Modificazioni soggettive del rapporto obbligatorio e garanzie reali

Lo studio del lato soggettivo del rapporto è centrale nella teoria dell’obbligazione. Ci si chiede se la modificazione di una o anche di entrambe le parti del rapporto determini sempre la sua estinzione o se, invece, si conservi la sua unitarietà oggettiva. La risposta a questo interrogativo è stata diversa a seconda delle diverse epoche storiche. Nel diritto romano si riteneva che la variazione di qualunque soggetto determinasse l’estinzione del rapporto e la costituzione di una nuova obbligazione (novazione soggettiva). Tale soluzione è stata osteggiata dai codificatori moderni per i quali, in caso di modifica delle personae non si ha estinzione del rapporto, ma solo il mutamento di uno dei suoi elementi. Quanto ai diritti di garanzia, in particolare l’ipoteca, i principi generali essenzali sono la specialità e l’accessorietà. Quest’ultima caratteristica è dirimente in caso di modificazione soggettiva del rapporto e ciò emerge in sede di trattazione delle singole fattispecie del Codice Civile che la determinano, sia quanto al creditore sia quanto al debitore. Per velocizzare il subentro nel credito, nel 2007 è stato approvato il decreto Bersani (sulla portabilità del mutuo) che ha consentito di rimuovere vincoli a tale circolazione, nell’ambito dei rapporti bancari. Le caratteristiche della modificazione del rapporto obbligatorio, tuttavia, possono minare l’efficacia della riforma Bersani. Questo è il motivo per il quale taluni studiosi ritengono necessario procedere a un’ampia rivisitazione dell’intero diritto ipotecario, eliminando, sulla scia di quanto accaduto in altri ordinamenti europei, il requisito dell’accessorietà del vincolo. Nonostante ciò, a causa dei rischi connessi a questa riforma, si ritiene preferibile affinare il meccanismo di perfezionamento della portabilità, eliminandone le criticità, senza però pregiudicare le sicurezze dell’attuale sistema giuridico, di cui l’accessorietà dell’ipoteca rispetto al credito costituisce un importante caposaldo.

Ex ante contracts to arbitrate tort claims - A law and economics perspective

This research addresses the use of ex ante contracts to arbitrate tort claims in domestic settings using law and economics research methodologies. Potential economic benefits from using arbitration, particularly between informed and knowledgeable parties and in international business transactions, are not guaranteed in domestic disputes. Arbitration can potentially be used to manipulate the adjudication process. This research has several findings. There is a lack of information available concerning the use of arbitration to adjudicate tort claims. Proxy measurements concerning the demand for third party adjudication and other legal indicators are a poor substitute for the information hidden behind the veil of arbitration. There is the potential for the strategic use of ex ante contracts to arbitrate tort claims by repeat player tortfeasors to domestic tort claims, both individually and in concert with other repeat player firms. These strategic efforts aim to: manipulate enforcement errors for tort claims, avoid procedural rules which have the effect of lowering enforcement errors, enable a unique type of domestic forum arbitrage, shirk from taking due care, capture the economic benefit of using arbitration, manipulate the stock of precedents and production of public goods from courts, collude in these underlying efforts, restrain competition, indirectly fix prices, and other aims which increase the repeat player tortfeasor’s or their industries economic gains related to their underlying contracts and tort disputes. This research also demonstrates how this subject is appropriate for further academic research and why states should be cautious of giving carte blanche to arbitrate all domestic tort claims.

Legal Ontologies for Public Procurement Management

The thesis explores ways to formalize the legal knowledge concerning the public procurement domain by means of ontological patterns suitable, on one hand, to support awarding authorities in conducting procurement procedures and, on the other hand, to help citizens and economic operators in accessing procurement's notices and data. Such an investigation on the making up of conceptual models for the public procurement domain, in turn, inspires and motivates a reflection on the role of legal ontologies nowadays, as in the past, retracing the steps of the ``ontological legal thinking'' from Roman Law up to now. I try, at the same time, to forecast the impact, in terms of benefits, challenges and critical issues, of the application of computational models of Law in future e-Governance scenarios.

El depósito irregular de dinero: una aproximación teórica, histórica y ética

El análisis económico de las instituciones jurídicas ha adquirido una importancia considerable en los últimos años. Precisamente, el objetivo esencial de este trabajo se centra en el estudio del análisis económico del contrato de depósito irregular de dinero mediante tres enfoques metodológicos diferentes. El primer capítulo de este trabajo analiza la naturaleza jurídica del contrato de depósito irregular de dinero, examinando las principales características respecto al contrato de préstamo o mutuo. Igualmente, este capítulo estudiará la lógica jurídica propia de ambas instituciones, y cómo los principios generales del derecho fueron descubiertos desde el derecho romano clásico. El segundo capítulo trata de analizar la historia de los hechos económicos y, en particular, el proceso histórico de la violación de los principios tradicionales del derecho en relación al contrato de depósito irregular de dinero. Por último, el capítulo tercero examina los distintos intentos doctrinales realizados para elaborar un nuevo tipo de contrato de depósito bancario de dinero, con el único objetivo de legitimar un sistema bancario con un coeficiente de caja de reserva fraccionaria.

Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas - vida y obra

La presente tesis doctoral tiene por objetivo analizar la obra y el pensamiento de Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas. El estudio se encuadra en el área del derecho romano puesto que él comenzó su carrera como iusromanista, doctorándose en Bolonia como colegial del Real Colegio de España con una tesis dirigida por Emilio Costa. Aquel trabajo recibió el premio Vittorio Emanuele Secondo y, tal y como se demostrará, fue el primer trabajo estrictamente científico de la romanística hispana moderna. Otras publicaciones del autor que se incluyen en el presente trabajo permitirán trazar las líneas del pensamiento jurídico, filosófico y –en parte- político de Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas y Garcia Valdecasas.

"Tradizione romanistica" e principi generali del diritto: Il dibattito italiano tra Otto e Novecento

Il presente lavoro verte sul ruolo svolto dal diritto romano e – più in generale – dalla “tradizione romanistica” all'interno del sistema giuridico nazionale posteriore alla codificazione civile del 1865. L'attenzione è rivolta principalmente all'art. 3 delle Disposizioni preliminari del Codice del 1865 con il suo riferimento ai 'principi generali del diritto' e, dunque, all'analogia iuris. La prima parte dello studio si concentra sull'analisi di alcune voci della scienza giuridica italiana tra Otto e Novecento, nei loro diversi approcci – laddove riscontrabili – rispetto allo studio e al recupero (in chiave moderna) del diritto romano. La seconda parte è invece dedicata all'esame della prassi giudiziaria e, più specificamente, delle Corti di Cassazione. In questa fase si persegue un duplice obiettivo: da un lato, verificare se, ed eventualmente in che misura, il diritto romano possa ancora svolgere un ruolo nella (moderna) giurisprudenza di legittimità; dall'altro, valutare la concreta possibilità, prospettata da una parte della scienza giuridica, di ricorrere in Cassazione per impugnare una sentenza asseritamente contraria ai principi generali del diritto sanciti dall'art. 3 co. 2 delle Preleggi. L'analisi prende dunque le mosse dal contenuto delle singole decisioni della Cassazione, per poi passare all'esegesi dei frammenti di volta in volta richiamati; infine, si concluderà con un'operazione di sintesi volta a valutare, per ciascun caso, la coerenza (giuridica) del ragionamento analogico.

Studi sulla donna come soggetto attivo del reato nel diritto romano

La ricerca si prefigge di indagare sulla donna che commette reato nel corso dell’intera esperienza giuridica romana. Attraverso l’analisi delle fonti, con speciale riferimento a quelle letterarie, vengono analizzati i singoli illeciti in cui la donna stessa poteva assumere la qualifica di soggetto attivo, che danno luogo a un nutrito catalogo di fattispecie attinenti alla sfera sessuale, per quanto non manchino casi di maiestas e, più in generale, di cospirazione contro il principe. Nella presente ricerca si tenta dunque di investigare, proprio a partire dalla peculiare condizione riconosciuta alla donna all’interno della società romana, la sua dimensione ‘pubblica’, che sarebbe stata lesa con la commissione dell’illecito giacché la rea, in questo modo, avrebbe sovente compromesso un valore superindividuale, ossia la pudicitia. È proprio la lesione di siffatto principio, tale da assumere un ruolo centrale nel quadro dell’etica sessuale degli antichi romani, a giustificare la repressione degli illeciti femminili nella forma del crimen: non deve dunque meravigliare che la mulier, venuta meno all’onore familiare, sia sanzionata pubblicamente, potendosi intendere i reati dalla stessa commessi alla stregua di ‘attentati alla res publica’.

The firm. Techno-organizational changes, industrial relations and performances. An enquiry on Reggio Emilia local industrial system

It is not unknown that the evolution of firm theories has been developed along a path paved by an increasing awareness of the organizational structure importance. From the early “neoclassical” conceptualizations that intended the firm as a rational actor whose aim is to produce that amount of output, given the inputs at its disposal and in accordance to technological or environmental constraints, which maximizes the revenue (see Boulding, 1942 for a past mid century state of the art discussion) to the knowledge based theory of the firm (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka & Toyama, 2005), which recognizes in the firm a knnowledge creating entity, with specific organizational capabilities (Teece, 1996; Teece & Pisano, 1998) that allow to sustaine competitive advantages. Tracing back a map of the theory of the firm evolution, taking into account the several perspectives adopted in the history of thought, would take the length of many books. Because of that a more fruitful strategy is circumscribing the focus of the description of the literature evolution to one flow connected to a crucial question about the nature of firm’s behaviour and about the determinants of competitive advantages. In so doing I adopt a perspective that allows me to consider the organizational structure of the firm as an element according to which the different theories can be discriminated. The approach adopted starts by considering the drawbacks of the standard neoclassical theory of the firm. Discussing the most influential theoretical approaches I end up with a close examination of the knowledge based perspective of the firm. Within this perspective the firm is considered as a knowledge creating entity that produce and mange knowledge (Nonaka, Toyama, & Nagata, 2000; Nonaka & Toyama, 2005). In a knowledge intensive organization, knowledge is clearly embedded for the most part in the human capital of the individuals that compose such an organization. In a knowledge based organization, the management, in order to cope with knowledge intensive productions, ought to develop and accumulate capabilities that shape the organizational forms in a way that relies on “cross-functional processes, extensive delayering and empowerment” (Foss 2005, p.12). This mechanism contributes to determine the absorptive capacity of the firm towards specific technologies and, in so doing, it also shape the technological trajectories along which the firm moves. After having recognized the growing importance of the firm’s organizational structure in the theoretical literature concerning the firm theory, the subsequent point of the analysis is that of providing an overview of the changes that have been occurred at micro level to the firm’s organization of production. The economic actors have to deal with challenges posed by processes of internationalisation and globalization, increased and increasing competitive pressure of less developed countries on low value added production activities, changes in technologies and increased environmental turbulence and volatility. As a consequence, it has been widely recognized that the main organizational models of production that fitted well in the 20th century are now partially inadequate and processes aiming to reorganize production activities have been widespread across several economies in recent years. Recently, the emergence of a “new” form of production organization has been proposed both by scholars, practitioners and institutions: the most prominent characteristic of such a model is its recognition of the importance of employees commitment and involvement. As a consequence it is characterized by a strong accent on the human resource management and on those practices that aim to widen the autonomy and responsibility of the workers as well as increasing their commitment to the organization (Osterman, 1994; 2000; Lynch, 2007). This “model” of production organization is by many defined as High Performance Work System (HPWS). Despite the increasing diffusion of workplace practices that may be inscribed within the concept of HPWS in western countries’ companies, it is an hazard, to some extent, to speak about the emergence of a “new organizational paradigm”. The discussion about organizational changes and the diffusion of HPWP the focus cannot abstract from a discussion about the industrial relations systems, with a particular accent on the employment relationships, because of their relevance, in the same way as production organization, in determining two major outcomes of the firm: innovation and economic performances. The argument is treated starting from the issue of the Social Dialogue at macro level, both in an European perspective and Italian perspective. The model of interaction between the social parties has repercussions, at micro level, on the employment relationships, that is to say on the relations between union delegates and management or workers and management. Finding economic and social policies capable of sustaining growth and employment within a knowledge based scenario is likely to constitute the major challenge for the next generation of social pacts, which are the main social dialogue outcomes. As Acocella and Leoni (2007) put forward the social pacts may constitute an instrument to trade wage moderation for high intensity in ICT, organizational and human capital investments. Empirical evidence, especially focused on the micro level, about the positive relation between economic growth and new organizational designs coupled with ICT adoption and non adversarial industrial relations is growing. Partnership among social parties may become an instrument to enhance firm competitiveness. The outcome of the discussion is the integration of organizational changes and industrial relations elements within a unified framework: the HPWS. Such a choice may help in disentangling the potential existence of complementarities between these two aspects of the firm internal structure on economic and innovative performance. With the third chapter starts the more original part of the thesis. The data utilized in order to disentangle the relations between HPWS practices, innovation and economic performance refer to the manufacturing firms of the Reggio Emilia province with more than 50 employees. The data have been collected through face to face interviews both to management (199 respondents) and to union representatives (181 respondents). Coupled with the cross section datasets a further data source is constituted by longitudinal balance sheets (1994-2004). Collecting reliable data that in turn provide reliable results needs always a great effort to which are connected uncertain results. Data at micro level are often subjected to a trade off: the wider is the geographical context to which the population surveyed belong the lesser is the amount of information usually collected (low level of resolution); the narrower is the focus on specific geographical context, the higher is the amount of information usually collected (high level of resolution). For the Italian case the evidence about the diffusion of HPWP and their effects on firm performances is still scanty and usually limited to local level studies (Cristini, et al., 2003). The thesis is also devoted to the deepening of an argument of particular interest: the existence of complementarities between the HPWS practices. It has been widely shown by empirical evidence that when HPWP are adopted in bundles they are more likely to impact on firm’s performances than when adopted in isolation (Ichniowski, Prennushi, Shaw, 1997). Is it true also for the local production system of Reggio Emilia? The empirical analysis has the precise aim of providing evidence on the relations between the HPWS dimensions and the innovative and economic performances of the firm. As far as the first line of analysis is concerned it must to be stressed the fundamental role that innovation plays in the economy (Geroski & Machin, 1993; Stoneman & Kwoon 1994, 1996; OECD, 2005; EC, 2002). On this point the evidence goes from the traditional innovations, usually approximated by R&D investment expenditure or number of patents, to the introduction and adoption of ICT, in the recent years (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). If innovation is important then it is critical to analyse its determinants. In this work it is hypothesised that organizational changes and firm level industrial relations/employment relations aspects that can be put under the heading of HPWS, influence the propensity to innovate in product, process and quality of the firm. The general argument may goes as follow: changes in production management and work organization reconfigure the absorptive capacity of the firm towards specific technologies and, in so doing, they shape the technological trajectories along which the firm moves; cooperative industrial relations may lead to smother adoption of innovations, because not contrasted by unions. From the first empirical chapter emerges that the different types of innovations seem to respond in different ways to the HPWS variables. The underlying processes of product, process and quality innovations are likely to answer to different firm’s strategies and needs. Nevertheless, it is possible to extract some general results in terms of the most influencing HPWS factors on innovative performance. The main three aspects are training coverage, employees involvement and the diffusion of bonuses. These variables show persistent and significant relations with all the three innovation types. The same do the components having such variables at their inside. In sum the aspects of the HPWS influence the propensity to innovate of the firm. At the same time, emerges a quite neat (although not always strong) evidence of complementarities presence between HPWS practices. In terns of the complementarity issue it can be said that some specific complementarities exist. Training activities, when adopted and managed in bundles, are related to the propensity to innovate. Having a sound skill base may be an element that enhances the firm’s capacity to innovate. It may enhance both the capacity to absorbe exogenous innovation and the capacity to endogenously develop innovations. The presence and diffusion of bonuses and the employees involvement also spur innovative propensity. The former because of their incentive nature and the latter because direct workers participation may increase workers commitment to the organizationa and thus their willingness to support and suggest inovations. The other line of analysis provides results on the relation between HPWS and economic performances of the firm. There have been a bulk of international empirical studies on the relation between organizational changes and economic performance (Black & Lynch 2001; Zwick 2004; Janod & Saint-Martin 2004; Huselid 1995; Huselid & Becker 1996; Cappelli & Neumark 2001), while the works aiming to capture the relations between economic performance and unions or industrial relations aspects are quite scant (Addison & Belfield, 2001; Pencavel, 2003; Machin & Stewart, 1990; Addison, 2005). In the empirical analysis the integration of the two main areas of the HPWS represent a scarcely exploited approach in the panorama of both national and international empirical studies. As remarked by Addison “although most analysis of workers representation and employee involvement/high performance work practices have been conducted in isolation – while sometimes including the other as controls – research is beginning to consider their interactions” (Addison, 2005, p.407). The analysis conducted exploiting temporal lags between dependent and covariates, possibility given by the merger of cross section and panel data, provides evidence in favour of the existence of HPWS practices impact on firm’s economic performance, differently measured. Although it does not seem to emerge robust evidence on the existence of complementarities among HPWS aspects on performances there is evidence of a general positive influence of the single practices. The results are quite sensible to the time lags, inducing to hypothesize that time varying heterogeneity is an important factor in determining the impact of organizational changes on economic performance. The implications of the analysis can be of help both to management and local level policy makers. Although the results are not simply extendible to other local production systems it may be argued that for contexts similar to the Reggio Emilia province, characterized by the presence of small and medium enterprises organized in districts and by a deep rooted unionism, with strong supporting institutions, the results and the implications here obtained can also fit well. However, a hope for future researches on the subject treated in the present work is that of collecting good quality information over wider geographical areas, possibly at national level, and repeated in time. Only in this way it is possible to solve the Gordian knot about the linkages between innovation, performance, high performance work practices and industrial relations.

Second law analysis and simulation techniques for the energy optimization of buildings

The research activity described in this thesis is focused mainly on the study of finite-element techniques applied to thermo-fluid dynamic problems of plant components and on the study of dynamic simulation techniques applied to integrated building design in order to enhance the energy performance of the building. The first part of this doctorate thesis is a broad dissertation on second law analysis of thermodynamic processes with the purpose of including the issue of the energy efficiency of buildings within a wider cultural context which is usually not considered by professionals in the energy sector. In particular, the first chapter includes, a rigorous scheme for the deduction of the expressions for molar exergy and molar flow exergy of pure chemical fuels. The study shows that molar exergy and molar flow exergy coincide when the temperature and pressure of the fuel are equal to those of the environment in which the combustion reaction takes place. A simple method to determine the Gibbs free energy for non-standard values of the temperature and pressure of the environment is then clarified. For hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and several hydrocarbons, the dependence of the molar exergy on the temperature and relative humidity of the environment is reported, together with an evaluation of molar exergy and molar flow exergy when the temperature and pressure of the fuel are different from those of the environment. As an application of second law analysis, a comparison of the thermodynamic efficiency of a condensing boiler and of a heat pump is also reported. The second chapter presents a study of borehole heat exchangers, that is, a polyethylene piping network buried in the soil which allows a ground-coupled heat pump to exchange heat with the ground. After a brief overview of low-enthalpy geothermal plants, an apparatus designed and assembled by the author to carry out thermal response tests is presented. Data obtained by means of in situ thermal response tests are reported and evaluated by means of a finite-element simulation method, implemented through the software package COMSOL Multyphysics. The simulation method allows the determination of the precise value of the effective thermal properties of the ground and of the grout, which are essential for the design of borehole heat exchangers. In addition to the study of a single plant component, namely the borehole heat exchanger, in the third chapter is presented a thorough process for the plant design of a zero carbon building complex. The plant is composed of: 1) a ground-coupled heat pump system for space heating and cooling, with electricity supplied by photovoltaic solar collectors; 2) air dehumidifiers; 3) thermal solar collectors to match 70% of domestic hot water energy use, and a wood pellet boiler for the remaining domestic hot water energy use and for exceptional winter peaks. This chapter includes the design methodology adopted: 1) dynamic simulation of the building complex with the software package TRNSYS for evaluating the energy requirements of the building complex; 2) ground-coupled heat pumps modelled by means of TRNSYS; and 3) evaluation of the total length of the borehole heat exchanger by an iterative method developed by the author. An economic feasibility and an exergy analysis of the proposed plant, compared with two other plants, are reported. The exergy analysis was performed by considering the embodied energy of the components of each plant and the exergy loss during the functioning of the plants.

The special rights other than shares in cross-border mergers of limited liability companies within the European Union. A perspective from the Spanish Law

The present research aims to study the special rights other than shares in Spanish Law and the protection of their holders in cross-border mergers of limited liability companies within the European Union frame. Special rights other than shares are recognised as an independent legal category within legal systems of some EU Member States, such as Germany or Spain, through the implementation of the Third Directive 78/855/CEE concerning mergers of public limited liability companies. The above-cited Directive contains a special regime of protection for the holders of securities, other than shares, to which special rights are attached, consisting of being given rights in the acquiring company, at least equivalent to those they possessed in the company being acquired. This safeguard is to highlight the intimate connection between this type of rights and the company whose extinction determines the existence of those. Pursuant to the Directive 2005/56/CE on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies, each company taking part in these operations shall comply with the safeguards of members and third parties provided in their respective national law to which is subject. In this regard, the protection for holders of special rights other than shares shall be ruled by the domestic M&A regime. As far as Spanish Law are concerned, holders of these special rights are recognized a right of merger information, in the same terms as shareholders, as well as equal rights in the company resulting from the cross-border merger. However, these measures are not enough guarantee for a suitable protection, thus considering those holders of special rights as special creditors, sometimes it will be necessary to go to the general protection regime for creditors. In Spanish Law, it would involve the recognition of right to the merger opposition, whose exercise would prevent the operation was completed until ensuring equal rights.

Il cane e l'uomo nella cultura e nel diritto dell'alto medioevo

Attraverso l’indagine di fonti altomedievali come le Leges dei barbari si è potuto valutare, da un punto di vista pragmatico e fattuale, l’intenzione umana – a volte incidentale e pure difficoltosa – di inquadrare e definire il rapporto con un animale domestico come il cane, che continua e si evolve tra Antichità ed Alto Medioevo e senza una cesura netta. Per completare il quadro culturale e storico-sociale della ricerca, oltre alla trattatistica antica e alla letteratura medievale sugli animali, si è passato in rassegna espressioni documentarie come i capitularia mundana ed ecclasiastica, che hanno destato ulteriore interesse in quanto in esse sussiste il riflesso di un’attenzione tutta “altomedievale” per il cane e per quell’attività che da millenni lega l’uomo a questo animale: la caccia. L’argomento venatorio presuppone l’associazione con il cane nella quasi totalità dei provvedimenti sulla caccia, trasmettendo testimonianze stimabili del connubio homo cum canibus. Ne risulta ora un’amicitia, ora un legame impedito come nelle continue interdizioni venatorie rivolte agli ecclesiastici, uomini – e donne – di Chiesa che andavano a caccia. Pur non fornendo le stesse informazioni minuziose sui cani delle Leggi dei barbari, i capitularia propongono suggestivi scorci di un mondo in cui la caccia, forse la sola attività attraverso cui uomo e cane condividono le medesime trepidazioni primordiali, non era violenza gratuita ma un fondamento della cultura, soprattutto, ma non solo, di ambito aristocratico.

Alle origini del «romanzo giudiziario» italiano: la figura del delinquente tra letteratura, diritto e scienze mediche

In questo lavoro si conduce un’indagine sulle relazioni tra letteratura, diritto e scienze mediche all’interno del romanzo cosiddetto "giudiziario", sviluppatosi in Italia nel periodo compreso tra l’Unità e i primi anni del XX secolo. La nostra analisi si concentra in particolare sulla costruzione della figura del delinquente, intesa come prodotto specifico della suddetta relazione interdisciplinare. In questa prospettiva, abbiamo rilevato che la caratterizzazione di tale figura costituisce il principale tra i procedimenti narrativi osservabili in vari romanzi del periodo postunitario. Concentrandoci inoltre sulla definizione del genere, abbiamo affrontato l’ormai annoso dibattito sulla nascita (quando non sull’esistenza stessa) del poliziesco italiano, dimostrando come solo all’interno di una stretta relazione tra letteratura, diritto e scienze mediche sia possibile cogliere a pieno il valore di questi romanzi nel processo di costruzione dell’identità nazionale. Il lavoro è diviso in due parti. Nella prima, di carattere storico, si propone una nuova definizione del genere "giudiziario", dopo aver vagliato e discusso le ipotesi sino ad ora avanzate dalla critica. Nella seconda parte si affrontano due casi di studio esemplari: La colonia felice di Carlo Dossi e Il romanzo di Misdea di Edoardo Scarfoglio. Su ognuno di essi abbiamo condotto un’accurata analisi testuale, che ci ha permesso di esaminare la caratterizzazione delle diverse figure delinquenti dimostrando l’efficacia del metodo interdisciplinare adottato con particolare riguardo alle teorie di Cesare Lombroso.

Algorithmic business and EU law on fair trading

This thesis studies how commercial practice is developing with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and discusses some normative concepts in EU consumer law. The author analyses the phenomenon of 'algorithmic business', which defines the increasing use of data-driven AI in marketing organisations for the optimisation of a range of consumer-related tasks. The phenomenon is orienting business-consumer relations towards some general trends that influence power and behaviors of consumers. These developments are not taking place in a legal vacuum, but against the background of a normative system aimed at maintaining fairness and balance in market transactions. The author assesses current developments in commercial practices in the context of EU consumer law, which is specifically aimed at regulating commercial practices. The analysis is critical by design and without neglecting concrete practices tries to look at the big picture. The thesis consists of nine chapters divided in three thematic parts. The first part discusses the deployment of AI in marketing organisations, a brief history, the technical foundations, and their modes of integration in business organisations. In the second part, a selected number of socio-technical developments in commercial practice are analysed. The following are addressed: the monitoring and analysis of consumers’ behaviour based on data; the personalisation of commercial offers and customer experience; the use of information on consumers’ psychology and emotions, the mediation through marketing conversational applications. The third part assesses these developments in the context of EU consumer law and of the broader policy debate concerning consumer protection in the algorithmic society. In particular, two normative concepts underlying the EU fairness standard are analysed: manipulation, as a substantive regulatory standard that limits commercial behaviours in order to protect consumers’ informed and free choices and vulnerability, as a concept of social policy that portrays people who are more exposed to marketing practices.

Reasonableness in European and Chinese Contract Law. A Comparative Law Study

Contemporary private law, in teh last few decades, TEMPhas been increasingly characterized by teh spread of general clauses and standards and by teh growing role of interpreters in teh framework of teh sources of law. dis process TEMPhas also consistently effected those systems dat are not typically centered on judge-made law. In particular in contract law general clauses and standards has assumed a leading role and has become protagonists of processes of integration and harmonization of teh law. Wifin dis context, teh reasonableness clause TEMPhas come to teh attention of scholars, emerging as a new element of connection between different legal systems -first of all between common law and civil law – and even between different legal traditions. dis research aims at reconstructing teh patterns of emersion and evolution of teh TEMPprincipal of reasonableness in contract law both wifin European Union Law and in teh Chinese legal system, in order to identify evolutionary trends, processes of emersion and circulation of legal models and teh scope of operation of teh TEMPprincipal in teh two contexts. In view of teh increasingly intense economic relations between Europe and China, wifin teh framework of teh new project called Belt and Road Initiative, a comparative survey of dis type can foster mutual understanding and make communications more TEMPeffective, at teh level of legal culture and commercial relations, and to support teh processes of supranational harmonization of contract law rules.

The Financial Services Regime in International Economic Law: on the Difficult Relationship between Trade Liberalization and Prudential Measures

The PhD thesis analyses the financial services regime in international economic law from the perspective of the difficult relationship between trade liberalisation and prudential measures. Financial stability plays a fundamental role for the well-being and well-functioning of the global economy, but, it is at the same time a complex sector to regulate and supervise and, especially after the 2007-08 economic crisis, States have tightened up their regulation of financial services, introducing more severe and protectionist prudential measures. However, in an increasingly interconnected global economy, the harmonization of prudential regulation at the international level is an essential step to guarantee integrity, fairness and stability of financial markets and trade. The research analyses the tools at disposition to achieve this aim, the related problematic issues and the perspectives and possible solutions for the future, starting from the World Trade Organization (WTO) legal framework and its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), devoted to discipline trade in services among the WTO Members. Then, the research moves to a second legal instrument, the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), which has witnessed a remarkable spread in the last decades. Finally, the research addresses the international standards, developed by supranational entities and implemented by an increasing number of States, as they offer rules and guidelines adequate to update the international financial scenario. Nevertheless, the international standards alone cannot be the solution because, first, they are not mandatory, as governments decide voluntarily to apply them and, second, their decision-making process do not respect the requirements of transparency and representative membership. In light of this analysis, the thesis aims at providing an answer to its research question: how to give more certainty to States and economic operators in the planning of the domestic disciplines and business activities in order to provide a sound and stable international financial system.