Abstract

The essay analyzes the case-law of the Constitutional Court of Italy around the peculiar technique of self-referral of constitutional issues. Moving from quantitative analysis, the contribution argues that the use of this only quantitatively «exceptional» tool has shaped a procedural institute that is anything but marginal. The essay then explores the transformation of main trends emerging from instances of self-referral, including those not picked up by the Constitutional Court, and squares the contours of an extremely versatile institute. On the basis of these data, the essay reconstructs the theoretical issues this procedural technique illuminates, which touch on the very nature of the constitutional trial and the place of the Constitutional Court in the form of government. The essay concludes that, although these are certainly crucial issues in the study of constitutional law, their doctrinal investigation has so far never been approached from the perspective of this peculiar institute.