DE LUCA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Jurist, b. at Venosa in 1614, d. at Rome on 5 February 1683. He studied jurisprudence at Salerno and at Naples, where he obtained his degree at the age of 21 and practiced law for a long time until he moved to Rome in 1645. Having become an ecclesiastic, he was an auditor and secretary of memorials, and on 1 September 1681 he was created cardinal by Innocent XI.
His principal work is the Theatrum veritatis et iustitiae, sive decisivi discursus per materias seu titulos distincti, etc., in 21 volumes including the supplements (Rome 1669-73 and Venice 1734): a kind of repertory containing, arranged by subject matter, the forensic pleadings and the discourses he delivered in the exercise of his profession as a lawyer. At the end of each book a doctrinal exposition is appended.
An abridgment of this work in the Italian language was made by D. L. himself subsequently, under the title Il dottor volgare ovvero il compendio di tutta la legge civile, canonica, feudale e municipale nelle cose più ricevute nella pratica, etc., in 15 books (Rome 1673). His Discorso dello stile legale is also famous, in which he advocates, among other things, the use of the Italian language in trials.
D. L. is the most representative figure of the practical jurisprudence of the 17th century. He starts from the just importance to be attributed to the customs and particular laws of peoples as against the common law, affirming that the authority of civil laws is born from the consent and the custom of peoples. He likewise criticizes the bad habit of granting authority to juridical doctrines on the basis of the arithmetic number of their adherents, maintaining that instead one must consider not the number, but the quality of the doctors and that of their foundations and reasons.
The Instituta civilia should also be attributed to him, an institutional work in imitation of Justinian's, published posthumously under the care of Crescimbeni and which, analogously to the Dottor volgare, contains reference citations to his larger work, the Theatrum.
D. L. reveals an open mind and a brilliant spirit, not always free from caustic irony, and a sense of a broad and modern view of juridical problems. His works are distinguished by their great canonistic erudition, and on the other hand the very application of civil law is treated with that spirit of canonical equity which had its particular efficacy and its natural seat in the tribunals of the Papal States, especially in that of the Roman Rota.
Bibliography2 works
Antonio Rota