The criminal liability of the medical team considering the recent orientation of the Italian Court of Cassation

This article aims to analyze the thematic of medical team liability considering the recent Italian Supreme Court case-law, highlighting the various problems linked to the identification of the responsibility of each member of the team. The participation of several subjects in the execution of medical treatment makes the question of criminal liability very complex, especially when it comes to inauspicious events, such as injuries or death, occurring during medical treatment. The question concerns the exact identification of the duty of care and vigilance of the medical team and whether this duty is in line with the principle of individual criminal responsibility guaranteed by Article 27 of the Italian Constitution. In this regard, the case-law has elaborated the so-called “principle of reasonable confidence”, according to which the division of labour that belongs to each member should involve a delimitation of his responsibility, limited only to what is within his competence, except in case of the person who organizes, directs, and controls the team. Precisely, based on this principle, the Italian Supreme Court in 2018 reasserted that in the medical team is necessary to identify the role played by each member, thus avoiding resorting to objective responsibility.

Some Brief Remarks on the Controversial Relationship Between the Judiciary and Politics in Italy

The relationship between the judiciary and the political sphere and the dilemma over whether the judiciary has been a victim of politics, or whether politics has been a victim of the judiciary, have been hot topics for some time in Italy. Since a major scandal engulfed the High Council of the Judiciary, the courts have become the principal focus of the reform efforts of the Draghi Government, which took office in February 2021. The contribution briefly illustrates the figure of the Judicial Power within the Division of Powers and the evolution of the judge’s role within this system. Following a brief premise on the evolution of the role of judges during the last two centuries, the principle of the independence of the judiciary in the Italian Constitution will be outlined before final comments on the controversial relationship between the judiciary and politics.

Introduzione di un obbligo vaccinale contro il Covid-19: profili di criticità

SOMMARIO: 1. L’epidemia nel Codice civile italiano - 2. “Una brutta notizia, avvolta in una proteina” - 3. Le misure di contenimento dell’epidemia da Covid-19 adottate e l’esordio di vaccini anti-Covid-19 - 4. La vaccinazione obbligatoria: precedenti storici italiani - 5. La vaccinazione obbligatoria contro il Covid-19, oggi: una mappa mondiale - 6. La vaccinazione contro il Covid-19 in Italia: obbligo, diritto od onere? 7. Il problema della compatibilità dell’obbligo vaccinale con il quadro normativo costituzionale ed europeo - 8. Conclusioni. The introduction of a compulsory vaccination in Italy: critical profiles ABSTRACT: The multiple Covid-19 vaccines developed until now are typically thought of as the only means to meet the challenges posed by the current pandemic. The Italian legal system offers a composite framework for the regulation of vaccinations against Covid-19 and more precisely provides for the burden of vaccination for many categories of people (including healthcare workers). The purpose of this paper is to verify the legitimacy of a compulsory vaccination in the light of Italian and European sources of law. In this perspective, the Author argues that a compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 could be considered not consistent with both the Italian Constitution and the European legislation. Furthermore, the Author focuses on the phenomenon of vaccine esitancy, questioning whether a policy of mandatory vaccination is the proper tool for supporting the effective implementation of vaccination strategies.

Art. 11 of the Italian Constitution between text and context

Luigi Bonanate’s book “Costituzione italiana: articolo 11” analyses Article 11 of the Italian Constitution through the prism of its application. Bonanate provides the reader, in a clear and compelling style, with a complete interpretation of Article 11, combining the analysis of the preparatory work in the Constituent Assembly with its doctrinal interpretation and political application. The book does not only analyse the drafting of this article, but also focuses on the “political history of Article 11”, on the contemporary debate by the scientific community and, finally, on its relations with the international legal system.

The Governance of Covid-19 Pandemic Health Emergency in Italy: A Constitutional Perspective

The essay focuses on the measures that have been taken in Italy to limit the contagion with Coronavirus in the first phase of the health emergency in 2020. The Italian Government was the first to face the epidemiological crisis in a constitutional democracy. The lockdown was one of the most drastic in Europe. On the one hand, fundamental freedoms of individuals have been compressed; on the other, the objective of limiting the expansion of the contagion in the early stage of pandemic expansion has been achieved, probably saving all European countries from an ungovernable health crisis before a minimal preparation. Even some critical aspects in the decision making process could be highlighted from a constitutional law perspective, the Author believes that the temporary measures, although drastic, not exceeded the limits allowed by the Italian Constitution, nor they seriously affected the balance between the powers at least in the first/second phase. The majority of Parliament approved ex post the law-decrees adopted by the Council of Ministers, demonstrating that it share the Government’s political position. Furthermore, in a very short time, the Italian people, in their vast majority, spontaneously adapted to the imposed prohibitions, demonstrating a sense of responsibility and solidarity towards the most vulnerable categories with respect to the effects of the virus (elderly and sick people, for example). The reasons of the economy, which would have required not to stop business activities, have been temporarily recessive with respect to the protection of the health of the community. This decision seems to find its ultimate foundation in the Article 2 of the Italian Constitution which requires everyone to respect the duty of social solidarity.

The Concept of “Person” in the Italian Legislation on Informed Consent and Advance Healthcare Directives

The aim of the paper is that of investigating the concept of “person” in the context of Italian law on informed consent and advance healthcare directives (law n. 219/2017). The following paper will first consider the importance of the concept of “person” within bioethics; secondly it will exhibit how there are different levels of bioethics, and that on the discussion level of laws and regulations, concepts worthy of metaphysical and value references cannot be used, because they must be shared by everyone in a pluralistic society. I’ll then move on to discuss the law on informed consent and advance healthcare directives; first I’ll discuss the references to the Italian Constitution, showing that the implied concept of “person” is closely linked to the concepts of “equality” and “autonomy”, and finally I’ll discuss the particular case of minors and the protection that the law provides them.

The Illusion of Perfect Justice

The judgment of the Italian Constitutional Court (ItCC) of 22 October 2014 has set a bad precedent for international law by denying the implementation, within Italy, of the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 3 February 2012. The ICJ found that Italian courts and tribunals had violated German jurisdictional immunity by entertaining suits brought by Italian citizens against Germany on account of damages caused by war crimes committed during World War II by German occupation forces. According to a well-consolidated rule of general international law, no state may be sued before the courts of another state with regard to acts performed in the exercise of its sovereign power. In contravention of Article 94 of the UN Charter, the ItCC deemed it legitimate to discard that ruling because of the particularly grave character of many of the violations in question. It proceeded from the assumption that the right to a remedy established under the Italian Constitution was absolute and must apply even where the financial settlement of the consequences of armed conflict is at issue. However, it has failed to show the existence of any individual reparation claims and has omitted to assess the issue of war reparations owed by Germany in their broader complexity. The judgment of the ItCC might be used in the future as a pretext to ignore decisions of the World Court.

Le risorse documentarie dell’Istituto di Teoria e Tecniche dell’Informazione Giuridica del CNR per un’analisi di termini giuridici rilevanti: il caso di studio della parola «razza»

Part of public opinion believes that Article 3 of the Italian Constitution should be reformulated by eliminating the word "race", because of its historical meanings. Some jurists disagree with this opinion believing that this presence is still justified by the need to fight possible discrimination or to protect minority rights. Biologists have also entered the debate, asserting that this word cannot be used to refer to human races because there’s no scientific basis for race. Cleared up any doubt about the origin of the term and the use that should be made of it, to contribute to today's debate, we have verified how this term was used in the language of law, using the terminological resources of the Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems (IGSG) – CNR databases.

Freedom of Religion in the Italian Constitution

In Italy, Catholicism was the dominant faith for about two thousand years and until recently almost the only one. This has meant that it has taken root in the country as a primary socio-cultural element also for the laity and non-believers. Every legal system in a democratic state must find the normative mechanisms to guarantee and protect the religious phenomenon. With the advent of the Republican Constitution, the religious phenomenon is foreseen and regulated in four articles: Articles 7, 8, 19, 20 of the Constitution, to which we must add the guarantees deriving from articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. These Articles sanction the principle of equality of all confessions and non-discrimination on a religious basis, the freedom to profess one's beliefs both individually and collectively, in public or private, ect. The analysis aims to understand the capacity of these provisions to guarantee all dimensions of the religious phenomenon. In this regard, the question arose whether these articles protect freedom of conscience, conscientious objection and atheism. It is also important to analyze those are the limits that this freedom encounters.