Il giurista demiurgo. Pluralismo, sovranità e politica del diritto in Filippo Vassalli

This article enquires into Filippo Vassalli’s writings on legal science, focusing on the influence of Pluralism, Institutionalism, and Legal-Philosophical debates on his approach. To this end, I will explore the peculiarities of legal argumentation in Vassalli’s forensic papers, questioning whether their citation style can support the reconstruction of his concept of the legal order. I will argue that Vassalli’s interpretation of the relationship between law and the State can be viewed in terms of a sort of ius commune-iura propria dialectic, trying to reconcile this thesis with his liberal understanding of property and political institutions. This intertwinement gives meaning to the importance of legal scientists in the law-generative process, which Vassalli seemed to promote.