Giulio Claro

Giulio Claro or Clarus (Italian: [ˈdʒuːljo ˈklaːro]; 6 January 1525 – 13 April 1575) was an Italian Renaissance jurist and public official.

Doctor Giulio Claro
Sententiae receptae, 1661 edition
Born	(1525-01-06)January 6, 1525 Alessandria, Duchy of Milan
Died	13 April 1575(1575-04-13) (aged 50) Cartagena, Spain
Nationality	Italian
Occupations	Jurist Public official
Parent(s)	Giovanni Luigi Claro and Ippolita Claro (née Gambaruti)
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Pavia University of Bologna
Influences	Bartolus de Saxoferrato Andrea Alciato Tiberio Deciani
Academic work
Discipline	Criminologist, legal theorist, magistrate
School or tradition	Mos italicus iura docendi
Influenced	Virtually every area of criminal law in Western civil law countries under the Ancien Régime, notably Farinacci, Carpzov, Spee, Beccaria

Life

Giulio Claro was born in Alessandria of a noble family. He studied at Pavia under Andrea Alciato, and took his doctor's degree in 1550.

After receiving his doctorate, Claro was appointed a Milanese Senator by Philip II in 1536, a royal pretor in Cremona in 1560/61, president of the Milanese Magistrato straordinario delle entrate in 1563 and regent of the Consejo d'Italia in Madrid in 1565.

Work

Claro's work, together with that of Deciani and Farinacci, provided the theoretical foundation for the common criminal law of Europe. That common law held sway until it was attacked by Enlightenment legal critics such as Feuerbach and replaced by national penal codes in the 19th century.

Claro's principal work is the Liber V. Sententiarum, the fifth volume of his legal encyclopedia Sententia receptae. Dedicated to criminal law, it was reprinted as part of the Julii Clari Opera omnia as late as 1737.

Editions

Libri sententiarum, 1555 manuscript. Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.

• Sententiae receptae (in Latin). Lyon: Horace Boissat & George Remeus. 1661.

Bibliography

• Holthöfer, Ernst (2001). "Claro, Giulio". In Michael Stolleis (ed.). Juristen: ein biographisches Lexikon; von der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (in German) (2nd ed.). München: Beck. p. 134. ISBN 3-406-45957-9.
• Ernst von Moeller (1911). Julius Clarus aus Alessandria: der Kriminalist des 16. Jahrhunderts, der Rat Philipps II., 1525-1575. A. Kurtze.
• Mazzacane, Aldo (1982). "CLARO, Giulio". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 26: Cironi–Collegno (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.