authorities, the transfer of suits from one tribunal to another, writs of error in criminal cases, and a variety of other special matters. But, aside from this, the five tribunals are equal in rank and function; there is no appeal from one to another, and the decisions arrived at by one do not constitute precedents which the others are obliged to recognize. One of the most striking aspects, indeed, of the Italian judicial system is its lack of centralization; although it should be added that the centralizing principle which, since 1870, has so notably permeated all other departments of the government has been gradually winning its way in the judiciary.

In Italy, as in other continental countries, a sharp distinction is maintained between public and private law. The separation of functions between the ordinary and the administrative courts is, however, not so clear-cut as in France and elsewhere. In 1865, indeed, the surviving administrative courts of the states which had been drawn into the kingdom were abolished, and it was arranged that the ordinary courts should exercise unrestricted jurisdiction in all criminal cases and in all civil cases in which, by decision of the Council of State, a civil or political right was involved. The system worked poorly, and laws of June 2, 1889, and May 1, 1890, set off a special section of the Council of State (composed of a president and eight councilors named by the king) to serve as an administrative court, while at the same time an inferior administrative jurisdiction was conferred upon the giunta (prefect and certain assistants) of the province. In practice to-day, when the legality of acts committed by the administrative officials is called in question, the ordinary courts exercise jurisdiction if the question is one of private right; if it is one merely of private interest, it goes for decision to an administrative tribunal. In most continental countries all cases involving the legality of official acts fall within the domain of the administrative courts.

The judicial system is not notably satisfactory; it is, indeed, distinctly inferior to that of France. Lack of the unifying influence of a single supreme tribunal is a handicap. The national prejudice against judge-made law obstructs the growth of judicial custom. More important still, the judges -- although by the terms of the constitution irremovable after three years of service (except in the lowest courts), and by statute removable only for crime or neglect of duty, and only with the consent of the court of cassation at Rome are transferable from one post to another by order of the government, and hence

are by no means as free as they ought to be from executive control.1

Local Government: the Province. In her historic territorial divisions Italy once had the basis of a natural and wholesomely decentralized system of local government. Instead of availing themselves of it, however, the founders of the present kingdom reduced the realm to a tabula rasa and erected a new and symmetrical hierarchy of territorial divisions and governmental organs. A great statute of March 20, 1865, introduced a system of provincial and communal organization, whose essentials were taken over in part from Belgium, but chiefly from France. The functions and relations of the various local agencies were amplified and given substantially their present form in the law of December 30, 1888, supplemented and amended by acts of July, 7, 1889, and July 11, 1894. So closely has the French model been followed that the resemblance between the two systems amounts almost to duplication. The Italian system calls, therefore, for no extended description.

the

Of

The areas of local government are four in number province, the circondaro, the mandamento, and the commune. these, the first and last alone possess distinct interests and some measure of autonomy and therefore of vitality. The circondaro, corresponding to the French arrondissement, is essentially an electoral division. Strictly, there are in the kingdom 197 circondari; but 87 districts comprising the province of Mantua and the eight provinces of Venetia are, in all save name, circondari also. The 1805 mandamenti, or cantons, are mere subdivisions of the provinces for administrative purposes.

There are 69 provinces, varying considerably in size, but with an average population of 450,000 to 500,000.2 The Italian province corresponds closely to the French department. At its head is a prefect, appointed by the crown. Like the French

prefect, the Italian is a political official, and the fact not merely influences his appointment but greatly affects his conduct in office. As representative and agent of the central government he publishes and executes the laws, supervises the provincial administration, opens and closes sessions of the provincial council and sanctions or vetoes the measures of that body, and, in general, safeguards the interests of the government in the province.

1 1 Lowell, Governments and Parties, I, 170-178; Brusa, Italien, in Marquardsen's Handbuch, 231-238; E. Pessina, Manuali del diritto penale italiano (Naples, 1916). 2 The present description takes no account of the territory acquired by Italy as a result of the Great War. Arrangements for local government in these lands are as yet (1920) incomplete.

Every province has a council of from 20 to 60 members, elected for a period of six years under a suffrage system practically identical with that which operates in parliamentary elections. One-half of the membership is renewed triennially. The council meets regularly once each year, nominally for a month's session; but an extraordinary session may be called at any time by the prefect, by the deputation, or at request of one-third of the councilors. Aside from voting the provincial budget, the powers of the council are small. In part, e.g., in respect to the maintenance of highways, the control of secondary and technical education, and a share in the supervision of charity, they are obligatory; in part they are merely permissive. A deputation, or commission, of from six to ten persons, elected by the council from its own membership, represents the council in the intervals between its sittings and carries on the work intrusted to it. The prefect is advised by a prefectural council of three members appointed by the government, and he is further assisted by a giunta of six members, of whom four are elected by the provincial council, and the others are drawn from the prefectural council. It is the business of the giunta to assist the prefect and sub-prefects in the supervision of local administration and to serve as a tribunal for the trial of cases arising under administrative law. The prefect and the giunta have large, and to a considerable degree discretionary, powers of control over the proceedings of the council; and the prefect, representing as he does the central government exclusively, can be called to account only by his superiors at Rome.

Local Government: The Commune. As in France, the commune is the least artificial and the most vigorous of the local governmental divisions. In 1911 there were 8323 communes, besides four boroughs in Sardinia which were not included in the communal organization. Every commune has a council of from 15 to 80 members, according to its population, elected for a period of six years, one-half retiring every three years. This council holds two regular sessions a year, although in the large towns it, in point of fact, meets much more frequently. Between sittings its work is carried on by a giunta, which serves as a committee to execute the resolutions of the council and to draft its budget and by-laws. The powers of the council, which are comprehensive, include maintenance of streets, roads, and markets; provision for elementary education; arrangements for the relief of the poor, and for the registration of births and deaths, and of electors; establishment of police regulations and prisons;

and, under varying conditions, attention to a wide variety of other matters. The range of its optional activities is almost boundless. The council may establish theaters, found museums, subsidize public amusements, and, indeed, go to almost any length in the regulation of local affairs and the expenditure of local funds.1

As its chief official, every commune has a sindaco, i.e., a syndic, or mayor. Prior to 1896 the syndic was chosen by the communal council from its own members if the commune had more than 10,000 inhabitants, or was the capital of a province or circondaro; otherwise he was appointed from among the members of the council by the king. In the great majority of communes the latter was the procedure. Since 1896 the syndic has been chosen in all communes by the council, for a term of three years, together with a secretary, elected in the first instance for two, but afterwards for periods of not less than six, years. Despite the fact that the syndic is now invariably elected by the communal council, he is still something more than the executive head of the local community. Like the prefect, he is considered a functionary of the national government, and, save under very exceptional circumstances, he can be removed only with the prefect's permission. He can be called to account only by his superiors, and he can be sued only with the permission of the crown.2

1 On the extravagance of the local governing authorities, see King and Okey, Italy To-day, 267.

2 For brief accounts of local government in Italy see Lowell, Governments and Parties, I, 161-170, and King and Okey, Italy To-day, Chap. xiv. More extended treatment will be found in E. del Guerra, L'Ammistrazione pubblica in Italia (Florence, 1893), and G. Greco, Il nuova diritto amministrativo Italiano (Naples, 1896). Later developments are described and farther changes advocated in G. Abignento, La riforma dell' amministrazione pubblica in Italia (Bari, 1915), and G. Valenti, "Unità politica e decentramento amministrativo," in Rivista d'Italia, July, 1919.

CHAPTER XXX

PARTIES AND POLITICS

Quirinal1 and Vatican.— One who would understand the political life of Italy must from the outset take into consideration a situation existing in that country which has no analogy elsewhere; other lands have difficult problems arising from the relations of church and state, but none save Italy contains within its borders a separate, jealous, and sovereign ecclesiastical government. The capital of the Italian kingdom is likewise the capital of the Catholic world, the seat of a government which not only is independent of the government of the Italian state but is by tradition hostile to it. This condition of things dates from 1870, when the armed forces of Victor Emmanuel II crossed the borders of the little papal dominion around Rome, entered the city, and by a few sharp strokes beat down all forcible opposition to the sovereignty of the united Italian nation. The purpose was not to drive the Pope from the Eternal City, and not to interfere with the free exercise of his spiritual functions, but simply to bring into the new kingdom a territory that was felt to be essential to its unity, and to make possible the removal of the seat of government to the one logical and necessary location, i.e., Rome.

With a view to compensating the head of the Church for his losses and assuring him of future independence and security, Parliament enacted, early in 1871, a comprehensive Law of Papal Guarantees, which stands on the statute book to this day.2 The Pope was to retain full sovereign rights on an equality with the king, and his person was to be inviolate. He was to have permanent possession of the Vatican and Lateran palaces, with all appurtenant buildings, museums, libraries, gardens, and lands

1 The palace occupied by the royal family. It was formerly a papal residence. The name is sometimes used figuratively, as it is here, to denote the civil, secular power in Italy as distinguished from the papal power.

2 An English version is printed in Dodd, Modern Constitutions, II, 16-21. The full title of the instrument is "Law for the Guarantee of the Prerogatives of the Sovereign Pontiff and of the Holy See, and for the Relations between Church and State."