ITALY
236
ITALY
revenues, less 5 per cent for the expense of administra-
tion, exception being made of parishes, confraterni-
ties, artistic buildings and those destined to religious
cult, and the l)uikling necessary to these bodies in
performance of their functions, as episcopal palaces,
seminaries, and others. Simultaneously with the sup-
pression of ecclesiastical bodies, there was established
an autonomous administration, inilependent of gov-
ernment superintendence, called Fondo per il Culto,
wththe function of administrating the property of the
suppressed bodies, despoiled of 30 per cent of its value
and converted into public bonds, and of applying the
income thereof to the purposes of religion and charity.
The first duty of this administration was to provide
for the charges upon the suppressed bodies in the
cases of the existence of their personal incumbents,
who have the right to require such provision through
process of law; the duty also devolved upon this es-
tablishment of paying pensions to the members of
suppressed religious orders; and when the pensions
become extinct, three-fourths of the capital sum reg-
istered in favour of the Fondo per il Culto, represent-
ing the property of the suppressed corporations, will
revert to the State. The administration in question is
obliged to supplement the episcopal incomes that may
not have reached the sum of .$1200, as also to supple-
ment the salaries of parish priests whose net income is
less than $200. Under the pretext of distributing the
remainder of its revenue in equitable proportions
among the different ecclesiastical benefices, but in
reality to bolster up the Fondo per il Culto, upon
which were imposed expenses beyond its resources, all
the ecclesiastical bodies that were retained are obliged
to make yearly increasing contributions, called "quota
of assistance". As to the confraternities, the law
places them among the bodies who must assist in the
support of the infirm; and as these institutions have
always secondary, beneficent ends, the State obliges
them to render account of their operations in this
field, and authorizes the communes to require them to
divert their resources to lay works, for local benefit,
allowing the confraternity only a minimum annuity
for expenses of religious worship. Wherefore, of all
the property of the Church in Italy, the State has left
only a small portion to the bodies that have been re-
tained, and that under strong vigilance and censor-
ship, as regards either the diminution or the increase
of that remnant. Another portion was taken from
proprietary bodies, to establish a fund for religious
cult; and a small part was taken from the Church, to
be returned to lay patrons who might ask for it, or to
apply it to purposes of instruction and of beneficence.
In short the greater part of the ecclesiastical property,
under different showings and by subtle expedients,
was confiscated.
(.3) Ecclesiastical Circumscription. — The territory of the kingdom is divided into 275 dioceses, including that of Rome, the Pontifical See, of which the Iiishop is the Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the Prince of the Apostles and Pontiff of the Universal Church; 6 dioceses are suburbicarian, namely, Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Santa Rufina, .\lbano, Frascati, Palestrina, and Sabina. The titular cardinalates, i. e. the subur- bicarian sees, the titular churches, and the diaconal ones existing in Rome number 75. Of Italian sees, 75 are immediately subject to Rome, of which 13 are gov- erned by archbishops, and the remaining 200 consti- tute 37 ecclesiastical provinces, consisting each of a metropolitan see, which is one of the archdioceses, and of a number of suffragan sees that are governed by bishops. ,\mong the metropolitan sees, that of Venice is that of a patriarchate. There are 11 abbeys and prelacies nullius diaecexeos. Each diocese is subdi- vided into parishes, of which there are 20,fiS5 in all the kingdom; there are 60,446 churches, chapels, anil pub- lic oratories, the .service of which is maintained by 69,310 priests, regular and secular. The episcopal
seminaries have 21,453 students. There are 30,564
religious; lastly, the Catholic educational establish-
ments consist of 532 schools for boys, having 55,870
scholars, and 1302 for girls, with 102,491 scholars.
(4) _ Codes. — In Italy there are seven codes, namely,
the civil, the commercial, the penal, the civil pro-
cedure, the penal procedure, the military, and the
mercantile marine codes. The confusion between
Roman and canon law, Germanic and Italian written
law, and local common law obstructed the straight-
forward and expeditious administration of justice;
andthisgave rise to the first codifications, chief among
which in Italy is the " Codice Vittorio ", formulated in
1723, under Victor Amadeus II of Savoy; but the
most important and best prepared work of codifica-
tion was without doubt the ' ' Codice Napoleone " , which
was published on 21 March, 1S04, and which served as
a model for the civil legislation of almost every country
in Europe or in America, including the states into
which Italy was divided ; the present civil code of the
kingdom is directly tlerived from it, and for this rea-
son, the history of French law is of great importance
for the interpretation of Italian law. The authors of
the Napoleonic Code were not carried away by the
doctrines of the school of natural right, as were Ger-
man legislators, but they sought in the countries de
droit coulumier and in the jurisprudence of parliaments
guides to make the Roman written law, the Germanic
law, and the law of the land more harmonious with the
requirements of the times. Once Italy had consti-
tuted it.self into a nation, there was felt the need of a
common civil code which should unify the various
codes of the former states of the peninsula; accord-
ingly, on 25 June, 1865, there was published the Civil
Code of the Kingdom of Italy, which went into force
on 1 January, 1S66. Tliis code, which is based upon
Roman law, is the only civil law of the land ; and it
needs some reformation to make it more consonant
with new economical and social needs. The code con-
sists of three books and, like the French code, follows
the clear and traditional Gaian division: "Omne jus,
q^uo utimur, aut ad personas, aut ad res, aut ad ac-
tiones pertinet." Furthermore, the code is preceded
by twelve articles which, as leges Icgum, lay down rules
for the publication, the interpretation, and the appli-
cation of laws in general. The very ancient rules of
merchant guilds, which date back to the eleventh
century ancl which did much to promote the greatness
of the Italian communes, were the source of the com-
mercial legislation, and little by little they were sys-
tematically put m order, so that between the years 1200
and ISOO the various statutes, when approved by the
overlord, came to constitute the written mercantile
law of the different states of Italy. By two ordinances
of Louis XIV (1673, 1681) the commercial law was
codified and from this the Napoleonic Code was partly
taken (ISOS). The latter was carried by French arms
into many European countries. The Italian Code,
the Albert Code of 1842, and the code of 1865 also
were modelled on the French Code. But, as the one
of 1865 was no longer in harmony with the modern
conditions of traffic, it was svicceeded on 1 January,
1883, by the new Code of Commerce, which shows
progress Iiy the wealth of its contents, by its recogni-
tion of the freedom of the contracting parties, by the
simplicity of its forms, by the conciseness of its lan-
guage, and by its efl^cacious protection of credit, es-
pecially in regard to exchange. Rumania adopted
this code, almost literally, in 1SS7. Contrary to the
order obtaining in civil matters, the law regards com-
mercial matters as resting, primarily, on the code and
on commercial legislation; in the second place, on mer-
cantile practices; and in the third place, on civil law.
The code is divided into four books; the first relates
to commerce in general, the second to maritime com-
merce and to navigation, the third to bankruptcy,
and the fourth to commercial catises.
