MENOCHIO, Giacomo. – Jurist, born in Pavia in 1532, died there in 1607. He began teaching law at this university at a very young age (1556–60). Having risen to great fame, after refusing several European chairs, he was summoned by Duke Emanuele Filiberto to teach at the new University of Mondovì (1561–66). He also went to Pisa, but refused to remain there despite the offers of Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici, having already committed himself to the Venetian Republic to hold the primary chair at the University of Padua (1566–88). After Nicola Graziano died in Pavia, his fellow citizens recalled him to their university. Later he was appointed by King Philip II of Spain as senator, president of extraordinary revenues, and royal counsellor. He was the most celebrated and typical representative of the school of practical jurists.
Principal works: *De adipiscenda et recuperanda possessione* (Lyon 1571); *De arbitrariis iudicum quaestionibus et causis* (ibid. 1585); *De praesumptionibus, coniecturis, signis et judiciis commentaria* (Cologne 1595); *De iurisdictione, imperio ac potestate ecclesiastica ac saeculari* (Venice 1906); *Consiliorum sive responsorum libri XIII* (ibid. 1609). He also served as one of the editors of the *Tractatus universi iuris*, published under the auspices of Gregory XIII in Venice in 1584, in 28 volumes.