Lesson 16 -- 2024-11-21

The Roman lawyers puzzled by the Venetian law system, a threat to the universality of their fractal concept of jurisdictiones. Odofredus glossator sees any rule which is not Roman as custom at best; Bartolus commentator considers the Venetian State as extra-legal; Baldus commentator denies the Venetian independence through denial of any subjection to the Empire, but manages to legalise its existence by applying an obscure rule of ius gentium; finally Paulus de Castro acknowledges the principle of effectivity: they deny subjection, therefore they are independent. The two bodies of glosses to the text of the Statutum Novum: neither implies application of Roman law or of Roman interpretive methods; one is a comparison between the Roman and Venetian institutes, the other a series of notes for daily Court practice; ban on glosses in 1401. The organisation of the Chancery: notaries ad acta and ad instrumenta, both parish priests; Great Chancellors hired among the Roman lawyers of the mainland to organise the archives, take responsibility for the work force and keep the seal of the Comune. The upper Chancery for acta, the Lower Chancery for instrumenta (archives of dead or absent notaries); a service to the public in view of written evidence more easily given in Court through authenticated copies, containment of litigation and more timely resolution of controversies.