Catalog of an exhibition highlighting the Lillian Goldman Law Library’s outstanding collection of early Italian city statutes, rivaled by few other U.S. libraries and surpassed by none. These municipal codes governed the dozens of Italian city-states that arose in the Middle Ages and persisted until the reunification of Italy in the late 19th century. In their mixing of Roman law, local law, and pragmatic innovations, the Italian municipal statutes became the prototype of European civil law.

The Pope is universally known as the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. But it is often forgotten that for much of the papacy's history the Pope was the most important judicial and legislative authority in western Europe. An exhibition at the Yale Law Library, "The Pope's Other Jobs: Judge and Lawgiver," illustrates the Pope’s legal responsibilities throughout history using rare books and a medieval manuscript from the Law Library's outstanding collection. Winroth, Anders, and Widener, Michael. "The Pope's Other Jobs: Judge and Lawgiver" / an exhibition curated by Anders Winroth and Michael Widener. (2015).

Parte presa nell'illustriso. Conso. di X. Adì 27. Agosto, 1577 : co[n]tra quelli, che sotto spetie di matrimonio ingannano le donne. [Venice] : Stampata in Calle dalle rasse, [1577]. http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1283661

This inventory lists the manuscript statutes in the Yale Law Library’s Italian Statute Collection, the largest collection of early Italian statuti outside of Italy. Most of the contents are municipal statutes that govern both civil and criminal matters. A few contain the statutes of guilds (pharmacists of Naples), or statutes covering specific subject areas such as criminal law (Bregaglia Valley), commercial law (Città di Castello, Florence, Montefortino), fishing (Perugia), tariffs (Bologna), or agriculture (Tivoli). The inventory lists complete manuscripts, as well as printed books with manuscript additions. The printed books have their titles in italics. The arrangement is geographical (usually by city). Entries with the note “Italian Statutes Collection, 1946 (Accession no. 46-209)” are part of the 900-volume collection of Italian statuti acquired by the Yale Law Library in 1946, described in the library’s 1945-46 annual report. “The outstanding acquisition of the year was the notable collection of Italian statuta, numbering almost nine hundred volumes, purchased from a learned Italian lawyer who had brought it, over a period of fifty years, to its present completeness.” This inventory is updated as needed with new acquisitions and discoveries.

In Bologna: Nella stamperia camerale, 1796. 1sheet (1 unnumbered page) : illustration, coat of arms ; 46 x 34 cm. "Bologna questo di 8. Ottobre 1796." Signed in print: Giuseppe Carlo de Bianchi gonfaloniere di giustizia. Broadside includes woodcut illustration, depicting Liberty standing with Phrygian cap and fasces, and woodcut coat of arms of Bologna. Measures imposed to address cattle plague, which killed 19,000 head in Bologna in 1796. http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1700369

In Roma : Nella Stamperia della Reverenda Camera Apostolica, 1702. [12] pages ; 29 cm. (folio). «First edition of 1702 on the customary forms, and rules detailed here in 30 edicts restricting excessive luxury and ostentation ("l'esorbitante pompa") for good governance and the public good in the Jewish community of Rome ... under the auspices of the Congrega di Sessanta (Congregation of Sixty). The festivals described include i.a. the number of guests at circumcisions, at mitzvah celebrations and the value of gifts, on the festival of Purim. Regarding weddings and the permitted amount for dowries, on clothing, the dress for brides and grooms, prohibitions on women's jewelry and descriptions of what is appropriate, etc. Includes fascinating details and descriptions of the baked goods, foods and drink that would be found at banquets to more moderate celebrations. Signed at type at end Domenico Zauli, Vicegerent Bishop of Veroli, followed by the five Rabbis representing "Dell'Universita degli Ebrei" and finally the two Jewish factors ("Fattore") Samuel Ascarelli and Raffael Bises. One of the five Rabbis mentioned at the end is the The famous Tranquillo Corcos (Hezekiah Manoah Hayyim; 1660-1730) who did much for the community through acts and writings including a successful defense of a blood libel case.» -- Jeffrey D. Mancevice, Inc. (Jan. 2020). http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1722503

Parte presa nell'eccellentissmo. Conseglio di Pregadi. 1573. Adì 6. Febraro : in materia delle tenute dell'officio delli clarissimi Signori Gouernatori dell'intrade, & delli debitori di esso officio in materia di tanse, & decime. [Venice] : Stampata in Calle dalle rasse, per il Rampazetto, [1573]. http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1285888

This is a full transcript of the manuscript "Statuta Cenetae cum indice omnium rubricarum" (approximately 1474) which is in the Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, Hicks call number MssJ C235 no. 1 tall. The transcription was done by Massimo Della Giustina, a historian of medieval Venice, and donated to the Law Library in 2016. Della Giustina later published the transcription in Statuti di Ceneda : il codice originale del 1474 con le addizioni e le aggiunte sino al 1609 (Belluno, Italy: TIPI Edizioni, 2017), http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1548729.

Genoa: Gio. Maria Farroni, 1646. 1 sheet (1 unnumbered page) : illustrations ; 42 x 30 cm. A proclamation forbidding knives of the type depicted in left margin. The words "costa lama" appear on the blade as mirror image. http://morris.law.yale.edu/record=b1302703