Verso la nuova Europa del diritto. Romanisti e totalitarismo

The Roman legal tradition is currently widely considered as one of the main foundations of European legal culture. The aim of this study is to explore the contentious emergence of this conviction in the turbulent years from the rise of totalitarianism to the beginnings of European integration. While it is common knowledge that Roman law was particularly targeted by the Nazi regime, what this article seeks to demonstrate is that this was a more complicated situation than a simple question of opposition or supporting the study of Roman law. The issues that led to the rise of Roman law as a key point in the narrative of European legal integration were influenced by numerous factors and considerations, ranging from Catholic conservatism to utopian Europeanism. However, for jurisprudence, the discovery of the link between Roman law and Europe made it possible to reject the legacy of totalitarianism and to seek relevance within the new field of European integration by underlying continuities in methodology and concepts.