Abstract

The present economic and financial difficulties render themes like the «crisis of the state» and the «crisis of law» evermore pertinent. By reviewing the Prolusion delivered by Santi Romano at the University of Pisa in 1909 on «Lo Stato moderno e la sua crisi» the Author poses the question of the role to be played today by legal scholars in the light of phenomena such as globalisation and multiculturalism, which constitute a challenge to many of the notions of public and constitutional law.