Prospettive moderne per una teoria della pena. Declinazioni della giustizia e causae puniendi tra XVI e XVII secolo

Even now, penalty is at the heart of legal debate: jurists and philosophers discuss its grounds and functions. This essay investigates the transformations that the ideas of justice, criminal law and penalty underwent between 16th and 17th century, when the medieval theory of retribution declined. The humanistic impout of Pierre Grégoire was crucial to the systematization of the three causae puniendi, opening up new prospects; even the theological debate about the cosmology and the human nature determined some important consequences. Reconsidering the concept of secularization and enhancing social disciplining as a key process for modern law, this essay shows how the debate developed during the early modern age.