Lesson 11 -- 2024-10-31

Comparison between the early promissiones ducis. Correttori alla promissione ducale. Order of the sources of rules of law constitutionally defined: written law; judicial custom; in new cases, conscientious decision of the doge, considering the whole of the legal system. Mandatory abdication of the doge by unanimous deliberation of the Minor Council and majority deliberation of the Major Council introduced in 1249. Residual functions of the placitum. Characters of Venetian magistrates as separate from civil servants. The early magistrates: Avogadore di Comun as attorney for the State in cases of undue appropriation of land (usurpi); Procuratore di San Marco to oversee the building of the Basilica (ducal chapel); additional Procuratori as public commissari for void patrimonies; Provveditori di Comun for city maintenance and various other functions; Camerlenghi di Comun as holders of the cash; Visdomini dei Lombardi, da Mar e di Ternaria as customs officers.