I criminalisti dello Stato pontificio in età barocca. Una ricerca in corso

The paper presents the first results of in-depth research focusing on judges of the criminal courts in Papal State during the first half of the Seventeenth Century, with the aim to reflect, from this particular point of view, on the administration of justice in the old regime and its relationship with legal science. The analysis is based on judges of the governor’s tribunal in Rome and provides a description of their career in various criminal courts in the State and in other Italian states and different kinds of jurisdiction, and aims at assessing the relevant organization, recruitment areas and the dialectics of interests underlying the involvement of families in service and loyalty to the sovereign-pontiff.