1962. Law degree (“Dottore in giurisprudenza”, equivalent to an LLM), 110/110, Milan University
Since 1962. Lawyer in Milan, admitted to plead before the Supreme Court (1979). Main fields: civil law, labour law, law and information (esp. journalism).
1966-1973. Assistant, Philosophy and Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, Milan University.
1973-1983. Lecturer and later (1980) tenured professor of Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, Cagliari University.
1983-1990. Tenured professor of Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, Bologna University.
1990-2011.Tenured professor of Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, Milan University.
1991-1999. Director, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Law, Milan University.
2000-2006. Dean, Law Faculty, Milan University.
2004-2006. Chairman, National Conference of Law Faculty Deans.
2001-2011. Rector’s delegate for international relations and at international academic organizations (League of European Research Universities, European University Association)
2006-2011. Director, Doctoral School of Legal Sciences, Milan University
2007-2015. President, Ethics Committee, Milan University
Since 2012. Emeritus Professor in Philosophy and Sociology of Law, Milan University
2012-2014. Lecturer in Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, University of Trento
2014-2015. Lecturer in Sociology of Law, Law Faculty, University of Insubria, Varese
2016-2018. Scientific Director of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati
Foreign languages: English, French and Spanish, fluent, written and spoken
Catalan, German, Portuguese, read (basic)
Has been a visiting professor or has given speeches and courses in diverse foreign universities, among them:
Helsinki (1986), Kraków (1986), Łódż (1986), Valencia (1989, 1990), Madrid-Complutense (1989), São Paulo (1991), Paris 1 Sorbonne (1992), Peking Un., Beijing (1994), Stanford (1995, 1999, 2003), Hokkaidó, Sapporo (1995, 1999), UNAM-México (1996, 1998, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2019), Carlos III de Madrid (1997, 2006, 2007), Externado de Colombia, Bogotá (1996, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010-2023), Ain Shams, Cairo (1990, 1998), Córdoba, Argentina (2000), Nacional de Chile, Santiago (2000), Bucharest (1992, 2008), Athens (2004), Lund (2008), Autónoma de Madrid (2008), Rajastan, Jaipur, Jodhpur (2009), CIDE – Centro de Investigación y docencia económica, México DF (2014), Chiapas, San Cristobal (2014), the Catholic University (UCMM) of Santo Domingo (2017, 2023), Alicante (2017) and Zaragoza (2014, 2017, 2018).
In 1989, he contributed to the foundation of the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law and has taught in its master programme in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1998 and 2007.
Since 2002. Honorary Professor, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogotá.
Since 2007. Honorary Professor, Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas.
2007 Awarded the RCSL Podgórecki Prize for his career as a legal sociologist.
Doctor honoris causa of Universidad Nacional de Rosario (2014), Universidad de Buenos Aires (2014), Universidad de Zaragoza (2014), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM (2019) and Universidad Externado de Colombia (2023).
Since 1978, Board Member of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law, International Sociological Association. President, 1990-1994.
1994-2002. Member of the Executive Committee, International Sociological Association.
1989-2002 and 2016-2019, Member of the Board of Directors, International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati.
Since 1974. Member of the Editorial Committee and, since 1992, Editor-in-chief of Sociologia del diritto.
Currently Member of the Scientific Committees of Droit et Société, Revista latinoamericana de sociología jurídica, Ratio Juris, and Rivista di filosofia del diritto.
Since 2002. Corresponding member of the Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere; Full member since 2021.
2002-2008. President of the Associazione di Studi su Diritto e Società.
2004-2008. Vice-president of the Società Italiana di Filosofia del Diritto. President 2008-2010.
2004-2010. Member of the Board of the International Association of Law Schools.
Since 2011. Member of the Academic Advisory Board, Kuwait International Law School
Free lance journalist, member of the Ordine dei Giornalisti
Author, joint author, editor or joint editor of a wide number of scientific publications.
Among his works as author:
– Successione per testamento e trasformazioni sociali (Milano 1972).
– “Politica del lavoro e politica del consenso. Ipotesi sull’efficacia della legge sull’occupazione giovanile”, Sociologia del diritto, V, 1978, 2, pp. 375-419.
– (with R. Boniardi and N. Gridelli Velicogna), Assenteismo e malattia nell’industria (Milano 1979).
(with A. Biccheddu e M. Masia) La reazione sociale a Cagliari, in A. Giasanti e G. Maggioni (a cura di), Opinione pubblica e devianza in Italia (Milano 1979).
– “Symbolischer Nutzen der Gesetzgebung zur inneren Sicherheit in Italien”, in E. Blankenburg (Hrsg.), Politik der inneren Sicherheit, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a.M., 1980, pp. 91-119.
– “Diritto e dispute: osservazioni empiriche in una piccola comunità”, Sociologia del diritto, 1982, pp. 25-76.
– “Reazione e pratica sociale in tema di usi civici. Osservazioni sociologico-giuridiche”, Sociologia del diritto, X, 1983, 1, pp. 61-94.
– “Sociologia del diritto e riforma del processo”, in U. Scarpelli e V. Tomeo (a cura di), Società, norme e valori. Studi in onore di Renato Treves, Giuffrè, Milano 1984, pp. 309-356.
– Funzioni del diritto. Saggio critico-ricostruttivo (Roma-Bari 1987-1989), Spanish edition Funciones del Derecho (Madrid 1989, 2nd ed. Bogotá 2014), Greek edition Leitourgies tou Dikaiou (Thessaloniki 1992).
– “Socio-legal Concepts and Their Comparison”, in E. Øyen (ed.), Comparative Methodologies. Theory and Practice in International Social Research, Sage Publications, London 1990, pp. 193-210.
– Sociology of Law”, The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, edited by R.E. Asher and J.M.Y. Simpson, vol. 8, Pergamon, Oxford-New York-Seoul-Tokyo 1993, pp. 4033-4039.
-“Rechtssoziologie gestern und heute” (1988), in W. Krawietz und J. Wróblewski (Hrsg.), Sprache, Performanz und Ontologie des Rechts. Festgabe für Kazimierz Opałek zum 75. Geburtstag, Duncker und Humblot, Berlin 1993, pp. 405-422.
– (con M. Masia) “‘Usi civici’ e cultura giuridica: profili sociologico-giuridici”, in P. Nervi (a cura di) Cosa apprendere dalla proprietà collettiva. La consuetudine fra tradizione e modernità. Atti della VIII Riunione Scientifica (Trento, 14-15 novembre 2002), Cedam, Padova 2003, pp. 41-71.
– Giustizia e diritti umani. Osservazioni sociologico-giuridiche (Milano 1995).
– Lineamenti di sociologia del diritto. Azione giuridica e sistema normativo (Roma-Bari, 1997), Spanish edition, Acción jurídica y sistema normativo. Introducción a la sociología del Derecho (Madrid 2000).
– “Law’s Normative Nature as a Sociological Concept”, Associations. Journal for Legal and Social Theory, 4, 2000, N. 1, pp. 5-18.
– “Democracia e Informação no Final do Século XX”, in César Guimarães e Chico Junior (org.), Informação e Democracia, Editora da Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 2000, pp. 164-209.
– (con V. Pistone, in coll. con L. Cominelli e S. Frati), “Cultura giuridica in formazione. Il concetto di riservatezza nella giurisprudenza civile”, Sociologia del diritto, XXVIII, 3, 2000, pp. 5-51.
– . (con Paola Ronfani), “A Deeply Rooted Scientific Discipline: Origins and Development of Sociology of Law in Italy”, The American Sociologist, summer 2001, vol. 32, n. 2, pp. 61-77.
– Diritto e società. Elementi di sociologia del diritto (Roma-Bari 2004-2006) (Spanish Edition, Derecho y Sociedad. Elementos de sociología del derecho, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogotá 2006, 2nd ed. 2012. Serbian Edition Pravo i Društvo. Osnovi sociologije prava, Podgorica 2011).
– The Firm Subtleties of a Philosopher in ‘Everlasting Doubt’. Remembering Norberto Bobbio”, Journal of Law and Society, vol. 31, n. 4, December 2004, pp. 578-592.
– “Quesiti sociologici sulla lex mercatoria”, Sociologia del diritto, XXXII, 2005, 2-3, pp. 7-27.
– “Sociology of Law for Legal Education – Italian Experiences”, in M. Freeman (ed.), Law and Sociology. Current Legal Issues 2005, volume 8, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, pp. 425-436
– “La culture sociale chez les juristes italiens contemporains”, in Droit et Société, n. 7/2010, pp. 337-361.
– “Algunas razones del relativismo jurídico”, in Aa. Vv., Teoría y metodología del derecho. Estudios en homenaje al profesor Gregorio Peces-Barba, Volumen II, Dykinson, Madrid 2008, pp. 499-528.
– Prima lezione di sociologia del diritto (Roma-Bari, 2010, Spanish edition Primera lección de sociología del derecho, México, 2015).
– “La giustizia italiana nello specchio delle scienze sociali”, in Rendiconti dell’Istituto Lombardo – Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, Classe di lettere e scienze morali e storiche, Vol. 145, 2011 (appeared 2014), pp. 79-106.
– “’Then and Now’: Lawrence Friedman as an Analyst of Social and Legal Change”, in Robert W. Gordon and Morton J. Horwitz (eds.), Law, History, and Society. Themes in the Legal Sociology and Legal History of Lawrence M. Friedman, Cambridge U.P., New York 2011, pp. 26-42.
– “La Corte costituzionale e la famiglia. Innovazione e tradizione”, in AA. VV. (Corte costituzionale), Per i sessanta anni della Corte costituzionale, Giuffrè, Milano, 2017, pp. 147-164.
– “El incierto futuro de los derechos en el trabajo humano”, Trabajo y Derecho, n. 52/2019, pp. 15-23.
– “Sociology of Law and Legal Education”, in AA.VV., Μνήμη Θανάση Κ. Παπαχρίστου (Mními Thanási Papachrístou), Ekdoseis Sákkoula, Athina-Thessaloniki 2019, Vol. II, pp. 1935-1956
– “Note socio-giuridiche introduttive per una discussione su diritto, intelligenza artificiale e big data”, in Sociologia del diritto, XLVII, 2020/3, pp. 9-31.
– “Diritto e nuove tecnologie della comunicazione”, in Rendiconti dell’Istituto Lombardo-Accademia di Scienze e Lettere – Classe di Lettere, Scienze Morali e Storiche, Vol. 155, 2021, pp. 13-26.
– “Reflections on Some Major Changes in Socio-legal (1989-2020)”, in Oñati Socio-Legal Studies, vol. 12, issue S1 (2022), Institutional Memory Lectures 1989-2021 (2022).
Among his works as editor or joint editor:
– (with R. Treves), L’insegnamento sociologico del diritto, Milano 1976.
– R. Dahrendorf, Intervista sul liberalismo e l’Europa (Roma-Bari 1979), German edition Der Liberalismus und Europa (München-Zürich 1980), Spanish edition El nuevo liberalismo (Madrid 1983), Brazilian edition O liberalismo e a Europa (Brasília 1982).
– Italian edition of M. Ginsberg, La giustizia nella società (Milano 1981).
– (with R. Treves), Sociologia dei diritti umani, Milano 1989.
– Developing Sociology of Law (Milano 1990).
– Laws and Rights. Proceedings of the international conference of sociology of law for the Ninth Centenary of the University of Bologna (Milano 1991).
– (with C. Faralli), Laws and Rights 2. Proceedings of the international conference of sociology of law for the Ninth Centenary of the University of Bologna (Milano 1993).
– Italian edition of G. Peces-Barba, Teoria dei diritti fondamentali (Milano 1993).
– Italian edition of R.L. Abel, La parola e il rispetto (Milano 1996).
– (with M.L. Ghezzi e N. Gridelli Velicogna), Diritto, cultura e libertà. Atti del convegno in memoria di Renato Treves, Milano 1997.
– Italian edition of H.S. Maine, Diritto antico (Milano 1998).
– (with Th. Heller and E. de Tullio), Citizenship and Immigration, Milano 1998.
– (with P. Ronfani and S. Stabile), Conflitti e diritti nella società transnazionale, Milano 2001.
– Filosofia giuridica della guerra e della pace. Atti del XXV congresso della Società Italiana di filosofia del diritto, Milano 2008.
