Filippo Maria Renazzi (4 July 1745 – 29 June 1808) was an Italian

Jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

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 species; as well as the ...

active in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

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 proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

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

Biography

He was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 4 July 1745 to his

Bolognese Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

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 (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

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 proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

, 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 1738 – 28 November 1794) was an Italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher, economist, and politician who is widely considered one of the greatest thinkers of the ...

. He was offered the chair of Jurisprudence of the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

, and in 1803 that of Criminal Law of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

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

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

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 Sant'Eustachio (rione of Rome), rione Sant'Eustachio, a block west of the Pantheo ...

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, moving towards a new, clear and structured approach typical of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, retaining however deep roots in the

Roman Law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

, in the

Catholic moral theology Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Catholic Church, equivalent to a religious ethics. Moral theology encompasses Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual mo ...

and in the

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

. He cautiously opposed the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

and fiercely disapproved the use of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

in trials. He supported the

separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...

and a reduction in the

judicial discretion Judicial discretion is the power of the judiciary to make some legal decisions according to their discretion. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the ability of judges to exercise discretion is an aspect of judicial independence. Where ...

. 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 (also adversary system, accusatorial system, or accusatory 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 peopl ...

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

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

; ''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 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 the Vatican Palace. The Vatican itself refers to the build ...

(''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 Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

, stating that

and poetry have a positive impact on civilization when supported by

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

References

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