SCIALOJA, VITTORIO. - Jurist, b. in Turin on 24 April 1856, d. in Rome on 19 November 1933. Having graduated from the University of Rome in 1877, after a brief period at the presidency of the Court of Cassation of Rome, he taught Roman law at the University of Camerino and subsequently, as a full professor, at Siena (1881) and at Rome (1881), a university that he was to distinguish with his teaching until 1931.
He was a national member and for some time president of the Accademia dei Lincei, promoter and president of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, senator of the Kingdom from 1904, minister of State of Rome, which had been constituted through his efforts. A politician, he maintained the very highest tone of the debates in the Senate and was minister of Grace and Justice in the Sonnino ministry (1909-10), minister without portfolio in the Boselli ministry (1916-17), minister of Foreign Affairs in the Nitti cabinets (1919-20). A delegate to the peace conference (1919-20) and to the League of Nations (1921-32), he upheld, in difficult moments, by the sole authority of his name and his expertise, the prestige of Italy. As a lawyer, he constituted, through his opinions and his arguments, an incomparable example of doctrine and refinement that has remained unsurpassed to this day. An editor of texts, he collaborated actively on the edition of the Digesta (Milan 1908-31).
Of his juridical works the most important are, besides numerous courses on Roman law: I negozi giuridici, Rome 1892-93 (2nd ed. ibid. 1933); Teoria della proprietà in diritto romano, 2 vols., ibid. 1928; Diritto ereditario romano, ibid. 1933; Procedura civile romana (completed by V. Arangio-Ruiz), ibid. 1936. His very numerous articles and speeches were for the most part collected by L. Trompeo: Studi giuridici e scritti e discorsi politici, 7 vols., Rome 1932-36.
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Rodolfo Danieli