The Italian Constitutional Court and Comparative Law A Premise

Abstract

In recent years there has been increased attention towards the use of foreign law in the
decisions of Supreme Courts. In particular, in the United States legal scholarship has
debated whether Constitutional Courts should refer to a wider constitutional culture when
carrying out constitutional interpretation.1 Notwithstanding the fact that many of the
arguments are of a normative nature and the tone of the debate is often quite passionate2,
it might be useful to extend the object of research by considering the experience of a civil
law system such as Italy.
This essay will thus examine the use of foreign law by the Constitutional Court in Italy
going on to make some general considerations on the emergence of a broader constitutional
culture which leads to Supreme Courts using foreign law.