Function and Structure of Law: the dual functional and normative dimension of the legal system: (with reference to Francesco Carnelutti’s «realist theory» of law) [part one]

Abstract

Francesco Carnelutti is one of the fundamental thinkers of Italian legal
thought, and in the procedural field —so decisive for him— it can be said that he was one of the great founders of the prestigious Italian procedural school, which has had a major influence worldwide. Carnelutti’s intellectual activity also extended to other legal disciplines at an early stage. For him, the observation of the legal phenomenon must go beyond positive law. Law reduces economics to ethics deducible from acquired legal experience, without ignoring the fact that, in his view, positive law already incorporates an ethical element that is imposed (law is an «artificially imposed or reinforced ethic»).