Tra esegesi e sistema? Cultura giuridica e metodo scientifico di Francesco Saverio Bianchi (1827-1908)

Understanding the figure of Francesco Saverio Bianchi – whether for his manifold activities (professor of Civil Law at Parma and Siena universities, judge of the Court of Cassation of Turin and Rome, State Councillor and President of the Council of State), or for his long earthly sojourn that brought him to witness and participate to the various seasons of the European juridical science from the 1840s to the beginning of 1900, or yet for the impressive number of papers and books he uninterruptedly wrote for half a century – means to be able to delineate the profile of the Italian jurist who shifted between two juridical experiences, the pre-unitary one, which formed him, and the national one. This paper will consider the figure of Bianchi as a theorist of civil law, trying to catch the evolution of his thought, which is also made of changes of mind, as we shall see with reference to the crucial and extremely sensitive problem of the judge-law relationship. In terms of his scientific method, Bianchi is quite an original jurist. Once he took up the university chair he understood that the classical method of his masters, which consisted in commenting the rules following the order in the civil code, was unsatisfactory. He was deeply convinced that educational-scientific analysis needs a more general and complete development; in brief, a methodology which allows the interpreter to move agilely inside the code and to build up his autonomous interpretation. This approach enabled him to elaborate a personal commentary, a text that reflects his thought, without inferiority complex towards the Francophone doctrine, which undoubtedly represents his first reference point.