ROTARI - The Edict of R. Cod. Vat. lat. 5350, fol. 11 verso, is a palimpsest: the underlying script, a Psalter of the Vetus Latina, dates to the 7th–8th century; the upper script, containing the Leges Langobardorum, dates to the 9th century — Vatican Library.
The last of these tribunals survived until 1833 and, thanks to its distinguished jurists, enjoyed great prestige; many of its decisions were also printed. It is noteworthy that the Florentine Rota was the first court to give reasoned opinions for its judgments (from May 1542); it was soon followed in this practice by almost all tribunals, including the Roman Rota. In 1528 a major reform took place in Genoa that altered the constitution, and in that year the Rota civile arose as the supreme tribunal, composed of auditors chosen from outside the region. It received, by right of competence, appeals and petitions for review; its decisions in matters of commercial and maritime law were highly regarded and 215 of them were printed in two editions, at Genoa in 1581 and at Venice in 1582, under the title Decisiones Rotae munensis de mercatura et rebus pertinentibus ad eam.
Entirely distinct in origin is the Rota of Madrid. As early as 1590, special causes that could not be resolved by ordinary tribunals began to be handled at the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain. Officially, the Rota of Madrid, also called the “Tribunal de la Rota de la Nunciatura Apostólica de Madrid,” was established by the brief *Administrandae iustitiae zelus* of Clement XIV dated 26 March 1771. King Charles III of Spain gave it further life by a decree of 26 October 1773. Composed of seven judges, it generally heard appeals in second and third instance, sitting in panels of three. Its authority was considered preeminent, since no appeal was ever permitted from the Rota of Madrid to that of Rome; its competence extended to so-called ecclesiastical affairs, namely civil and criminal cases involving regular clergy and others subject to the Holy See within the Kingdom of Spain. The fortunes of the Madrid Rota varied greatly owing to the many political upheavals, since it was a tribunal subsidized and largely subject to the state. Of all the Rotae mentioned, it is the only one still extant, by virtue of the motu proprio of Pius XII dated 7 April 1947 (*AAS*, 39 [1947], pp. 155–63).