For fifty years, the first edition of The Italian Legal System has
been the gold standard among English-language works on the Italian legal
system. The book's original authors, Mauro Cappelletti, John Henry
Merryman, and Joseph M. Perillo, provided not only an overview of
Italian law, but a definition of the field, together with an important
contribution to the general literature on comparative law. The book
explains the unique "Italian style" in doctrine, law, and interpretation
and includes an extremely well-written introduction to Italian legal
history, government, the legal profession, and civil procedure and
evidence.
In this fully-updated and revised second edition, authors Michael A.
Livingston, Pier Giuseppe Monateri, and Francesco Parisi describe the
substantial changes in Italian law and society in the intervening five
decades--including the creation and impact of the European Union, as
well as important advances in comparative law methodology. The second
edition poses timely, relevant questions of whether and to what extent
the unique Italian style of law has survived the pressures of European
unification, American influence, and the globalization of law and
society in the intervening period. The Italian Legal System, Second
Edition is an important and stimulating resource for those with
specific interest in Italy and those with a more general interest in
comparative law and the globalization process.
