Early Italian Statutes: Ferrara

The Flowering of Civil Law: Early Italian City Statutes in the Yale Law Library

Ferrara (Italy). Statuta provisiones et ordinamenta magnificae civitatis Ferrariae (2nd ed.; Ferrara, 1534). Acquired with the John A. Hoober Fund, May 1946.

(View Ferrara on a map.)

This is the second edition of the statutes of the city of Ferrara, the first having been published in 1476. According to a note written on the title page, this book was owned and annotated by a Ferrarese attorney named Hieronymus Rasorio. A list of what appear to be legal engagements written in the back of the book suggests that he was active in the 1560s. Here we can see the way a practicing attorney utilized the text of the statutes. In this example, Hieronymus has made extensive annotations to a statute concerning prescription (the acquisition of rights or property by extended, honest, and uninterrupted possession or use).

BENJAMIN YOUSEY-HINDES & MIKE WIDENER

Exhibit Curators

“The Flowering of Civil Law: Early Italian City Statutes in the Yale Law Library” is on display October 2008 through February 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.