Abstract

The book by Barbara Mastropietro deals with the shortly enacted art. 2645 quater of the Italian civil code, providing for the entry of public covenants in the land registry. The author discusses the scope and the rationale of this new provision, which is hardly compatible with (most of) the other cases of legal publicity set by the legislator. In fact, whilst legal publicity in such other cases amounts to a requirement to make an act binding on third parties, public covenants are by definition so, whether or not they have been registered. Therefore, according to the author, the entry of public covenants in the land registry is merely aimed at making them knowable. Nevertheless, the lack of such formality might produce effects different than those of private law (particularly, the loss of public contribution or financing).