Sander-Faes (2018), Extrajudicial Settlements in The
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STATO DA MAR 1 Collana della Società Dalmata di Storia Patria Atti del convegno internazionale Venezia e il suo Stato da mar / Venice and its Stato da Mar Venezia / Venice, 9-11 marzo / March 2017 a cura di Rita Tolomeo e Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi ROMA SOCIETÀ DALMATA DI STORIA PATRIA 2018 SOCIETÀ DALMATA DI STORIA PATRIA fondata a Zara nel 1926 via Fratelli Reiss Romoli 19 00143 Roma www.sddsp.it Presidente: Rita Tolomeo Stato da mar Collana della Società Dalmata di Storia Patria 1 In copertina: l’area dello Stato da mar veneziano nel dipinto di Francesco Grisellini e Giustino Menescardi, 1762 Venezia, Palazzo Ducale, Sala delle Mappe (partico- lare). 2018 © Archivio Fotografico - Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. Autorizzazione alla pubblicazione del 20 giugno 2018 (cod. ord. AF SR2017/0151). © 2018 Società Dalmata di Storia Patria Roma, La Musa Talia editrice Venezia ISBN 978-88-942382-3-5 volume pubblicato con il contributo della Regione del Veneto LR 15/1994 e del governo italiano L 72/2001 e s.m. La Musa Talìa Editrice CP 45, 30126 Lido di Venezia www.lamusatalia.it STEPHAN SANDER-FAES «TO AVOID THE COSTS OF LITIGATION, THE PARTIES COMPROMISE…» EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE VENETIAN COMMONWEALTH, C. 1550 Stephan Sander-Faes, University of Zurich, [email protected] Titolo. «Per evitare i costi della causa, le parti si accordano...». Accordi extragiudi- ziali nel Commonwealth veneziano, circa 1550. Keywords. Venetian Commonwealth. Crime history. Extrajudicial settlements. Everyday life. 16th century. Parole-chiave. Commonwealth veneziano. Storia dei crimini. Accordi extragiudi- ziali. Vita quotidiana. XVI secolo. Abstract This essay takes a close look at the «infrajudicial» level of conflict resolution in Ve- netian Dalmatia around the mid-16th century. Often treated as Crime History’s pro- verbial «poor relation», I am arguing that these activities, widely understood, were not restricted to the privileged and more fortunate social groups. Instead, I will demonstrate that such settlements were in fact more diffused throughout the Ve- netian Commonwealth, and, as such, they may even be considered characteristical of everyday life that transcended social, economic, and geographical provenances. In doing so, I am addressing the following main questions: What constitutes these «infrajudicial» dealings and how could this concept, derived with respect to Old Regime France (Benoît Garnot), be made useful in the context of the Republic of St Mark, long considered one of the prototypes of pre-modern «rule of law»? How and under which circumstances may additional differentiations such as class, education, and gender be useful categories of inquiry? By juxtaposing experiences and practices of Venetian subjects from all social backgrounds, new insights into a field of research dominated by traditional approaches derived from legal history stand to be gained. 128 STEPHAN SANDER-FAES Riassunto Il saggio esamina in maniera approfondita il livello «infragiudiziale» per la riso- luzione delle controversie nella Dalmazia veneziana verso la metà del XVI secolo. Spesso considerate il proverbiale “parente povero” della storia penale, ritengo che queste iniziative, molto note, non fossero limitate ai gruppi sociali più fortunati o privilegiati. Dimostrerò invece come questi accordi fossero in effetti piuttosto diffusi in tutto il Commonwealth veneziano, tanto da poter essere considerati una caratteristica della vita quotidiana che andava al di là delle origini sociali, eco- nomiche e geografiche. Le domande che mi porrò sono le seguenti: in cosa consistono questi accordi «in- fragiudiziali» e in che modo questo concetto, preso in prestito dall’ancien régime francese (Benoît Garnot), può essere utile nel contesto della Repubblica di San Marco, considerato da tempo uno dei prototipi dello «stato di diritto» premoder- no? In che modo e in quali circostanze si possono utilizzare categorie interpreta- tive come le differenze di classe, istruzione o genere? Contrapponendo esperienze e pratiche di sudditi veneti di ogni estrazione sociale, si possono ottenere nuove conoscenze in un settore di ricerca dominato dagli approcci tradizionali della sto- ria legale. INTRODUCTION During the hot summer months of 1564, a conflict was brewing in Zara / Zadar 1. In the previous year, the Franciscan Third Order Regu- lars, whose convent was located right across the city’s cathedral church of St Anastasia, had begun construction of a new necessarium, or latrine. While there is nothing unusual about this in principle, the brothers did so by attaching their new toilet to a wall that the convent shared with one of its neighbours, one «Francis Tubicina», who, understandably, took 1 Topographical information follows present-day conventions, with the addition of the Italian historical toponym on the first mention; exceptions are those places generally fami- liar, e.g. Venice or Rome; as regards homonyms, to increase readability I have Anglicised all first names while the second names are reproduced as they appear in the primary sources; similarly, I have translated all quotes and added the original wording in the respective fo- otnotes (with the exception of note 2). Note that the Venetian year began in March and, if necessary, this is referenced through the addition of «m.v.» (more veneto); calendrical norms in the rest of the Adriatic are much less clear, and unless indicated otherwise, all dates are reproduced as they appear in the primary sources. «TO AVOID THE COSTS OF LITIGATION, THE PARTIES...» 129 offense and «asserted that, because of its contents, such a necessarium damaged his house». Francis took legal action and appealed to Zadar’s count while the brothers, seemingly unperturbed, were allowed to «pro- ceed to construct, or build, [this] necessarium before the appeals pro- ceedings were resolved». Finally, on 29 July, 1564, «at the tolling of the bell», the two parties «to avoid the costs of litigation, compromised… in the presence of the convent’s provost, the Rev. Simon Glauich, Fr. Felix, Simon Margitich, and Blasius Baichinich». The settlement, writ- ten down by one of the city’s civil law notaries – thereby rendering it extra-judicial in nature – contained the following main clauses: First, the plaintiff, Francis, «removed himself from the appeals proceedings», which ruled out prolongued and potentially costly litigation in front of the Venice-based court of appeals, the Quarantia. In exchange, second, the Third Order Regulars promised to raise said shared wall that, thirdly, must extend all the way «from the northwest corner to the public street adjacent to th southeastern wall» and at least reach the height of the sec- ond floor. This, fourth, would move the latrine from its present building site to a different wall: The necessarium must «not be [built] along the northeastern wall» (i.e., the one shared by Francis and the neighbour- ing convent), which meant in effect that the latrine’s contents would discharge onto Zadar’s cathedral square; see the reconstruction in Fig. 1). In addition, the settlement stipulated further that the Third Order Regulars promised not to extract any compensation from Francis or his children for those parts of the necessarium that had already been built (and now needed to be re-built elsewhere); and if Francis elected to sell his house, these mutual obligations would then be conferred upon the new owner, including a re-affirmation of the reciprocal validity of the settlement 2. 2 ZADAR, Državni arhiv (State Archive in Zadar, hence DAZD), 31 Bilježnici Zadra (No- tarii civitatis et districtus Iadrae, hence BZ) – Zadar (XII-1797), 1279-1797, notary Nicolaus Drasmileus, fascicle I, box 2, book 2, fol. 42v-fol. 43r, 29 July, 1564; hence all redundant information is either abbreviated or omitted; note that «f[ol].» (folio) indicates pagination applied by archivists whereas «c.» (carta) refers to the sources’ original pagination; as a detailed accounting of this episode, incl. an annotated transcription of the settlement agree- ment, has been published already, I have refrained from reproducing the original wording; see STEPHAN SANDER-FAES, Streiten sich ein Kloster und sein Nachbar um eine Toilette… Der Toilettenstreit von Zadar (1564), in Aborte im Mittelalter und der Frühen Neuzeit: Bau- forschung, Archäologie, Kulturgeschichte, ed. Olaf Wagener, Petersberg, Imhof, 2014, pp. 186-96, transcription on p. 191. 130 STEPHAN SANDER-FAES Fig. 1: Zadar, c. 1550. Source: map based on TOMISLAV RAUKAR ET AL., Zadar pod mletačkom upravom, 1409-1797 [Zadar under the Venetian Administration], Zadar, Narodni list, 1987, p. 135; details added by the author based on note 2: (i) house of John Rachouich, one of Francis’ neighbours; (ii) house of Marcus Ostoich, another of Francis’ neigh- bours; (iii) hospital of St James; (iv) hospital of St Mark; (v) St Anastasia cathe- dral; (vi) the Third Order Regular’s convent; (vii) house of Francis Tubicina; (∙∙∙) planned necessarium. Note that the properties indicated above are approximations and cannot be assumed to be much more than that 3. This essay, by contrast, discusses conflict resolution by arbitration and extrajudicial settlement in the Venetian Adriatic around the mid-16th 3 Caption from the original map: (a) wave breaker; (b) harbour fortress; (c) Chain Gate; (d) St Demetrius Gate; (e) St Chrysogonus Gate; (f) Butcher’s Gate; (g) St Mary’s or Sime- on’s or Arsenal Gate; (h) moat; (i) ravelin; (j) Land Gate or Porta Terraferma; (k) citadel; (l) blacksmiths’ furnaces; (m) Angel’s Gate; (n) campo; (o) main square; 1. St Nicholas; 2. St Francis monastery; 3. St George; 4. St Elijah; 5. St Anastasia; 6. St Donat or Holy Trinity; 7. Archbishop’s palace; 8. hospital of St James; hospital of St Mark; 10. St Demetrius; 11. St Chrysogonus; 12. St Thomas or Silvester; 13. Church of the Forty Martyrs; 14. St Mary monastery; 15. St Vitus; 16. St Catherine; 17. St Salvator; 18. St Peter the Old; 19. St Law- rence; 20. St Mary of the Priests or Arsenatus; 21. communal loggia; 22.