Marcello Finzi’s short biography

Marcello Finzi was born in Ferrara on 1. December 1879. He graduated at the University of Ferrara under the guidance of Vincenzo Manzini; since 1912 he held Professorship in Criminal Law and Procedure at the same university, succeeding to Arturo Rocco. In 1925 he obtained a chair for the same disciplines at the University of Modena, where he moved as full professor in 1927, succeeding to Eugenio Florian.

Upon his arrival at the University of Modena, Finzi could already boast a remarkable scholarly production across the fields of criminal law and criminal procedure: among his many monographs, in the area of criminal law are particularly noteworthy I furti privilegiati, Torino, Bocca, 1903, and Il delitto preterintenzionale, Torino, Bocca, 1925; in the field of criminal proceeding remarkable works are La notificazione dell’atto di citazione nella procedura penale, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1908 and I mandati nel nuovo codice di procedura penale italiano, Torino, Bocca, 1914.

It must be underlined that Finzi’s research interests ranged well beyond the aforementioned fields, stretching from criminal anthropology to enforcement of sentence, not forgetting his steady attention to the history of criminal law. Further proof of his particular sensitivity to cultural issues are the numerous international bonds Finzi created in the course of his research. His relations with the French academic environment are witnessed by his fellowship in important societies, such as the Société général des Prisons and the Société de defense sociale et de criminologie, in addition to a period as visiting professor at the Université internationale in Brussels. Not less meaningful, at least until the Nazi regime came to power, were his contacts with the German university network: Finzi presented the state of the art of the new Italian codification, to which he himself was contributing, during institutional research stays in Heidelberg, Berlin, Munich.

Expelled from professorship at the promulgation of the Italian Racial Laws in 1938, Finzi will flee to Argentina, where, as Professor at the University of Córdoba, he will resume his research, focusing on criminal law and criminal procedure in Argentina and leaving a deep mark in the scholarly community in the country where – not surprisingly – his work will be translated and published.

Only at the end of World War II and at the advent of the Republic – exactly since academic year 1946/47 – will Marcello Finzi be reinstated as Full Professor in Criminal Law. Nevertheless, he will return to Italy only after 1952, already past retirement age (since 1. May 1951). He died in Rome on 4. October 1956.

Biographic references

Francesco P. Gabrieli, Marcello Finzi, in Novissimo Digesto Italiano, vol. VII, Torino, Utet, 1968, 371

Elio Tavilla, Marcello Finzi giurista e docente a Modena, in Marcello Finzi giurista a Modena (Atti del Convegno di studi di Modena, 27 gennaio 2005), Firenze, Olschki, 2006, 23