Pellegrini - De Iuribus et Privilegiis - 1590

GRANDE IN-FOLIO '500 - TAXATION, CONFISCATION AND PRIVATE PROPERTY IN FISCAL LAW
Important Venetian edition of 1590 of the fundamental De iuribus et privilegiis fisci by Marco Antonio Pellegrini, Padovan jurist and fiscal lawyer, dedicated to the privileged legal position of the fiscus and to the relations between public patrimony and private property. Split into seven books, the treatise systematically addresses topics such as taxation, tax credits, successions, vacant properties, confiscation, procedural privileges of the treasury, and cases in which an individual’s patrimony could be devolved to the State. The work arises directly from the author’s practical experience at the Camera of Padua and thus combines Roman-law doctrine with the concrete application of fiscal law in the Republic of Venice. The first edition appeared in 1587 and quickly went through new printings, testimony to the interest it aroused in European legal circles. This Venetian edition of 1590, printed by Paolo Meietti, presents itself in a monumental in-folio format, with a red-and-black title page, a large wood-cut typographic device, and Latin text arranged in two columns. Particularly striking is the present copy, preserved in contemporary parchment and enriched by old possession notes and marginal post-its from the seventeenth century, authentic testimonies of its professional or academic use.

WHY TO BUY
VENICE 1590! A great sixteenth-century treatise on the birth of modern fiscal law.
WRITTEN BY A FISCAL LAWYER! Doctrine and legal practice united in the firsthand experience of the Camera of Padua.
TAXATION, CONFISCATION AND STATE PRIVILEGES! Central themes in the relationship between public power and private patrimony.
CONTEMPORARY PARCHMENT BINDING + SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY POST-ITS! An authentic study volume used by jurists of the modern era.

MARKET VALUE
Sixteenth-century editions of De iuribus et privilegiis fisci retain specialist interest for collectors of Roman law, fiscal history, public law, and sixteenth-century legal texts. The presence of the contemporaneous parchment binding, the red-and-black title page, and especially the ancient marginal study notes increases the copy’s charm. For a complete copy in generally good condition a realistic retail value is in the €600–€800 range, with potential for higher asks in a catalog specialized in the history of law and taxation.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
In-folio. Pages (2), 48 preliminary leaves, 430, (4). Title page printed in red and black with a large wood-cut typographic device; ornaments and initials carved in wood. Latin text in two columns. Contemporary full parchment binding, with a smooth spine and manuscript title. Two old ownership notes on the recto of the guard sheet, one of which partially trimmed. Present are some interesting marginal notes in a seventeenth-century hand, testimony to the volume’s use as a study tool. Sheets with some browning, foxing, and typical signs of age. Overall a genuine and interesting specimen in its sixteenth-century guise. As with all ancient volumes, mild defects or restorations not expressly mentioned may be present.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Marco Antonio Pellegrini, Latinized Marcus Antonius Peregrinus (1530-1616).
De iuribus et privilegiis fisci libri septem.
Venetiis: apud Paulum Meietum Bibliopolam Patavinum, 1590.
In-folio.
Pp. (2), 48 nn., 430, (4).
Venetian edition of the treatise first issued in 1587.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Marco Antonio Pellegrini, Latinized Marcus Antonius Peregrinus (1530-1616), was one of the most authoritative Venetian jurists in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Trained in the Padua law school, he developed a wide professional and scholarly activity, focusing especially on fiscal law, successions, wills, and property questions. He held important public offices within the Republic of Venice and was the fiscal lawyer of the Camera of Padua, an experience that directly influenced the content of De iuribus et privilegiis fisci. The treatise arises from the intersection of Roman-law tradition and the practical administration of treasury rights. Pellegrini tackles problems not only in theoretical terms but through a strongly applied perspective, discussing cases where fiscal interests, creditors’ rights, hereditary succession, and private property came into conflict. His work enjoyed notable editorial success between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; De iuribus et privilegiis fisci was reprinted and subsequently expanded, evidence of the enduring utility of the work in European legal practice.

RARITY
The 1590 Venetian edition is an uncommon sixteenth-century legal work on a treatise that enjoyed wide diffusion among European professionals and scholars. The rapid succession of impressions after the first edition in 1587 testifies to the interest generated by the treatise and its practical usefulness for magistrates, lawyers, and administrators. Of particular note is the copy’s full parchment binding from the period. Even more significant is the collection of seventeenth-century marginal post-its: in ancient legal books, study annotations often reveal the text’s actual professional use and transform the volume into a direct testimony of modern-era legal culture. The combination of a sixteenth-century edition, original binding, ownership notes, and marginalia gives the volume a greater interest than an unannotated copy.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
The Roman concept of fiscus is one of the fundamental precursors to the modern notion of public treasury. The definition of the State’s privileges over private individuals raised questions that would remain central in the history of European law: which public credits should prevail over private ones, when patrimony could be confiscated, which assets belonged to the treasury in the absence of heirs, and which procedural prerogatives should be recognized by the fiscal authority. Pellegrini tackles these problems through Roman law, but with a view to the concrete needs of the states of the sixteenth century. The treatise thus documents a crucial moment in the transition from the fiscus of Rome to the construction of modern fiscal and financial systems. The sections on confiscation, treasury patrimonial privileges, relations between the treasury and creditors, and the devolutions of property are particularly noteworthy. The work thus represents a significant source not only for the history of Roman law but also for understanding the progressive assertion of the modern State and its economic powers over individual patrimony.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Moranti, La biblioteca dell’avvocato, II, p. 1028.
Sapori, Antichi testi giuridici, II, n. 1053.
VD16, repertori relativi alla diffusione cinquecentesca del De iuribus et privilegiis fisci.
Marco Antonio Pellegrini, De iuribus et privilegiis fisci libri septem, Venezia, Paolo Meietti, 1590.
Repertori bibliografici dedicati al diritto romano, alla storia della fiscalità e alla letteratura giuridica italiana del XVI secolo.
Cataloghi storici delle principali biblioteche europee relativi alle edizioni del De iuribus et privilegiis fisci.