Criminal Justice and Crime in Late Renaissance Florence, 1537-1609 (Hardcover, New)

This book considers the nature and extent of princely power in Florence in the late 16th century through an examination of the city's criminal justice system. Focusing on the court Otto Di Guardia e Balia (Eight on Public Safety), on its police, prisons and relations with other courts, John Brackett reveals much about the rule of law in the capital city and its subject territory. Major emphasis is placed on the financial limits imposed on the judiciary and revealing conclusions drawn on how these constraints acted upon the system. Brackett suggests that money rather than the practice of an ideology of repression or absolutism, was behind the formation of what is commonly considered an extreme and inflexible system. In truth, he reveals that the system was flexible and moderate, based on a system of negotiation in which various parties were able to exercise their influence, deploying strategies to help themselves realise their own interests. The Medici Grand Dukes, the author concludes, cannot be categorised as absolutist or their system as absolutism, but rather as politicians running a tightly financed but highly practical legal system.