SCALA, Pace.

by Pace Scala

£2,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

Handsome first edition of this work on expert or academic legal commentary (consilia) and judicial decisions by the little-known Paduan jurist Pace or Pax Scala (d. 1604), one of the few legal texts printed at the Aldine press. The book is set out as a series of quaestiones with responses by Scala, addressed to a fellow lawyer or patron called Bartolomeo Vitelli. The subject is the relationship of the written law to the legal opinions of jurists. The first book addresses the nature and status of consilia, as well as of jurists: can a Jewish convert, for example, become a jurist, since Jews could not? Scala is obviously interested in the relationship of Jewish citizens to the law courts, since he returns to it in the second book, which is an examination of different cases that might arise in the courts: Scala asks if Jews can bring suits against Christians, since Jews belong to a ‘different flock’. The third and fourth books discuss the relationship between learned consilia and judicial decisions, the most basic questions being whether, where, and when a judge should follow the letter of the law or the opinion given in a learned consilium. Situations discussed include when the judge disagrees with the consilia, when two different consilia disagree, and when the judge dies mid-case. There follows a brief work on how consilia relate to contracts and wills and testaments, and whether these should rely on consilia or the letter of the law in various situations, addressed to th

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.