Abstract

Criminal law as outlined in the medieval statutes of Sassari derives from a complex interplay of Italian communal traditions, that were first introduced by the Pisans and later confirmed by the Genoese at the beginning of their administration of the north of Sardinia. By tracing the profound connections and similarities - particularly with Pisa's institutions - this essay argues that it was thanks to such foreign domination that the local system of justice was modernized and that Sassari became part of the wider circuit of communal Italy.