Representations of communities and majority decisions in Italian Communes in the twelfth century

Abstract

Since the very first evidences of the consular colleges and the restricted consilia, the political life of Italian communes represents an interesting laboratory of experimentations of deliberative practices. The essay investigates forms and protagonists of decision-making processes, focused on the majority principle affirmation and on its ambits and reasons of practical application up to the coming of the potestas government. The works – old but still fundamental – made about this theme by Edoardo Ruffini are a necessary point of departure: in the first part of this paper the author shows their most important contents, especially the historical relativity of the majority principle, that «doesn't have in itself its reason of being; it can get or not, only depending on where and how it is applied». The examples given by 12th century documents and narrative sources confirm, indeed clarify the practical value of this «legal formula», fathoming the political culture and the institutional mechanism of communal bodies during consular period.