Court of Cassation (Italy)
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The Supreme Court of Cassation (Italian: Suprema Corte di Cassazione) is the main court of last resort in Italy. It has its seat in the Rome Hall of Justice.
The name of the court is sometimes translated "supreme court", but this is somewhat misleading, because the Court of Cassation does not rule on the constitutionality of laws. That function belongs to the Corte costituzionale (constitutional court).
This court is born to “ensure the observation and the correct interpretation of law” by ensuring the same application of law in the inferior and appeal courts. In addition, the Cassazione states which court has jurisdiction and competence, if is not clear which kind of court must be invoked to decide a legal case (penal, administrative, civil, military jurisdiction).
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[edit] Recourse to the court
The supreme court of Italy can't proceed without a special recourse. Both public prosecutor and private parties (with the assistance of their attorneys) can address to the court. Cassazione can't state about interpretation of the facts involved in the trial, the only thing it can do is to invalidate an incorrect sentence (due to not exact interpretation of law or jurisdiction and competence rules) taken by an appeal court, by stating the right interpretation of the law applicable or by stating which court has jurisdiction and competence. Normally, but there are exceptions, a Cassazione's sentence can be asked only after the appeal decision, not directly after inferior court sentences. Anyway, Cassazione is the court of last resort. The decision of the supreme court take binding effect only for the case submitted. This is a general explanation, and several things may change between Cassazione's role in civil, penal and administrative trails. However, Cassazione, by stating correct interpretation of legal texts, tries to preserve, whichever is the kind of problem which it is asked for, the same interpretation of laws by others inferiror and appeal courts (not only the one that assumed the decision in the case submitted): if those courts in the future won't comply the Cassazione interpretation, their sentences could be invalidated. Of course, they are not obliged to follow the supreme court's previous interpretations, and they can try to suggest different solutions to the supreme court.
[edit] Members
Cassazione is divided in different sections, due to the different kind of case that can be submitted. For example, there are different sections for civil and penal trials. The court has one main president, and also every section has one. Usually, it's sufficient that only one section (with fives judge) examines the case to take a decision; but there are some cases (for example in case of a really problematic interpretation) in which the court needs to decide by unifying sections (with nine judges). In addition, a public prosecutor, in every trial submitted to the court, must say his interpretation of the law applicable, to aid judges to give their own in the sentence.
[edit] Brief History
The Corte di Cassazione was born with royal decree number 12 on 30 January 1941, supplanting the previous court provided by the former Italian Civil Code in 1865. The need for this kind of court in Europe became apparent with the Ancien régime's difficulties in maintaining both uniformity of interpretation and supremacy of the central laws against local privileges and rights. The first appearance of this style of court was during the French revolution. It is noteworthy that several changes occurred from that first implementation in 1790, since the court was initially much more like a legislative body than a judicial one. Napoleon, during his conquests, greatly influenced Italian law theories, and the Corte di Cassazione was formed using many imported French ideas.
[edit] See also
- Politics of Italy
- Court of cassation (for other courts of cassation around the world)
