Political Economy and Legislation. The great success of Filangieri´s Scienza della legislazione in Spain (1780-1839)
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Notas de la redacción
For a more complete analysis of this issue, see J. Astigarraga, “I traduttori spagnoli di Filangieri e il risveglio del dibattito costituzionale (1780-1839)”, in A. Trampus, Diritti e costituzione. L´opera di Gaetano Filangieri e la sua fortuna europea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005, pp. 231-290. This paper was made possible by a different scholarships awarded to me under the Europe Programme by the D. G. A.-C. A. I. I wish to thank V. Ferrone (University of Torino), A. Trampus (University of Venice) and the professors at the Università Federico II of Naples, G. Muto, A. M. Rao and E. Chiosi. Nevertheless, nothing would have been possible without the invaluable assistance of Montserrat Lamarca (librarian at the University of Barcelona Library); the information and bibliographic references she provided me with were absolutely essential in locating the variety of texts examined in this paper.
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I. Introduction
1It is no coincidence that Gaetano Filangieri’s Scienza della legislazione began to arouse enormous enthusiasm almost from the moment it appeared, not if we read Introduzione in which the author tells us exactly why he wrote the work, that is. No writer on the subject before him had been able to reduce the making of laws to a “reliable and logical science, uniting ways and words and theory and practice”1. This is how the twenty eight year old Neapolitan lawyer put it when the first two volumes of his work appeared in the summer of 1780. He wanted to create a “comprehensive and logical” system for “drafting laws” based on a “few consistent general principles” that would be useful for “all countries, peoples and times”2. The current body of laws was not “relevant to contemporary society”: it was out of date and “contrived, confusing and complicated” by nature3. The perpetuation of feudal traditions and institutions was especially responsible for this state of affairs. This was strikingly evident in the enormous power still enjoyed by the Church and the fact the barones still held that jurisdiction over civil, economic and criminal matters. Filangieri began a crusade against contemporary law. The “cutting edge” of his campaign was his “open and violent attack on the nobles’ system”4. The only way to change southern Italian society was to completely reform juridical basis of the legal code and the process of making laws. This would upset the traditional compromise between feudal and modern society and reduce the enormous legal and economic inequalities5. Thus the law would emerge as the most suitable and efficient way of improving socio-economic conditions in the backward Mezzogiorno. At the same time, it would become the key factor in the creation of a new set of laws for society founded on public well-being; in future this would constitute the underlying principle for political action. The new economic and social order inspired by the Enlightenment began to emerge from the pages of the five volumes of Scienza that the author was able to complete before his untimely death in 1788: the sovereign was assigned the leading role in the struggle to achieve the enactment of “good laws”. For all these reasons Scienza was perfectly in tune with the traditional mainstream of criticism of the current system of law making. These voices favoured a substantial reform of the law and their ideas had been gaining ground amongst enlightened thinkers in Europe (Mably, Morelly, Schmid d’Avenstein, Beccaria…); Filangieri was one of the most outstanding members of this group6.
- 1 G. Filangieri, La Scienza della legislazione, Pasquale Villari (ed.), Firenze, Felice le (...)
- 2 D. Tommasi, "Elogio histórico del Caballero Gaetano Filangieri” [1788], in G. Filangieri, (...)
- 3 G. Filangieri, La scienza della legislazione, op.cit., pp. 40-41.
- 4 F. Diaz, Per una storia illuministica, Napoli, Guida, 1973, p. 454.
- 5 V. Ferrone, I profeti dell´Iluminismo. La metamorfosi della ragione nel tardo settecento italiano(...)
- 6 S. Cotta, Gaetano Filangieri e il problema della legge, Torino, G. Giappichelli, 1954, p. 49.
- 7 P. Gentile, L´opera di Gaetano Filangieri, Bologna, Nicola Zanichelli, 1904, p. 100; G. (...)
2The broad strokes of Filangieri’s blueprint for society were in tune with the highest principles of enlightened thought, ranging from the questioning of the fundamental principles of government and economics through to those related to defence, criminal and civil law, judicial procedures, education, popular traditions and religion. The second book of Scienza was entirely devoted to the leggi politiche ed economiche. And the title of the book clearly expressed their main feature. Flangieri aimed at emphasize the links between the political and the economic laws. Therefore, the change of the political and institutional structures was the condition to overcome the restrictions to economic growth imposed by the feudal legacy. As a matter of fact, the Scienza della legislazione has been recently described as an ambitious Republican program (with constitutional content), which is directly oriented towards the defence of individual rights. Indeed, the exciting experience of the Birth the Republic of the United States of America, which inspired Flangieri, is a constant feature in the book [Ferrone 2003]. On the other hand, Filangieri´s economic ideology could be classified as a “quasi-system" of Political Economy, which has been usually characterised as “eclectic” since it was influenced by the late Mercantilism and Physiocracy7. Together Physiocracy, the Scienza della Legislazione was clearly inspired by the literature created and diffussed from the V. Gournay’ circle. Among this literature, the main influence comes from the books by Hume, Forbonnais, but also the ideas coming from two groups of economic treatises published between 1765 and 1780. On the one hand the treatises by Accarias de Serione, Raynal and Robertson concerning the problem of commerce and colonies. On the other, the treatises by Linguet, Mably and Morelly regarding the relevant debate on property right. Nevertheless, the hypothesis of the significance of Physiocracy in the Scienza della Legislazione, and in particular the partial acceptance by Flangieri -Book II- of the natural order of the Physiocrats and the principles of property, freedom and security, is gradually accepted by the historians. Therefore, Flangieri get away from the original Genovesi’s mould as the first analysis by Villari and the succesive works by Nuccio [1971] and Fiorot [1991]) have demonstrated. Despite the sort of economic liberalism defended by Flangieri was not dogmatic, it should be stressed that it was relatively sophisticated in comparison with other contemporary Italian economic literature. The influence of Physiocracy came probably trough the works by Schmidt d´Avenstein, Le Mercier de la Rivière, Mirabeau and Verri (Flangieri never recognize his influence). However there is a disagreement among historians and Ferrara [1852: 210] do not accept the combination of "la ingerenza e la libertà" as the prevailing argument of the second volume of the Scienza della Legislazione. Finally, from the point of view of the international spread of the Scienza della Legislazione, it should be stressed the integration of the economic content into the ambitious matrix of the Republican ideology.
- 8 F. Venturi, Settecento riformatore, Torino, 1969-1984, vol. I, p.586.
- 9 F. Venturi, “Introduzione" to Iluministi italiani. Tomo V. Riformatori napoletani, (...)
- 10 R .Feola, Utopia e prassi: l´opera di Gaetano Filangieri ed il riformismo nelle Sicilie, Napoli, (...)
- 11 F. Venturi, Settecento riformatore , op.cit., vol. IV, p. 329.
- 12 R. Ajello, "L´estasi della ragione. Dall´Illuminismo all´idealismo. Introduzione alla (...)
3On the oher hand, if the truth be told, few works written the eighteenth century that better reflect the creative tension between local and cosmopolitan dimension inherent in the Enlightenment than Scienza. The book was, above all, a particulary significant manifestation of the complex movement for reform generated in the Mezzogiorno by Antonio Genovesi’s intellectual and educational activities. Venturi considers that “the entire Neapolitan Enlightenment, from Longano to Pagano and from Galanti to Filangieri”, is related, either directly or indirectly, to the emblematic figure of the priest from Salerno8. Indeed, Filangieri’s work subscribed to the “most utopian and productive” stream within the lively “Genovesian school” that had begun to gather strength from 1754, under the auspices of the Intieriana Chair of Commerce and Mechanics9. However, at the same time, it was adopted by the reform movement in Naples and Sicily as a model for action and enjoyed undoubted intellectual ascendancy during one of the most fruitful periods of the Enlightenment in southern Italy. This was to culminate in the founding of the Parthenopean Republic of Naples almost twenty years after the appearance of the first volumes of Scienza10. However, Filangieri’s ideas were by no means purely Neapolitan -or even Italian- for that matter; they formed part of that intellectually and spiritually cosmopolitan climate that imbued the eighteenth century. It was so typically European that it is difficult to envisage it existing outside the intense flow of ideas that surged through the Enlightenment in the Old World. More exactly, his ideas emerged at a time when the Enlightenment movement was abandoning “any sort of principled politics” and slowing down a programme of reforms that had experienced “prolonged and wide ranging” application during the previous decades; this was just after Turgot had been dismissed from the French Ministry of Finance and the Republic of the United States of America had been founded11. The Scienza therefore was the product of a period of profound introspection on the causes of the socio-economic backwardness of the Regno delle Due Sicilie, but, at the same time, it represented a cosmopolitan synthesis of one particular moment -and a crucial one at that- in the European Enlightenment movement12.
II. An Overall View
4The European spirit that imbues Scienza constitutes an important factor in explaining its extraordinary circulation throughout the continent shortly after its publication. “It is unlikely that so many and such a variety of editions of the same book have appeared inside or outside Italy in such a short period of time”, wrote Tommasi in 1788 [1788: CXI]. Commentators such as P. Custodi, G. G. Bianchetti and F. S. Salfi or P. Gentile and F. Venturi have all born witness to the extraordinary popularity of the book. It had a significant impact in Spain as well. This can be readily observed in different works, bibliographic studies [Reeder 1978; Cabrillo 1978] or the other nature [Herr 1958; Galindo 1991], and also in a broader, more interpretive work by Lalinde [1984]. Whilst these works do provide us with a partial vision of its impact in Spain, we can however reconstruct the work’s circulation within the country. We have chosen to reconstruct its progress through Spain by looking at the translations of the work that were published. We use the word "translation" in its broadest sense and in the knowledge that translation, which had come to play an important role in intellectual activity during the eighteenth century, is the most reliable guide to the extent of the circulation of ideas at an international level; it also constitutes a key tool in detecting departures from the original and corrections or additions to it. These derive from differences in thought between the country the work comes from and the one in which it is translated. Nevertheless, we must be aware of the risk entailed in identifying the history of a culture of the means of its transmission and intellectual development13.
- 13 R. Pasta, "Illuminismo e organizzazione della cultura", Studi storici, 22, 1981, pp. (...)
5The following is a complete list in chronological order of all the versions of Filangieri’s work that were published in Spain (the abbreviated name to be used from here on in the rest of the text appears at the end of each reference in square brackets).
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1. [Victorián de Villava]: Reflexiones sobre la libertad del comercio de frutos del Señor Cayetano Filangieri, Caballero del Orden de S. Juan, Madrid, Joaquín Ibarra, 1784 [Reflexiones sobre la libertad del comercio de frutos].
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2. Reflexiones políticas sobre la ley de Fernando IV, Rey de las dos Sicilias, que mira a la reforma de la administración de Justicia. Escritas en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri. Y traducidas al castellano, Madrid, Benito Cano, 1787 [Reflexiones políticas].
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3. Ciencia de la Legislación. Escrita en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri. Traducida al castellano por Don Jaime Rubio, Abogado de los Reales Consejos, Madrid, Manuel González, 1787-1789, 6 volumes in 5 books; vol. I (1787, book I), vol. II (1787, book II), vol. III (1788, book III, part I), vol. IV, part I (1789, book III, part II), vol. IV, part II (1789, libro III, part II), vol. V (1789, book IV, part I) [Rubio 1787-1789].
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4. Félix Amat: "Una prueba de que la Ciencia de la Legislación del Caballero Filangieri debe leerse con desconfianza en lo que cita de antiguo y en lo que piensa de nuevo" (1787), in Félix Torres Amat: Apéndice a la vida del Ilmo. Sr. D. Félix Amat, Madrid, Imprenta que fue de Fuentenebro, 1838, pp. 46-59 [Prueba].
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5. Francisco de Paula del Rey: Reflexiones económico-políticas de Don Francisco de Paula del Rey, Abogado de los Reales Tribunales de Castilla y de Navarra, sobre los capítulos VII y XXXVIII del Libro II de la obra intitulada Ciencia de la Legislación, escrita en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri, y traducida al castellano por Don Jaime Rubio, Madrid, Benito Cano, 1792 [Reflexiones económico-políticas].
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6. Ciencia de la Legislación. Escrita en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri, Madrid, Imprenta de Ibarra (volumes I, II, III, IV and V), Imprenta de Fuentenebro (volumes VI and VII) e Imprenta de Alvárez (volumes VIII, IX and X), 1813, 10 volumes; vol. I (book I), vol. II (book II), vol. III (book II), vol. IV (book III, part I), vol. V (book III, part II), vol. VI (book III, part III), vol. VII (book III, part III), vol. VIII (book IV, part I), vol. IX (book IV, part I), vol. X (book V) [Rubio 1813].
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7. Ciencia de la Legislación. Obra escrita en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri. Nuevamente traducida por Don Juan Ribera, Madrid, Fermín Villalpando, 1821-1822, 6 volumes; vol. I (1821, book I), vol. II (1821, book II), vol. III (1821, book III, parts I and II), vol. IV (1822, book III, part II), vol. V (1822, book IV, parts I and II), vol. VI (1822, book IV, parts II and III; book V) [Ribera 1821-1822].
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8. Ciencia de la Legislación escrita en italiano por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri, y traducida al castellano por Don Jaime Rubio, abogado de los Reales Consejos. Tercera edición corregida y añadida con discursos analíticos en cada libro, Madrid, Imprenta de Núñez, 1822, 10 volumes in 5 books; vol. I (book I), vol. II (book II), vol. III (book II), vol. IV (book III, part I), vol. V (book III, part II), vol. VI (book III, part III), vol. VII (book III, part III), vol. VIII (book IV, part I), vol. IX (book IV, part I), vol. X (libro V) [Rubio 1822].
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9. Ciencia de la Legislación, por el Caballero Cayetano Filangieri, nuevamente traducida por Don Juan Ribera. Segunda edición, revisada y corregida, Bordeaux, Imprenta de Don Pedro Beaume, 1823, 6 volumes; vol. I (book I), vol. II (book II), vol. III (book III, parts I and II), vol. IV (book III, part II), vol. V (book IV, parts I and II), vol. VI (book IV, parts II and III; book V) [Ribera 1823].
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10. Bernardo Latorre (o La Torre): Compendio de la obra que escribió el Caballero Filangieri, titulada Ciencia de la Legislación, con notas de los autores más clásicos, redactado en el año 1834, Madrid, Imprenta de I. Boix, 1839 [Compendio].
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11. Ciencia de la Legislación, por C. Filangieri, ilustrada con comentarios por Benjamin Constant. Tercera edición, revisada, corregida y aumentada, Paris, Librería española de Lecointe, 10 vol in 5 t.; Paris, Librería Americana, 10 vol.; vol. I (book I), vol. II (book I), vol. III (books I and II), vol. IV (books II and III), vol. V (book III), vol. VI (book III), vol. VII (book III), vol. VIII (book IV), vol. IX (book IV), vol. X (book V) [Ribera 1836].
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Type of version |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
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Partial Translation |
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* |
* |
* |
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Complete Translation |
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Summary |
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Refutation |
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Commentary |
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- 14 G. Filangieri, La Scienza della legislazione, Venezia, Centro di Studi sull´Illuminismo europeo (...)
- 15 G. Filangieri, Opuscoli scelti editi, ed inediti del Cav. Gaetano Filangieri, Palermo 1815
6The idea of the table that follows is to establish the relationship between the various Spanish versions of Filangieri’s work and the structure of the original (unfortunately, our analysis was made before the last edition of Scienza was published).14 A number of Italian and foreign editions of Scienza included Filangieri’s Riflessioni politiche su l’ultima legge del sovrano che riguarda la riforma dell’amministrazione della giustizia (1774) and also Elogio storico (1788), dedicated to him by D. Tommasi, as well as Commentaire sur l’ouvrage de Filangieri (1822-1824) by B. Constant. Some Spanish editions followed suit. On the other hand, Filangieri’s analysis of An Essay on the National Debt (1787) by Playfair and other brief treatises he produced whilst Advisor to the Supreme Council of Finances of Naples received no exposure in Spain whatsoever15.
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Scienza della legislazione |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
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Structure |
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Book I |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Book II |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Book III |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 1 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 2 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 3 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Book IV |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 1 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 2 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Part 3 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Book V |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
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Commentaire by B. Constant |
* |
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Elogio by D. Tommasi |
* |
* |
* |