The Influence of Foreign Legal Models on the Development of Italian Civil Liability Rules from the 1865 Civil Code to the Present Day

The development of Italian civil liability rules since the 1865 Civil Code to the present day is clearly marked by the influence of foreign models. This article tries to detect these foreign influences, starting from those of the French Code Napoléon on the 1865 Civil Code, moving on to those of Pandectist legal thinking on the 1942 Civil Code, and ending with the influences of the common law experiences and European legislation on some sectors of Italian tort law. The final results of this research is a much more complicated and nuanced picture than what is expected, as the Italian system has not only been a passive receptacle of ideas developed in other countries, but has also been able, throughout its history, to mould those foreign ideas with original concepts, so creating an original system, largely independent from its sources of inspiration.