The criminal law of the Kingdom of Sicily in a collection of Decisiones from the second half of the 17th century

Abstract

The purpose of the present contribution is to analyze the collection of "Decisiones criminales" by the Sicilian lawyer and judge Girolamo Basilicò. This collection of Decisiones stands at the crossroads of several legal traditions at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. It is anchored in the ius commune tradition, but its perspective is that of Sicily's Kingdom. In this sense, Basilicò’s collection reveals the practice of the Sicilian superior courts, but being a work written primarily by the standards of the ius commune literature, it reflects in many ways the “law of the books”. The collection provides an insight into the common European tradition in criminal law in the early modern period to its impact on Sicily's judicial practice.