'Consuetudo' and 'Observantia': for the recovery of a foundation of 'ius commune'

Abstract

The essay traces the evolution of the foundation of customary normativity in the theological and juridical sources of ius commune and then dwells on the related notion of 'observance', often neglected by historiography. The hermeneutic proposal consists in the recovery of a centrality of the customary dimension - as conceived in classical-scholastic thought and medieval practice - for the genetic phase of contemporary Law