BRANDILEONE, FRANCESCO. — Historian of law, born in Buonabitacolo (Salerno) on 25 January 1858; died in Naples on 10 April 1929. He taught the History of Italian Law at the universities of Sassari (1886), Parma, Bologna, and Rome. A principal part of his scholarly work was devoted to the study of Byzantine law, with particular attention to its development and application in Italy.
On this subject he wrote: Il diritto romano nelle leggi romano-veve del regno di Sicilia (Turin 1884); Il diritto bizantino nell'Italia meridionale dal sec. VIII al XII (Bologna 1886); the edition of the Prochiron Legum (1895); as well as various studies on particular subjects. To canon law, which he regarded as the predominant historical factor in the formation of Italian law, he devoted the following studies: Sulla storia e la natura della donatio propter nuptias, Bologna 1891 (and Naples 1900); Rapporti patrimoniali tra coniugi, Modena 1901 (excerpt from Arch. giur., vol. 67); Saggi sulla storia della celebrazione del matrimonio (Milan 1906); I lasciti per l'anima e la loro trasformazione (Venice 1911; excerpt from Memorie dell'Istituto Veneto, vol. 28); Nota preliminare sull'origine della Stantia o Convenientia, Rome 1923 (excerpt from Rendiconti Acc. Lincei [Classe sc. mor. stor. fil., 5ª serie, vol. 32]). Antonio Rota