Francesco Mario Pagano | |
|---|---|
 Francesco Mario Pagano | |
| Born | (1748-12-08)8 December 1748 |
| Died | 29 October 1799(1799-10-29) (aged 50) |
| Other names | Mario Pagano |
| Alma mater | University of Naples Federico II |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1768–1799 |
| Notable work |
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Francesco Mario Pagano (8 December 1748 – 29 October 1799) was anItalianjurist,author,thinker, and the founder of the Neapolitan school of law.[1] He is regarded as one of the most influentialEnlightenment thinkers.[2] A moderate reformist, he is seen as a forerunner of theItalian unification.[3]
He was born inBrienza in the southernProvince of Potenza. He studied at theUniversity of Naples Federico II underAntonio Genovesi. At the age of twenty, he became special lecturer inmoral philosophy there, at the same time practising law. He was friend ofGaetano Filangieri, entering the masonry with him, and was elected venerable master of the Neapolitanlodge "La philantropia". Pagano was one of the men who powerfully helped Italy in her social and scientific advancement and in the 1790s he had striven more than any other intellectual to give a political form to the 18th century reform tradition in southern Italy.[4]
In 1794 he defendedVincenzo Galiani,Vincenzo Vitaliani andEmanuele De Deo – three alleged conspirators againstFerdinand IV; after they were sentenced to death, Pagano was deprived of his professorship, arrested, imprisoned and expelled from the kingdom.[5] After fleeing Naples in 1796, he returned in 1799 and drafted the constitution of the short-livedNeapolitan Republic. The document bore similarities to theFrench Constitution of 1793 but presented original traits such as the institution of the "body of ephors", an authority who would have overseen the maintenance of the law. It is considered the precursor of the modernconstitutional court.[6]
After the fall of the republic, Pagano was arrested and imprisoned in theCastel Nuovo. He was executed by hanging at the"Piazza del Mercato" in Naples, along with other revolutionaries:Domenico Cirillo,Giorgio Pigliacelli andIgnazio Ciaia.
Pagano'sSaggi politici (1783–85) provided a philosophical history of theKingdom of Naples, arguing against torture and capital punishment and advocating more benign penal codes.Considerazioni sul processo criminale (Considerations on the criminal trial, 1787), gave him international popularity and was much praised byLe Moniteur Universel, the main newspaper ofrevolutionary France.[7]
Pagano's other juridical or philosophical works included:
He also translated works fromGreek andLatin, and wrote six tragedies (Gerbino, Agamennone, Corradino, Gli esuli tebani, Prometeo, andTeodosio) and one comedy (Emilia).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Mario Pagano".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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