La locazione degli immobili in età fascista: legislazione vincolistica e politiche del regime

The paper deals with Italian tenancy law in the Fascist Period. Since World War I, several decrees and laws had been passed in order to safeguard tenants, who were regarded as the weaker party of the contract. Therefore, deep changes in the 1865 Civil Code set of rules concerning tenancy law of dwellings as well as of rural leases were introduced. Private autonomy and freedom of contract were sacrificed. Even after the end of the Great War and the rise of Fascism, reduction of rents, extension of contracts, suspension of evictions, and rent freeze characterised the new restriction system, which continued to be the answer of Italian Governments to the problems they had to face (international crises, currency devaluation, inflation, World War II). In the ‘20s and in the ‘30s the most important legal scholars were not particularly interested in those laws, because they were considered as merely temporary (although they were not, as they were constantly renewed). On the other hand, the decisions of the courts often focused on the interpretation of those rules, trying to coordinate different consecutive laws. Taking into consideration the explanation of such judgements and the few scholarly texts tackling this topic, it can be inferred that during the Fascist Era even the restriction system of tenancy law had political implications, not only because it was often rooted in the political choices of the Fascist Governments, but also because it can be deemed as one of the means aimed at pursuing the regime’s general targets, which had to prevail over private interests.