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This bibliography represents the first attempt to assemble the totality of the juristic production of a major European country for an entire century of the modern period. The three volumes register 7.700 editions of works of law printed in Italy between 1601 and 1700. The production of well over a thousand jurists, the vast majority hitherto unknown to legal-historical scholarship, is here made accessible for the first time. At centre stage remains the canon law of the Catholic Church, whether addressing the legal affairs of the revived religious orders and the various ecclesiastical jurisdictions, or expounding the intricate casus conscientiae. Another feature is the wealth of collections of the consilia and decisiones of the great tribunals of the Italian cities. A special section is devoted to legal sources, including the statutes of the Italian cities, of trade, professional, educational, beneficient and religious associations and orders, and over 750 editions of the decrees of all provincial, diocesan and local synods. The accompanying PDF-file on CD-Rom enables the user to quickly search any word throughout the catalogue. The work is based on over twenty years´ research in Italian libraries, and also draws on the vast holdings of the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt and the Robbins Collection in Berkeley as well as important modern published catalogues such as those of Cambridge and the British Library. Where possible, the holdings of specialist legal libraries have been described in their entirety through direct inspection of the books. Each edition is given a detailed bibliographical description including author, extensive title transcription, imprint, colophon, format and pagination; every library copy is listed with its individual shelf-mark. This bibliography will prove an indispensable research resource not just for the historian of law, but for anyone interested in the Church, social relations and the general culture of Italy in the century of the Baroque.
