Rivista del Diritto Commerciale e del diritto generale delle Obbligazioni

Abstract: Taking Professor Lipari’s 1968 lecture in Bari as a starting point, the paper retraces the salient features of the author’s most recent monographic work on justice. In particular, it highlights the faithfulness to the sociological approach to law that, in the author’s opinion, the jurist should adopt in order to free himself from the stringent formalistic habits that have characterized previous eras: by doing so, the law could better adapt to social reality and be perceived by citizens as a living and shared element (and not abstract and imposed). In a second part, some doubts are raised about the actual applicability of the proposed system, as it is susceptible to excessive openness to the personal sensitivity and discretion of the individual judge, with a consequent impairment of the equal treatment of citizens by virtue of the principle of equality.  

Summary: 1. Il cinquantennio di una prospettiva: la prolusione barese del 1968. – 2. La fedeltà all’oggetto di studio: il giurista e la realtà sociale. – 3. La nuova rilevanza della Costituzione e dei principi e il rapporto con i valori. – 4. Verso la giustizia attraverso la ragionevolezza. – 5. Sociologia, soggettivismo etico e poteri del giudice: fin dove porta la ricerca della “giustizia”? – 6. Verso una repubblica “giudiziale”?

Keywords: Law — Justice — Principle of equality.