Water and the Law: Water Management in the Statutory Legislation of Later Communal Italy
By (author) Francesco Salvestrini
Paperback (Published)
(March 2024)
ISBN: 9781803277363
6.85 x 9.65 inches
Price: $54.00
In stock
Investigating water resource law in the statutory legislation codified by commune, oligarchic and seigneurial governments in Northern and Central Italy from the 13th-14th centuries, this book explores the relationship between water management norms and the local environment, and the protection of inhabited areas from the danger of flooding.
Water and the Law investigates water resource law in the statutory legislation codified by commune, oligarchic and seigneurial governments of cities and smaller municipalities in Northern and Central Italy from the thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries. It aims to shed light on the relationship between water management norms and the local environment, that is how urban governments planned the use and distribution of water, and the protection of inhabited areas from the danger of flooding. Through a careful analysis of just two hundred statutory regulations that deal with water resources, the text compares the solutions adopted in Northern Italy, presenting a relatively large water supply and a dense network of tributaries of the river Po, with the situation in central areas of the peninsula (including Rome), where smaller watercourses with torrential characteristics – such as the Arno and the Tiber – interact with important cities and manufacturing centres like Florence. From this point of view, the book highlights the existence of a border between Continental Italy (north of the Tuscan-Emilian and Tuscany-Romagna Apennines) and the Peninsular Italy (south of it). In fact, when it came to building the necessary infrastructure for the supply of water and its distribution for irrigation purposes, municipal authorities in the Po area made provision for private-sector initiatives, whereas in the central regions of the country, such initiatives were largely the result of public works and projects pursued by the Popular governments at the helm of numerous cities. Lastly, the text relativises the awareness of legislators concerning the health and hygiene risks associated with the use and improper disposal of polluted and infected water, preferring to speak about a normative defence of the semantically broader category of decorum.
Introduction
I. Medieval Statutes and Water Management: The Italian Context
II. Verifying a Hypothesis
III. Legal Norms for Water Management: The Urban Context
IV. Legal Norms for Water Management: Rural Areas
V. Conflicts and Regulatory ‘Solutions’
VI. Water Quality
VII. Water-driven Machinery
VIII. Transportation of Merchandise and People. Timber Rafting
IX. Protection from Flooding and the Religious Dimension
XI. Concluding Remarks
List of statutes examined
Bibliography
Figures
Indexes
,
Introduction
I. Medieval Statutes and Water Management: The Italian Context
II. Verifying a Hypothesis
III. Legal Norms for Water Management: The Urban Context
IV. Legal Norms for Water Management: Rural Areas
V. Conflicts and Regulatory ‘Solutions’
VI. Water Quality
VII. Water-driven Machinery
VIII. Transportation of Merchandise and People. Timber Rafting
IX. Protection from Flooding and the Religious Dimension
XI. Concluding Remarks
List of statutes examined
Bibliography
Figures
Indexes
- By (author) Francesco Salvestrini
‘Water and the Law does more than enrich the existing scholarship; it offers an innovative interpretative framework capable of stimulating further research and opening up comparative perspectives on a European scale. Through its extensive documentary base, methodological rigour, and analytical sophistication, Salvestrini’s book stands out as a mature and authoritative synthesis, making a significant contribution to our understanding of the relationship between power, law, and the environment in communal Italy.’ – Angelo Passuello (2026): STVDI MEDIEVALI, Terza Serie, LXVII
—
Other Titles in this Series
Sit tibi terra gravis: Sepolture anomale tra età medievale e moderna
Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Albenga (SV) – Palazzo Oddo, 14-16 ottobre 2016
Tra Montaccianico e Firenze: gli Ubaldini e la città
Atti del convegno di studi, Firenze-Scarperia 28–29 settembre 2012
La transformación del mundo rural en la isla de Mallorca durante la Antigüedad tardía (c. 300-902/903 d. C.)
Villes mortes della Siria
Topografia cristiana e insediamenti del Massiccio Calcareo (IV-VII secolo)
L’Aquila “città nuova” sulla frontiera fra Meridione e Stato della Chiesa
L’impianto e l’edilizia residenziale fra XII e XV secolo
Traffici commerciali e approdi portuali nella Sardegna meridionale
Analisi dei contenitori da trasporto e dei contesti subacquei (III-VII secolo)
Excavaciones en el baptisterio del conjunto eclesiástico de Son Peretó (Manacor, Mallorca, islas Baleares)
Siglos V-VIII d. C.
Perchement et Réalités Fortifiées en Méditerranée et en Europe, Vème-Xème Siècles
Fortified Hilltop Settlements in the Mediterranean and in Europe (5th-10th centuries)
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