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 1158 in the Diet of Roncaglia; he died before the others, no later than 1166.
Tradition presents him as the antagonist of Bulgaro, as the champion (but to what extent is this really true?) of aequitas against jus strictum, and embellishes this rivalry with details that are at times fictionalized. The effectiveness of M.'s teaching manifested itself not only in the fruitful continuity of a school that was called that of the Gosians, but also in imperial and pontifical legislation, which in various cases adopted his opinions. Well known is the episode of the constitution Sacramenta puberum of Frederick Barbarossa, by which the oath of a minor, provided he was of age, sufficed to validate a contract he had stipulated, even if it was in itself null: M. himself is said to have requested and certainly obtained its promulgation from the Emperor, one day when he was riding familiarly at his side, thus succeeding in having an opinion of his own sanctioned, which Bulgaro opposed. Another well-known episode brings to light, and in an unsympathetic light, his devotion to the Emperor who honored him with his confidence; when the latter asked whether or not he was by law the master of the world, M. answered him yes, in contrast to Bulgaro's partial denial.
His extensive learning, which earned M. the epithet of copia legum and the praise of in legum pagina nulli secundus, manifested itself principally, besides in the glosses (marked with the sigla M.,
Ma., Mar., M.G.), in various exegetical writings of another kind and in a short treatise De jure dotium.