Italian law codes


The Italian law codes constitute the codified law of Italy. There are five codes of Italian law: the civil code, the code of civil procedure, the penal code, the code of criminal procedure, and the navigation code.

The civil codes

The codice civile represents private law. The first civil code was enacted in 1865.
The civil code also outlines the laws for commerce and is the code dealing with corporate law.

Code of civil procedure

This code contains the rules for civil proceedings before a court of law.

Penal code

The Penal Code has its origins in Roman law and in Middle Ages canonical law, although the Code in its current state was written during the French Enlightenment. All offences are classified as either delitti or contravvenzioni, the former representing the more serious of the two.

Code of criminal procedure

Navigation code

The Codice della Navigazione is the principal set of rules governing the internal states and situations of sea and air navigation. It was approved originally during 1942, and subsequently amended 2005 and 2006.