MARTINO GOSIA. — Bolognese jurist (12th century), of the noble Gosi family, which distinguished itself for four generations in the study and practice of law. He was one of the so-called “four doctors” and took part in the Diet of Roncaglia in 1158; he died before the others, no later than 1166.
Tradition presents him as Bulgaro’s antagonist, as the champion (but to what extent is this actually true?) of aequitas against jus strictum, and embellishes this rivalry with details that are sometimes romanticized. The effectiveness of M.’s teaching was manifested not only in the fruitful continuity of a school known as that of the Gosians, but also in imperial and pontifical legislation, which on various occasions adopted his opinions. The episode of Frederick Barbarossa’s constitution Sacramenta puberum is well known: according to it, the oath of a minor, provided that he was pubescent, sufficed to validate a contract he had concluded, even if it was in itself null. M. himself is said to have requested and obtained its promulgation from the Emperor without difficulty, one day when he was riding familiarly at his side, thus succeeding in having one of his own opinions enacted—an opinion opposed by Bulgaro. Another well-known episode brings to light, and not in a sympathetic light, his devotion to the Emperor, who honored him with his confidence: when the latter asked whether or not he was juridically the master of the world, M. answered yes, in contrast to Bulgaro’s partial denial.
The extensive learning that earned M. the epithet copia legum and the praise in legum pagina nulli secundus was manifested chiefly not only in the glosses (designated M.,
Ma., Mar., M.G.), but also in various exegetical writings of a different kind and in a short treatise De jure dotium.