TAMASSIA, NINO. - Historian of Italian law, b. at Revere di Mantova on 1 Dec. 1860, d. at Padova on 11 Dec. 1931.
Having graduated at Pavia and pursued further studies at Strasburgo, he taught at Parma from 1886, at Pisa from 1888, and at Padova from 1895 until his death. The history of law, which under his predecessors (Sclopis, Pertile, Schupfer, Del Giudice) had not yet asserted its autonomy from foreign schools, received from T. a new orientation, not very aptly termed “nationalistic,” which reduced within more proper limits the influence of Germanic law, exaggerated by German historians and by Schupfer (v). In more than two hundred specialized studies, T. brought to light the legacy of Rome and the continuous action of the Church, “converging upon the natural qualities and historical conditions of the Italian people” (Calisse). He preferred scientific communications, rich in thought despite their brevity, to treatises and monographs: hence the charge that his work was fragmentary, a charge nevertheless disproved by the volumes on Odofredo and on La famiglia italiana nei secc. XIV e XV. He went back beyond classical Roman law to that of the Italic regions, emerging in popular customs, and made use of sources from the 5th and 6th centuries, previously neglected, including patristic literature, devoting particular studies to ecclesiastical writers (s. Gregorio Magno, Zenone di Verona, s. Massimo, s. Pier Crisologo, Lanfranco di Pavia, Paolino d'Aquileia).