I The Constitutional Court, 1 The Historical Development of Italian Constitutional Adjudication

One of the remarkable facts of constitutional judicial review in Italy is the way in which it was grafted onto a tradition of law that had been very inhospitable to any such practice prior to the mid-twentieth century. The development of this unprecedented institution and the factors that contributed to its success not only assist the reader to understand the subsequent contours and character of the Constitutional Court but also provide a number of very useful insights and lessons for other jurisdictions seeking to establish or consolidate new and fragile systems of constitutional adjudication. This chapter traces that history and identifies those features.