First published in 1917 (Part 1) and 1918 (Part 2), with a second edition in 1946, this is the first English translation of Santi Romano's classic work, L'ordinamento giuridico (The Legal Order). The main focus of The Legal Order is the notion of institution, which Romano considers to be both the core and distinguishing feature of law. After criticising accounts of the nature of law centred on notions of rule, coercion or authority, he offers a compelling conception, not merely of law as an institution, but of the institution as 'the first, original and essential manifestation of law'. Romano advances a definition of a legal institution as any group who share rules within a bounded context: for example, a family, a firm, a factory, a prison, an association, a church, an illegal organisation, a state, the community of states, and so on. Therefore, this understanding of legal institutionalism at the same time provides a ground-breaking theory of legal pluralism whereby 'there are as many legal orders as institutions'. The acme of a jurisprudential current long overlooked in the Anglophone environment (Romano's work is highly regarded in France, Germany, Spain and South America, as well as in Italy), The Legal Order not only proposes what Carl Schmitt described as a 'very significant theory'. More importantly, it offers precious insights for a thorough rethinking of the relationship between law and society in today's world.

This book contains the first English translations of Santi Romano's important essays 'On the decree laws and the state of siege during the earthquakes in Messina and Reggio Calabria' (1909) and 'The Modern State and its Crisis' (1910). Before Santi Romano wrote his masterpiece The Legal Order in 1917-18, he lay the foundations for his ground-breaking theory of law in these two essays, which are still central to scholarly debates about his legacy. The main focus of 'On the decree laws' is the concept of necessity as a source of law. Such a controversial view anticipated the much more renowned conception of the state of exception advanced later by Carl Schmitt in his Political Theology, and has provided a reference point for Giorgio Agamben. The second essay, 'The modern state and its crisis', is concerned with the emergence of social forces that the early 20th-century administrative state was struggling to tame. Pursuing an insight that he would develop in The Legal Order, Romano argued that a solution could be found in a public law theory that was able to reconcile the need for a shared constitutional frame with the internal orderings of nonstate movements. Indispensable for contemporary scholars to understand how Romano's most revolutionary notions came about, as well as to fully appreciate the theoretical import of his concept of law, this book will appeal to legal and political theorists, and others who are interested in how law deals and should deal with emergencies and social crises.

The Politics of Juridification offers a timely contribution to debates about how politics is being affected by the increasing relevance of judicial bodies to the daily administration of Western political communities. While most critical analyses portray juridification as a depoliticizing, de-democratizing transferral of political authority to the courts (whether national or international), this book centres on the workable ambivalence of such a far-reaching phenomenon. While juridification certainly intensifies the power and competences of judicial bodies to the disadvantage of representative political institutions, it cannot be easily reduced to the demise of democratic politics. By focusing on the multiple ways in which social agents make use of the law, The Politics of Juridification teases out the agential and transformative aspects of the various negotiations social agents engage with legal institutions with a view to obtaining political visibility. In particular, the book homes in on two seemingly distinct phenomena: on one hand, the regulation of sexuality and emerging kinship formations; on the other, the fragmentation of legal settings due to the claims to legal autonomy advanced by sub-state cultural and religious groups. By doing so, the book makes the case for an unexpected convergence between the struggles for legal recognition of sexual minorities and religious and cultural minorities. The conclusion is that juridification does entail normalization and favour the infiltration of law into the social realm. But because of its ambivalent nature, it can and does serve as an alternative vehicle for social change - one that attaches more importance to how social agents produce law on a daily basis and how this law permeates official legal orders.

The Politics of Juridification offers a timely contribution to debates about how politics is being affected by the increasing relevance of judicial bodies to the daily administration of Western political communities. While most critical analyses portray juridification as a depoliticizing, de-democratizing transferral of political authority to the courts (whether national or international), this book centres on the workable ambivalence of such a far-reaching phenomenon. While juridification certainly intensifies the power and competences of judicial bodies to the disadvantage of representative political institutions, it cannot be easily reduced to the demise of democratic politics. By focusing on the multiple ways in which social agents make use of the law, The Politics of Juridification teases out the agential and transformative aspects of the various negotiations social agents engage with legal institutions with a view to obtaining political visibility. In particular, the book homes in on two seemingly distinct phenomena: on one hand, the regulation of sexuality and emerging kinship formations; on the other, the fragmentation of legal settings due to the claims to legal autonomy advanced by sub-state cultural and religious groups. By doing so, the book makes the case for an unexpected convergence between the struggles for legal recognition of sexual minorities and religious and cultural minorities. The conclusion is that juridification does entail normalization and favour the infiltration of law into the social realm. But because of its ambivalent nature, it can and does serve as an alternative vehicle for social change - one that attaches more importance to how social agents produce law on a daily basis and how this law permeates official legal orders.

First published in 1917 (Part 1) and 1918 (Part 2), with a second edition in 1946, this is the first English translation of Santi Romano's classic work, L'ordinamento giuridico (The Legal Order). The main focus of The Legal Order is the notion of institution, which Romano considers to be both the core and distinguishing feature of law. After criticising accounts of the nature of law centred on notions of rule, coercion or authority, he offers a compelling conception, not merely of law as an institution, but of the institution as 'the first, original and essential manifestation of law'. Romano advances a definition of a legal institution as any group who share rules within a bounded context: for example, a family, a firm, a factory, a prison, an association, a church, an illegal organisation, a state, the community of states, and so on. Therefore, this understanding of legal institutionalism at the same time provides a ground-breaking theory of legal pluralism whereby 'there are as many legal orders as institutions'. The acme of a jurisprudential current long overlooked in the Anglophone environment (Romano's work is highly regarded in France, Germany, Spain and South America, as well as in Italy), The Legal Order not only proposes what Carl Schmitt described as a 'very significant theory'. More importantly, it offers precious insights for a thorough rethinking of the relationship between law and society in today's world.

The Legal Theory of Carl Schmitt provides a detailed analysis of Schmitt's institutional theory of law, mainly developed in the books published between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. By reading Schmitt's overall work through the lens of his institutional turn, the authors offer a strikingly different interpretation of Schmitt's theory of politics, law and the relation between these two domains. The book argues that Schmitt's adhesion to legal institutionalism was a key theoretical achievement, based on serious reconsideration of the main flaws of his own decisionist paradigm, in the light of the French and Italian institutional theories of law. In so doing, the authors elucidate how Schmitt was able to unravel many of the impasses that affected his previous conceptual framework. The authors also make comparisons between Schmitt and other leading legal theorists (H. Kelsen, M. Hauriou, S. Romano and C. Mortati) and explain why the current legal debate should take into serious account his legacy.

The Legal Theory of Carl Schmitt provides a detailed analysis of Schmitt s institutional theory of law, mainly developed in the books published between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. By reading Schmitt s overall work through the lens of his institutional turn, the authors offer a strikingly different interpretation of Schmitt s theory of politics, law and the relation between these two domains. The book argues that Schmitt s adhesion to legal institutionalism was a key theoretical achievement, based on serious reconsideration of the main flaws of his own decisionist paradigm, in the light of the French and Italian institutional theories of law. In so doing, the authors elucidate how Schmitt was able to unravel many of the impasses that affected his previous conceptual framework. The authors also make comparisons between Schmitt and other leading legal theorists (H. Kelsen, M. Hauriou, S. Romano and C. Mortati) and explain why the current legal debate should take into serious account his legacy.

How should the state face the challenge of radical pluralism? How can constitutional orders be changed when they prove unable to regulate society? Santi Romano, Carl Schmitt, and Costantino Mortati, the leading figures of Continental legal institutionalism, provided three responses that deserve our full attention today. Mariano Croce and Marco Goldoni introduce and analyze these three towering figures for a modern audience. Romano thought pluralism to be an inherent feature of legality and envisaged a far-reaching reform of the state for it to be a platform of negotiation between autonomous normative regimes. Schmitt believed pluralism to be a dangerous deviation that should be curbed through the juridical exclusion of alternative institutional formations. Mortati held an idea of the constitution as the outcome of a basic agreement among hegemonic forces that should shape a shared form of life. The Legacy of Pluralism explores the convergences and divergences of these towering jurists to take stock of their ground-breaking analyses of the origin of the legal order and to show how they can help us cope with the current crisis of national constitutional systems.

"Political Philosophy: The New Frontiers" is a comprehensive overview of the most significant theories and contributions in the field of political philosophy of the last three decades. It is a journey through contemporary political philosophy that puts forward a basic interpretative hypothesis. Mario Croce and Andrea Salvatore analyse the theories and proposals of many prominent political philosophers and attempt to arrive at the conclusion that today's politics is characterised by a striking reviviscence of groups (whether ethnic, religious, financial, or else) which is profoundly impacting on the role of traditional political institutions, and on the state in particular. Political philosophers discussed include Giorgio Agamben, Zygmunt Bauman, Mark Goodale, Martha Nussbaum, Charles Taylor, Slavoj Zižek and many others. "Political Philosophy: The New Frontiers" also devotes attention to elements that are crucial to a sound analysis of contemporary politics, both at a national and at a global level, such as the law and the transformation of the legal practice and a socio-anthropological analysis of globalisation. It is an exhaustive picture of the debates and discussions in the field of political philosophy in a captivating way, which leads the reader to an informed global understanding of the field, but also to reflect on some vital issues that directly affect their everyday life.

"Political Philosophy: The New Frontiers" is a comprehensive overview of the most significant theories and contributions in the field of political philosophy of the last three decades. It is a journey through contemporary political philosophy that puts forward a basic interpretative hypothesis. Mario Croce and Andrea Salvatore analyse the theories and proposals of many prominent political philosophers and attempt to arrive at the conclusion that today's politics is characterised by a striking reviviscence of groups (whether ethnic, religious, financial, or else) which is profoundly impacting on the role of traditional political institutions, and on the state in particular. Political philosophers discussed include Giorgio Agamben, Zygmunt Bauman, Mark Goodale, Martha Nussbaum, Charles Taylor, Slavoj Zižek and many others. "Political Philosophy: The New Frontiers" also devotes attention to elements that are crucial to a sound analysis of contemporary politics, both at a national and at a global level, such as the law and the transformation of the legal practice and a socio-anthropological analysis of globalisation. It is an exhaustive picture of the debates and discussions in the field of political philosophy in a captivating way, which leads the reader to an informed global understanding of the field, but also to reflect on some vital issues that directly affect their everyday life.

In 1922, Carl Schmitt penned Political Theology, the celebrated essay in which he elaborated on the notorious theory that the heart of politics lies in the sovereign power to issue emergency measures that suspend the legal order. Ever since, Schmitt's thinking has largely been identified with this concept, despite him renouncing it over time. Offering a comprehensive analysis of Schmitt's writings, Carl Schmitt's Institutional Theory provides an ambitious, novel perspective on Carl Schmitt and his legal and political thinking. By delving into Schmitt's output over his decades-long career, Mariano Croce and Andrea Salvatore explore Schmitt's varied and developing thoughts on exceptionalism, societal pluralism and the law as the progenitor and enforcer of normality. Challenging dominant interpretations, Croce and Salvatore dethrone the false centrality of certain key texts, and instead provide a more unified, coherent account of his institutional theory from across his long and controversial career.