FRANCESCO CARRARA. — Italian criminal jurist, born in Lucca on 18 Sept. 1805, died there on 15 Jan. 1888. He earned his degree in law at the University of Pisa after attending the criminal law courses of G. Carmignani. He practiced as a lawyer and then served as professor of criminal law at the lyceum in Pisa for twelve years; subsequently he was called to hold the chair of criminal law at that university. A deputy in several legislatures, he was appointed senator of the kingdom on 25 May 1876. He may be considered the chief exponent of the classical school of criminal doctrine.
He set forth his system in a monumental work which he entitled *Programma del corso di diritto criminale*, published in Lucca from 1867 to 1870 in 9 vols. The first two volumes treat the general part, the remaining seven the individual crimes, divided into natural crimes insofar as they violate a natural right of the individual and social crimes insofar as they injure the rights of the entire community. From the latter he deemed it necessary to exclude political crimes, since the absolute and constant principles that form the foundation of criminal law could not be applied to them. To him is also owed a series of other works on criminal law which he collected in the *Opuscoli*, published in Lucca (1859–74). Finally, he turned to the study of procedure by examining the systems in force in various codes and also wrote the *Lineamenti di pratica legislativa penale* (Turin 1874).
At the core of his conception is the idea that the foundation of criminal law lies in the presupposition of an eternal and inviolable law that accords to man the necessary rights to fulfill the duties imposed by that same moral law. Hence there follows the necessity of protecting external order for society. The primary end of punishment is the restoration of external social order. With this approach to the problem of criminal justice, Carrara earned the merit of setting aside the abstract moralistic doctrines of his predecessors and the vague assertions of social defense. Through his work the formula of legal protection becomes a fundamental postulate of criminal law doctrine.