Giovanni Falcone. L'istruzione probatoria nel diritto amministrativo

Armao, Gaetano (edited by). With the introduction of Marta Cartabia

This volume offers the public (for the first time) Giovanni Falcone's degree thesis. This helps us to get to know him better, thanks to this unprecedented point of view and the contribution of distinguished scholars and colleagues of the magistrate, symbol of the fight against the mafia which revolutionised, in Italy and worldwide, the methods of investigation into that powerful criminal organisation. Falcone graduated with honours from the University of Palermo in June 1961 with a thesis on Evidence in Administrative Law. He had just turned 22 and his brilliant university career ended with a job not in criminal law, but in administrative procedure. From these seventy pages, written with the clear style and methodological rigour of people who have successfully assimilated the logic of justice, some traits of the future magistrate clearly emerge: his full independence of judgment, allowing him to raise detailed and motivated criticisms to the major jurists of the time; the versatility and completeness of his legal training, later deepened through his experiences in various positions, which will be vital for the extraordinary effectiveness of his work in the anti-mafia pool. We see his deep "culture of solidity of evidence", which would always accompany his activity as a judge, allowing him, despite the dramatic events of the period, to remain firmly determined to guarantee suspects’ rights and distinguish facts from moral judgments against those who may have committed crimes.