Manuscripts in the Italian Statute Collection, Yale Law Library.

Abstract

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.