura. The second initiative involved the organization of a conference in Rome (at the Senate Library), entitled I giuristi e il fascino del regime. The basic idea that inspired the two organizers (Italo Birocchi and Luca Loschiavo) was to try to understand the reasons that led many great jurists of that generation (in addition to Betti, figures such as Santi Romano, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Alfredo and Arturo Rocco, Pietro Bonfante, Giorgio Del Vecchio, Arturo Carlo Iemolo and others were considered), to embrace fascism from the first moment and with conviction, despite starting from a liberal or even social democratic cultural background and having – precisely as jurists – the requisites to understand before and better than others what the Mussolini adventure actually hid. The conference took place on May 23 and 24 and during the works the reprint of the autobiographical volume mentioned was also presented.
In 2015, the proceedings of the 2014 conference were published, maintaining the same title. The volume also marks the baptism of the newborn series «La cultura legale. Texts of science, theory and history of law» which will also host the Institute’s publications in the future. The publisher of the series is RomaTrE-Press: this involves the free distribution of the publications via the Internet (available from their appearance in open access on the site http://romatrepress.uniroma3.it) but also the possibility, for those interested, to purchase paper copies at a price corresponding only to the cost of printing (print on demand). Also in 2015, Francesco Macario and Marco N. Miletti organized a new conference entitled The social function in private law between the 20th and 21st centuries. Here too, the working hypothesis started from a question raised by a contemporary rereading of Betti’s teachings: is it possible, and if so, how, to reread the ‘contemporary’ history of private law (the institutions, codes and special laws, the thought of jurists) in the name (of research) of its ‘function’, accompanied and, therefore, qualified by the attribute “social”, also in the constitutional reference (art. 42)? The conference – which saw a wide participation – was also held at the Senate Library in Rome, on 9 October 2015.
In 2016, while editing the proceedings of the 2015 conference, Gianluca Contaldi and Tommaso Edoardo Frosini organized a conference entitled Sovereignty and Rights in the Time of Globalization. The conference took place in Rome, at the Senate Library, on October 28 of that year. The theme of the conference arose from the observation that, in recent years, there has been almost a reversal of the trend compared to the past, when it seemed that the process of ‘globalization’ would soon end up taking away much of the substance of the old concept of national sovereignty. Contrary to this prediction, today we seem to be witnessing a certain revival of nationalism in large sections of the Italian and European population. All of this inevitably has repercussions on individual rights, compromising certain achievements that were thought to be consolidated. The meeting was attended by scholars of public law, international law and comparative law who questioned the reasons and methods of this trend, the prospects we are facing and the possible risks to avoid.
2017 opened with the publication of the volume edited by Sandro Angelo Fusco containing the lectures on Roman constitutional law held by Emilio Betti at the University of Frankfurt am Main in the academic year 1937/1938. The publication – entitled Probleme der römischen Volks– und Staatsverfassung / Problems of history of the social and political constitution in ancient Rome – re-proposes the entire course of lectures in the original German text and in Italian translation on the facing page. At the same time, the proceedings of the 2015 conference edited by Francesco Macario and Marco Nicola Miletti were also published under the title that had already been the conference: The social function in private law between the 20th and 21st centuries. Like the previous publication on “I giuristi e il fascino del regime”, these two new volumes have also appeared in the series “La cultura legale” published by RomaTrE-Press and are entirely freely accessible. On 19 and 20 January 2017, the 4th conference of the Betti Institute, organized by Luca Loschiavo and Beatrice Pasciuta and dedicated to The formation of the jurist, was held in the Sala del Consiglio of the Department of Law of the University of Roma Tre. By organizing this meeting, the Institute intended to intervene in the current debate on the difficulties that Law Degree Courses encounter today, inviting on the one hand to renew teaching and, on the other hand to recover that broad dimension of legal culture that in recent years has seen increasingly compressed under the pressure of excessive and short-sighted technicality. The conference, enriched by many authoritative contributions, also sparked a lively debate.
2018 has already seen the publication of the volume La formazione del giurista. Contributi a una riflessioni (The formation of the jurist. Contributions to a reflection), which re-proposes the reports of the 2017 conference with the addition of a series of interventions inspired by that event (like the previous ones, this volume can also be downloaded in free access from the RomaTrE-press website). While the volume Sovranità e diritti al tempo della globalizzazione (i.e. the proceedings of the 2016 conference) is still being worked on, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Betti’s death, Massimo Brutti, Emanuele Stolfi and Amtonio Banfi have organized the conference Dall’exegesi legale alla teoria dell’interpretazione. Emilio Betti (1890-1968). The conference was held at the University of Bergamo last October.
In 2019, the Institute focused in particular on preparing the English version of Betti’s volume: Hermeneutics as a fundamental method of the sciences of the spirit. The volume will be published in the «Law & Politics» series by Routledge and should spread knowledge of Emilio Betti among the Anglo-American public. It will be introduced by an essay by the British philosopher Lars Vinx and will bear the title General Methodology of the Sciences of the Spirit. It is scheduled for release in the last months of 2020. Also in 2019, work was done on organizing the conference The formation of fascist “legality” in the Thirties. The conference, conceived and curated by Italo Birocchi, Giovanni Chiodi and Mauro Grondona, was held on November 29 at the Department of Law of the University of Roma Tre with considerable public success.
In 2020, the volumes Dall’exegesi legale alla teoria dell’interpretazione. Emilio Betti (1890-1968) and the construction of fascist “legality” in the 1930s. The COVID emergency has so far prevented the planned conference on Emilio Betti and procedural law. The conference has been postponed to autumn 2021.
In 2021, at the suggestion of members Valeria Mastroiacovo and Marco N. Miletti, the Institute organized a series of five webinars entitled Gius-pentamenron and dedicated to as many current legal and social issues (‘Emergencies and sovereign powers’; ‘Federalisms on trial’; ‘Legal categories in crisis?’; Dis-equalities: between homologation and gaps; The government of the algorithm). The members of the Institute (and not only) were called to discuss them with experts of various backgrounds and specializations. In November (5 and 6), the conference Emilio Betti and the civil process was finally held at the premises of the Department of Law of Roma Tre. The conference was organized by members Antonio Carratta and Marco U. Sperandio and attracted a notable turnout. During the conference, the volume, D. 42.1.63. Treatise on the subjective limits of res judicata in Roman law, a reprint edited by Luca Loschiavo and Marco U. Sperandio of the book published by Emilio Betti in 1922, was presented.
During 2022, the Institute organized a new series of online seminars proposed by members Valeria Mastroiacovo and Marco N. Miletti. The cycle, called Gius-pentameron 2022. Lost & found: legal inventory of the pandemic, was divided into five meetings. The first (March 4), entitled ‘The discreet (and lost) charm of the jurist: technician, professional’, was attended by Sabino Cassese and Maurizio Lupi; the second (March 25), entitled ‘Of the tópoi of research. Shelves, workstations, networks and coffee chats’, was attended by Isabella De Cesare and Emanuele Conte; the third (May 13), ‘Autonomy of the legal profession at risk: between commissions and cross-cutting activities’, was attended by Giacinto della Cananea and Giovanni Pascuzzi; the fourth (May 27), ‘Distrust and trust: law in the face of science in the time of the pandemic’, was attended by Paolo Ridola and Tommaso Greco; the fifth (June 3), ‘Legal culture and product evaluation’, was attended by Antonio Felice Uricchio and Roberta Calvano. As with the previous cycle, the webinars had a very high number of connections. On November 11 and 12, the annual conference was held at the Department of Law of Roma Tre, organized by members Massimo Donini, Loredana Garlati, Marco Miletti, and Renzo Orlandi. The conference – dedicated to criminal law and process and entitled The cornerstones of criminal modernity. From the Rocco codes to the seasons of republican Italy – had a large audience (both present and via streaming). The conference also saw the presentation of the volume Emilio Betti e il processo civile, edited by Antonio Carratta, Luca Loschiavo, and Marco U. Sperandio, containing the proceedings of the previous conference of the same name.
In 2023, the Institute promoted two different conferences. The first – entitled The Civil Code: the formative years – was held at the Department of Law of Roma Tre on 10-11 March and was organized by Francesco Astone, Giovanni Chiodi, Mauro Grondona and Stefano Solimano. The second – entitled Emilio Betti and the German-speaking cultural world and curated by Tommaso Beggio, Massino Miglietta and Cristina Vano – was organized jointly with the Department of Law of the University of Trento, where it was held on 27-28 October. Also in 2023, the Institute curated (10 April) the online presentation of the volume “Carissimo Professore e Maestro”. The construction of an academic career in the letters of Carlo Alberto Biggini to Antonio Falchi edited by Giovanni Battista Varnier (Milan 2022). On May 3rd, the presentation (in person at the Department of Roma Tre) of the volume edited by I. Birocchi and E. Mura, La missione del giurista. L’itinerario parallelo di Emilio Betti e Aurelio Candian (Giappichelli 2022) took place.
In 2024, on the initiative of Pia Acconci, Vinicio Busacchi and Francesco Petrillo, the Institute organized two seminars dedicated to the theme of ‘recognition’. The first, entitled Multiculturalism between recognition and law, was held in person on June 14th at the Department of Law of the Univ. Roma Tre: speakers were Giovanna Costanzao, Andrea Gattini and Stefania Gialdroni. The second, entitled Communication between recognition and law was a web seminar held on September 22nd and attended by Giuliana Fiorentini and Antonella Massaro. On October 25th and 26th, at the premises of the Department of Law of the Univ. Roma Tre, the conference I Guardasigilli del fascismo (1922-1945) organized by Italo Birocchi, Giovanni Chiodi and Saverio Gentile was held. This year the volume I cardini della modernità penale. Dai codici Rocco alle stagioni dell’Italia repubblicana was published, also published by the RomaTrE-press publishing house. In December (5 and 6) the institute also curated the online presentations of the volumes Lineamenti di una matematica del diritto, by A. Kojève (Italian edition edited by M. Filoni and L. Garofalo – Marsilio ed.) and La poesia nel diritto by J. Grimm (Italian edition edited by L. Garofalo and F. Valagussa – Marsilio ed.)
Luca Loschiavo
