Emilio Betti (
Camerino
Camerino is a town in the province of Macerata, Marche, central-eastern Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about from Ancona.
Camerino is home to the University of Cam ...
, 20 August 1890 –
Camorciano di Camerino
Camerino is a town in the province of Macerata, Marche, central-eastern Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about from Ancona.
Camerino is home to the University of Came ...
, 11 August 1968) was an Italian
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
,
Roman Law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
scholar,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. He is best known for his contributions to
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
, part of a broad interest in interpretation. As a legal theorist, Betti is close to
interpretivism.
Betti's intellectual support of
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
between the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the beginning of the 1920s led him to be arrested in 1944, in Camerino. Betti remained in prison for about a month, as decided by the
Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale
The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...
. In August 1945, Betti was presented to court and absolved of every accusation.
His political choices, anyway, have not diminished the value and importance of his work. Between many other things, Betti was one of the members of the drafting commission for the Italian
civil code
A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations.
A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...
of 1942.
Betti is perhaps best known for his work in
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
. He took issue with the hermeneutic views of
Hans Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics.
Life
Family an ...
and argued that interpreters should attempt to reconstruct the author's intentions. His work influenced the work of
E. D. Hirsch
Eric "E. D." Donald Hirsch Jr. (born 1928) is an American educator, literary critic, and theorist of education. He is professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia.
Hirsch is best known for his 1987 book ''C ...
, the chief English-language spokesman for authorial intention. However, his influence in English has been limited by the lack of translations of his hermeneutic work.
Major works
Betti was a prolific writer. This is just a small part of his works:
*''Sulla opposizione dell'exceptio sull'actio e sulla concorrenza tra loro'' (1913).
*''La vendicatio romana primitiva e il suo svolgimento storico nel diritto privato e nel processo'' (1915).
*''L'antitesi storica tra iudicare (pronuntiatio) e damnare (condemnatio) nello svolgimento del processo romano'' (1915).
*''Studii sulla litis aestimatio del processo civile romano'': I Pavia (1915), III (Camerino, 1919).
*''Sul valore dogmatico della categoria contahere in giuristi proculiani e sabiniani'' (1916).
*''La restaurazione sullana e il suo esito (Contributo allo studio della crisi della costituzione repubblicana in Roma)'' (1916).
*''La struttura dell'obbligazione romana e il problema della sua genesi'' (1919).
*''Il concetto della obbligazione costruito dal punto di vista dell'azione'' (1920).
*''Trattato dei limiti soggettivi della cosa giudicata in diritto romano'' (1922).
*''La tradizione nel diritto romano classico e giustinianeo'' (1924–25).
*''Esercitazioni romanistiche su casi pratici: I, anormalità del negozio giuridico'' (1930).
*''Diritto romano: parte generale'' (1935).
*''Teoria generale del negozio giuridico'' (1943).
*''Teoria generale delle obbligazioni'' (1953–1955).
*''Teoria generale della interpretazione'' (1955–1960).
*''Teoria delle obbligazioni in diritto romano'' (1956).
*''Teoria generale della interpretazione'' (1955–1960).
*''Attualità di una teoria generale dell'interpretazione'' (1967).
References and further reading
* Ciocchetti, Mario (1998). ''Emilio Betti, Giureconsulto e umanista''. Belforte del Chienti.
*Pressler, Charles and Dasilva Fabio (1996). ''Sociology and Interpretation From Weber to Habemas.'' State University of New York Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Betti, Emilio
1890 births
1968 deaths
Hermeneutists
20th-century jurists
20th-century Italian jurists
20th-century Italian philosophers
Italian fascists
Italian jurists
People from the Province of Macerata