Novità politiche della Lombardia del Trecento nei pareri legali di Signorolo Omodei

The collection of legal consilia of the Milanese jurist Signorolus de Homodeis senior (c. 1300-1371) is examined to show how a reputed man of law, who successfully taught in various Italian Universities, was called to give an interpretation of the socio-political changes that unravelling during the fourteenth century. The grants of pardon and grace, the criminal procedures, the rise of the Visconti dynasty at the expense of the communal institutions, the changing role of magistrates and officials, the procedures of public debt, the agreements of mutual protection between territorial powers: all of these topics were submitted to the jurist for opinion and examined in the light of legal knowledge. Even the lawyer’s mindset, shaped in the tradition of Roman law, was often bent and adapted to suit the new demands and needs.