Pellegrino Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an
ItalianThe Italian people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Italian culture, descent, and speaking the Italian language as a mother tongue...
economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the
July MonarchyThe July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of the French , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, and the Minister of Justice in the government of the
Papal StatesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
, under
Pope Pius IXPope Blessed Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed Papal infallibility...
.
Rossi was born in
CarraraCarrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara , famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione river, some 100 km west-northwest of Florence....
,
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
. Educated at the
University of PaviaThe University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
and the
University of BolognaThe University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating degree-granting university in Europe, the word 'university' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, he became professor of law at the latter in 1812. In 1815 he gave his support to
Joachim MuratJoachim-Napoléon Murat , 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Marshal of France and Admiral of France, was King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, through marriage to Napoleon's youngest sister, Caroline...
and his
NeapolitanThe Kingdom of Naples is the modern day name for a polity which existed on the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Also known contemporaneously, and somewhat confusingly, as the Kingdom of Sicily, this kingdom was founded after the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of...
anti-
AustrianThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
expedition: after the latter's fall, he escaped to
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, and then proceeded to
GenevaThe Canton of Geneva is the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. The official name of this canton in French is République et Canton de Genève...
, where he began teaching a course of
jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal philosophers, hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was focused on the first...
applied to
Roman lawThe term Roman law denotes the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the seventh century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the official lingua franca. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence —...
, the success of which gained him the unusual honour of
naturalizationNaturalization is the acquisition of citizenship or nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born....
as a citizen of Geneva.
Pellegrino Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an
ItalianThe Italian people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Italian culture, descent, and speaking the Italian language as a mother tongue...
economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the
July MonarchyThe July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of the French , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, and the Minister of Justice in the government of the
Papal StatesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
, under
Pope Pius IXPope Blessed Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed Papal infallibility...
.
Biography
Rossi was born in
CarraraCarrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara , famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione river, some 100 km west-northwest of Florence....
,
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
. Educated at the
University of PaviaThe University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
and the
University of BolognaThe University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating degree-granting university in Europe, the word 'university' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, he became professor of law at the latter in 1812. In 1815 he gave his support to
Joachim MuratJoachim-Napoléon Murat , 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Marshal of France and Admiral of France, was King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, through marriage to Napoleon's youngest sister, Caroline...
and his
NeapolitanThe Kingdom of Naples is the modern day name for a polity which existed on the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Also known contemporaneously, and somewhat confusingly, as the Kingdom of Sicily, this kingdom was founded after the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of...
anti-
AustrianThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
expedition: after the latter's fall, he escaped to
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, and then proceeded to
GenevaThe Canton of Geneva is the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. The official name of this canton in French is République et Canton de Genève...
, where he began teaching a course of
jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal philosophers, hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was focused on the first...
applied to
Roman lawThe term Roman law denotes the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the seventh century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the official lingua franca. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence —...
, the success of which gained him the unusual honour of
naturalizationNaturalization is the acquisition of citizenship or nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born....
as a citizen of Geneva. In 1820 he was elected as a deputy to the
cantonal councilThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
, and was a member of the diet of 1832; Rossi was entrusted with the task of drawing up a revised constitution, which was known as the
Pacte Rossi. This was rejected by a majority of the diet, a result which deeply affected Rossi, and made him accept the invitation of
François GuizotFrançois Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, actively opposing as a liberal the reactionary King Charles X before his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830, then in government...
to settle in France.
Here he was appointed in 1833 to the chair of
political economyPolitical economy originally was the term for studying production, buying and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
in the
College de FranceThe Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Ecoles...
, vacated by the death of
Jean-Baptiste SayJean-Baptiste Say was a French economist and businessman. He had classically liberal views and argued in favour of competition, free trade, and lifting restraints on business. He originated Say's law, which is often quoted as "supply creates its own demand".-Biography:J. B. Say was born in Lyon...
. He was naturalized as a French citizen in 1834, and in the same year became professor of
constitutional lawConstitutional law is a body of law dealing with the distribution and exercise of government power.Not all nation states have codified constitutions, though all such states have a jus commune, or law of the land, that may consist of a variety of imperative and consensual rules...
in the faculty of law of the
Paris UniversityThe historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, likely between 1160 and 1170 , In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities...
. In 1836 he was elected a member of the
Academy of Political and Moral SciencesThe Académie des sciences morales et politiques is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France....
, was raised to the
French peerageThe Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
in 1839, and in 1843 became
deanIn academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the faculty of law.
In 1845 he was sent to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
by Guizot to discuss the question of the Jesuits, being finally appointed ambassador of France for the Papal States. The
revolution of 1848-The Italian states in 1848:As with Germany, there was no "Italy" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848, but a collection of independent states...
severed his connexion with France, and he remained at Rome and became Minister of the Interior under Pius IX. Rossi's program of
liberal reformsLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
, however, never took off. He was also very unpopular owing to his otherwise
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
views.
His assassination took place on the stairs at the opening of the Parliament in the "Palazzo della Cancelleria" on November 15 1848 by a stab wound to the neck. This was one of the causes of the flight from Rome of Pope Pius IX and the beginning of the series of events that led to the proclamation of the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was a state declared on on February 9, 1849, when the government of Papal States was temporarily overthrown by a republican revolution led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi...
.
The city of Carrara erected a statue in honour of Pellegrino Rossi.
Selected works
- Cours d'économie politique (1838–54)
- Traité de droit pénal (1829)
- Cours de droit constitutionnel (1866-67)
- Melanges d'économie politique, d'histoire et de philosophie (1857, 2 volumes)