The Sacro Regio Consiglio, the Gran Corte della Vicarìa and the Regia Camera della Sommaria, established by the Aragons in mid-15th century – together with the Consiglio Collaterale, created at the beginning of the 16th century – attended by trained, professional judges and extremely powerful, were destined to survive until mid-18th century. The Sacro Regio Consiglio was the most authoritative court of the Neapolitan Reign: it had a wide competence in the civil and criminal matter and its decisions enjoyed a jurisdictional praeminentia on every other court of the Reign. The supreme court had, infact, wide discretionary and equitable powers as it judged nomine regio and, consequently, its authority was considered equal only to the authority of the monarch, while its decisions were regarded as an authentic interpretation of law. In fact, although no rule of stare decisis had been formally affirmed, the superior court tended to consider its own decisiones as bearing vis legis in practice and, consequently, as being binding for the future. There were frequent conflicts of jurisdiction between the Sacro Regio Consiglio and the other superior tribunals of the Reign as their competences, whose limits were not entirely clear, were often concurrent and, consequently, crossing. Anyway, the powers and the functions of the Consiglio Collaterale increased so much that, in fact, it become the supreme political, legislative, jurisdictional, military, financial and administrative authority of the Neapolitan Reign. As the council exercised judicial functions, it was destined to “fight” against the Sacro Regio Consiglio for the exercise of jurisdiction and for the praeminentia in the legal system. So the great power and authority of the Sacro Regio Consiglio were destined to be rescaled between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries: thanks to the reinforcement of the judicial “section” of the Consiglio Collaterale (the Cancelleria), the balance of powers changed: the powers of the Sacro Regio Consiglio were compressed, while the council was destined to become the vertex of the legal system. In conclusion, the Sacro Regio Consiglio, born as a political organ and then specialized in a superior court of justice deciding cases in nomine Regis, still theoretically remaining the supreme jurisdictional organ of the Reign, would be finally forced to use its powers to claim its own authority against the political power now exercised by the Consiglio Collaterale.

Rise and fall of a superior court: the Sacro Regio Consiglio v. the Consiglio Collaterale / Freda, Dolores. - In: FORUM HISTORIAE IURIS. - ISSN 1860-5605. - 9(2016), pp. 1-21.

Rise and fall of a superior court: the Sacro Regio Consiglio v. the Consiglio Collaterale

FREDA, DOLORES
2016

Abstract

The Sacro Regio Consiglio, the Gran Corte della Vicarìa and the Regia Camera della Sommaria, established by the Aragons in mid-15th century – together with the Consiglio Collaterale, created at the beginning of the 16th century – attended by trained, professional judges and extremely powerful, were destined to survive until mid-18th century. The Sacro Regio Consiglio was the most authoritative court of the Neapolitan Reign: it had a wide competence in the civil and criminal matter and its decisions enjoyed a jurisdictional praeminentia on every other court of the Reign. The supreme court had, infact, wide discretionary and equitable powers as it judged nomine regio and, consequently, its authority was considered equal only to the authority of the monarch, while its decisions were regarded as an authentic interpretation of law. In fact, although no rule of stare decisis had been formally affirmed, the superior court tended to consider its own decisiones as bearing vis legis in practice and, consequently, as being binding for the future. There were frequent conflicts of jurisdiction between the Sacro Regio Consiglio and the other superior tribunals of the Reign as their competences, whose limits were not entirely clear, were often concurrent and, consequently, crossing. Anyway, the powers and the functions of the Consiglio Collaterale increased so much that, in fact, it become the supreme political, legislative, jurisdictional, military, financial and administrative authority of the Neapolitan Reign. As the council exercised judicial functions, it was destined to “fight” against the Sacro Regio Consiglio for the exercise of jurisdiction and for the praeminentia in the legal system. So the great power and authority of the Sacro Regio Consiglio were destined to be rescaled between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries: thanks to the reinforcement of the judicial “section” of the Consiglio Collaterale (the Cancelleria), the balance of powers changed: the powers of the Sacro Regio Consiglio were compressed, while the council was destined to become the vertex of the legal system. In conclusion, the Sacro Regio Consiglio, born as a political organ and then specialized in a superior court of justice deciding cases in nomine Regis, still theoretically remaining the supreme jurisdictional organ of the Reign, would be finally forced to use its powers to claim its own authority against the political power now exercised by the Consiglio Collaterale.
2016
Rise and fall of a superior court: the Sacro Regio Consiglio v. the Consiglio Collaterale / Freda, Dolores. - In: FORUM HISTORIAE IURIS. - ISSN 1860-5605. - 9(2016), pp. 1-21.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/647717
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