Filippo Maria Renazzi (1745-1808) was an Italian

Jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

active in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

of the eighteen century. During his life he was a well known scholar of

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

, and nowadays he is mainly remembered for his history of the University of Rome.

Biography

He was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 4 July 1745 to his Bolognese parents, Ercole Maria and Barbara Montacheti. As soon as he graduated in Law, as early as 1768, at the age of 21, he became a professor at the ''Archiginnasio Romano'' (as it was called at the time

La Sapienza University The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

of Rome). The following year he was entrusted with the Chair of

criminal Law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

, which he held for 34 years. He was the author of Elements of Criminal Law (''Elementa juris criminalis''), adopted in many Italian universities as a textbook. In the four volumes that make up this work was the first to attempt a concise critical history of the discipline of criminal law. His criminal doctrine spread throughout Italy and also in France. At the end of the eighteenth century it was among the most representative Italian penalists together with Luigi Cremani and

Cesare Beccaria Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio (; 15 March 173828 November 1794) was an Italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher, economist and politician, who is widely considered one of the greatest thinkers of the Age ...

. He was offered the chair of Jurisprudence of the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

, and in 1803 that of Criminal Law of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

, but he refused to stay in Rome. He was called by Empress

Catherine II of Russia , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

in St. Petersburg to collaborate in the laborious reform of the Criminal Code, which began in 1767 and lasted for many years. He participated in the government of the 1798-99 Roman Republic, and for this reason at the restoration of the

he was dismissed from teaching. He was shortly restored as professor at the Sapienza University in 1801 up to 1803 when he had to retire. In 1803 he was ascribed to Roman Nobility. Renazzi dedicated the last years of his life to studies and publications, and in particular to his history of the University of Rome (

) published between 1803 and 1806. He died in Rome on 29 June 1808, after 18 days of illness. His funeral monument is located in the entrance portico of the Basilica of

Sant'Eustachio Sant'Eustachio is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, named for the martyr Saint Eustace. It is located on Via di Sant'Eustachio in the rione Sant'Eustachio, a block west of the Pantheon and via della Rotonda, and a ...

in Rome.

Works

Renazzi's main book related to Criminal Law is ''Elementa juris criminalis'' (Elements of criminal Law) in four volumes published in 1773, 1775, 1781, 1786. Renazzi in his book took a stand against the formalist and strict methods of the previous scholarship of criminal Laws, typical of authors such as

Prospero Farinacci Prospero Farinacci (1 November 1554 – 31 December 1618) was an Italian Renaissance jurist, lawyer and judge. His ''Praxis et Theorica Criminalis'' (Practice and Theory of Criminal Law) was the strongest influence on criminal law in Civil law c ...

, moving towards a new, clear and structured approach typical of the Enlightenment, retaining however deep roots in the

Roman Law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

, in the Catholic moral theology and in the

classical studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. He cautiously opposed the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

and fiercely disapproved the use of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

in trials. He supported the

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typi ...

and a reduction in the judicial discretion. He slightly supported the

inquisitorial system An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of an ...

over the

adversarial system The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to det ...

. Other juridical works of him are: ''De sortilegio et magia liber singularis'' (Venice: 1782), where he supports the decriminalization of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

; ''De ordine seu forma judiciorum criminalium diatriba'' (Rome: 1777), an outline of the history of criminal Law; and ''Synopsis elementorum juris criminalis'' (Rome: 1803), a summary of his ''Elementa juris criminalis''. In his work on the Sapienza University of Rome (''Storia dell’Università degli Studi di Roma detta comunemente la Sapienza'', Rome: 1803-1806) he not only researches on the history of the university but also outlines the history of Roman culture from the middle ages to his time. He wrote also a history of the

Apostolic Palace The Apostolic Palace ( la, Palatium Apostolicum; it, Palazzo Apostolico) is the official residence of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and t ...

(''Notizie storiche degli antichi vicedomini del patriarchio lateranense e de’ moderni prefetti del sagro Palazzo Apostolico ovvero maggiordomi pontifizi'', Rome: 1797). Renazzi wrote three essays''Oratio de studiis literarum ad bonum Reipublicae referendis'' (Rome: 1781), ''Oratio de optimo scientiarum fine assequendo'' (Rome: 1796) and ''Ragionamento sull’influenza della poesia nella morale'' (Rome: 1797) in polemic with the thought of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, stating that

and poetry have a positive impact on civilization when supported by

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renazzi, Filippo Maria 1745 births 1808 deaths Writers from Rome Classical scholars of the Sapienza University of Rome People of the Papal States 18th-century Italian historians 18th-century Italian jurists Scholars of criminal law