Conflitti e giustizia. Il patrocinio legale a Venezia

This study aims at setting legal counsel in metropolitan courts of justice of the Venetian Republic in the context of the law system, the legal institutions, their daily practice and the political principles which animated them. An enduring concept of justice as balance among interests, pervading all government activities, was primarily expressed through jurisdiction, so that since the XIII century the defence of the parties in judicial controversies or criminal trials was seen as a public interest and was provided by appointed magistrates, whose features and relevance evolved in time. Of course also private experts were offering their additional services to the parties for a fee. These professionals belonged to two different categories. the avvocati provided legal defence on the merits, while sollecitadori took care to gather evidence and to file pleadings and other papers correctly and in a timely fashion. The avvocati, previously admitted in court only in exceptional cases, were subjected to a legislative discipline and to the State supervision under Correzion Gritti, a series of three statutory deliberations of the Major Council enacted in 1537. Some personal requisites were demanded and the professional proficiency of the aspiring avvocati was tested during an examination by the magistrate of Conservatori alle Leggi. The following inscription in a public register enabled them to practice in court. The more troublesome category of the sollecitadori was taken in hand in 1582, with a law by the Quarantia Criminal. Requisites were now necessary, as well as a simpler examination. These reforms did not prevent further problems, especially with regard to professional fees, but they remained in force until the end of the Republic.