Il Piccolo
- Yesterday's Council of Ministers
- The provisions of the new Public Security law
- The Chamber will complete its business in a single sitting
This page of Il Piccolo followed the last steps of Fascist Italy's emergency legislation. One report said the Chamber would pass Justice Minister Rocco's bill the next day in a single sitting, hearing the rapporteur and then approving the government text, which the paper praised as an example of the 'Fascist style'; the bill would let the government issue implementing rules by royal decree. Citing Il Tevere, the same report named a General Graziani of the Militia as president of the tribunal that would try those accused of plots against Mussolini, with five Militia consuls still to be chosen. A second item summarised Federzoni's report on the new consolidated public-security law, which separated police from criminal justice but gave administrative police bodies preventive powers such as admonition and forced residence. A shorter item listed Council of Ministers approvals on hydraulic works in the north-east and on relief services after earthquakes and other disasters.
Translation
Yesterday's Council of Ministers
… On the proposal of the Minister of Public Works, the Council approved: a draft measure concerning the classification of second-category hydraulic works in the Veneto and in the annexed territories of Venezia Giulia and Venezia Tridentina; a draft measure concerning rules for emergency relief services in the event of earthquakes or disasters of other kinds. The measure is intended to regulate emergency relief services in such disasters in a comprehensive way, and it also contains new provisions supplementing those laid down by the decree of 2 September 1919, no. 1915.
The provisions of the new Public Security law
The report accompanying the bill on the new consolidated text of the Public Security laws has been published. The rapporteur, His Excellency Federzoni, after observing that the new police law must express and give effect to the aspirations and needs of the country's renewed ethical and juridical conscience, says that the reform carried out by the consolidated text in question rests on a clear distinction between the police function and the penal function. From this principle it follows that police bodies cannot be given functions of criminal jurisdiction, not even at a lower level. It nevertheless appears appropriate that the administrative police bodies, albeit of a collegial and mixed nature, be given competence to adopt measures that are essentially preventive, such as admonition, forced residence, etc.
The Chamber will complete its business in a single sitting
Tomorrow evening the Chamber will close its extraordinary session after approving the bill to be presented by the Keeper of the Seals, the Hon. Rocco. The examination of the bill and its approval will be an eloquent example of the Fascist style, since, after a brief suspension of the sitting, the Chamber will tomorrow hear the rapporteur's report and then approve the ministerial bill, thereupon suspending its work. The Head of Government again conferred on the matter this afternoon with the Minister of Justice, the Hon. [?] Rocco. According to the Giornale d'Italia, the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Rocco, has made slight procedural changes to the text approved last Friday by the Council of Ministers. The text to be presented to the Chamber will in fact contain an article giving the Government the power to issue the implementing rules of the law. These rules have been studied by the Hon. Rocco, who has also prepared, in general outline, the related draft measures. And once the law, approved by the Chamber and the Senate and bearing the Sovereign's signature, has been published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, the implementing rules will be issued by royal decree. Il Tevere says that General Graziani, who is currently a member of the Militia, has been designated president of the Tribunal that will try in Rome the defendants in the various plots against the Duce. The five Militia consuls who will make up the judging panel have not yet been chosen.
Context
From Rocco's bill to Law no. 2008 and the Special Tribunal
The bill that the paper expected the Chamber to pass in a single sitting became Law no. 2008 of 25 November 1926, which established the Special Tribunal for the Defence of the State. The same law reintroduced the death penalty for certain political offences, a point the excerpt does not mention. The paper's description of an article letting the government issue implementing rules by royal decree matches what followed: the tribunal was put into operation through royal decrees of 12 December 1926, no. 2062, and 13 March 1927, no. 313. The claim that the quick approval would be 'an eloquent example of the Fascist style' is the paper's own celebratory framing. By its own account, the procedure meant that the Chamber would simply hear the rapporteur and approve the government's text.
The plots against Mussolini that the tribunal would try
The tribunal mentioned by Il Tevere was to try defendants in several plots against Mussolini. On 11 September 1926 the anarchist Gino Lucetti threw a bomb at the Duce's car, and the tribunal tried him in June 1927. On 31 October 1926, nine days before this issue, Mussolini was the target of another attack in Bologna. Fascists lynched the fifteen-year-old Anteo Zamboni as the presumed attacker, although how the event unfolded is still strongly disputed. On 7 September 1928 the tribunal convicted Anteo's father, Mammolo Zamboni, and his aunt, Virginia Tabarroni, of complicity. The public-security text was approved by royal decree on 6 November and the Chamber met on 9 November, so the measures on this page went forward within about ten days of the Bologna attack.
Who actually presided over the Special Tribunal
Citing Il Tevere, the paper reported that a General Graziani of the Militia had been designated president and that five Militia consuls were still to be chosen. The established record gives a different name. The tribunal's first session, on 1 February 1927, was presided over by Army Corps General Carlo Sanna, and its presidents from 1926 to 1943 were Sanna, Guido Cristini and Antonino Tringali Casanuova. The report was nevertheless right about the tribunal's character. Its president was to come from the general officers of the armed forces, yet all presidents in fact belonged to the Militia, and the number of judges was initially set at five. Of the 169 people who sat on the tribunal over its existence, 77 came from the Militia. The Graziani item is therefore a press report of a designation that the record of the tribunal's presidents does not bear out.
Federzoni's public-security code and police confinement
Federzoni's report presented the new consolidated public-security text as separating police work from criminal justice, while leaving administrative bodies 'essentially preventive' powers such as admonition and forced residence. The text was approved as royal decree no. 1848 of 6 November 1926. It directed prefects to dissolve all parties, associations and organizations acting against the regime, and it established police confinement for anti-fascists. Federzoni's text modified liberal-era laws and introduced confino di polizia as a new instrument: people deemed subversive could be ordered to live in a designated place under surveillance for one to five years, extendable, and mere suspicion of anti-fascist activity was enough even without any offence. Forced residence itself predated Fascism; under the Zanardelli code of 1889 it was retained, but those subjected to it had greater legal guarantees. More than 12,000 people are estimated to have been subjected to confino, for various reasons, between 1926 and 1943. The report's language of prevention thus described a power that could reach people who had committed no crime.
The Chamber's sitting of 9 November 1926 and a subordinate parliament
The single sitting the paper anticipated took place in a parliament already subordinated to the executive. The law of 24 December 1925 placed parliament under the government, with its agenda dictated by the Head of Government, the title the paper uses for Mussolini. Law no. 100 of 31 January 1926 let the government issue legal norms through immediately effective decree-laws. The paper's report that Rocco's bill would leave its implementing rules to royal decree fits this pattern. The sitting of 9 November 1926 also produced a decision the excerpt does not mention: the Chamber declared the Aventine deputies to have forfeited their seats. These were the opposition members who had seceded in response to the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, and they made up almost the whole parliamentary opposition.
Original
Consiglio dei ministri di ieri
. Su proposta del ministro dei LL. PP. il Consiglio ha approvato: Uno schema di provvedimento relativo alla classificazione di opere idrauliche di seconda categoria nel Veneto e nei territori annessi della Venezia Giulia e della Venezia Tri. dentina Uno schema di provvedimento concernente norme per i servizi di pronto soccorso in occasione di disastri tellurici o di altra natura. Il provvedimento è inteso a disciplinare in modo organico i servizi di pronto soccorso in occasione di tali disastri e contiene anche nuove disposizioni integrative di quelle sancite col decreto 2 settembre 1919. n. 1915
Le disposizioni della nuova legge di P. S.
E ' stata pubblicata la relazione al progetto di legge sul nuovo testo unico delle leggi di P. S. Il relatore, S. E. Federzoni, dopo aver rilevato che il nuovo diritto di polizia deve esprimere e realizzare le aspirazioni e le esigenze della rinnovata coscienza etica e giuridica del Paese, dice che la riforma attuata col testo unico in questione si basa sulla netta distinzione fra magistero di polizia e magistero penale. Da tale principio consegue che agli organi di polizia non possono essere attribuite funzioni di giurisdizione penale anche di grado inferiore. Risulta peraltro l'opportunità che sia attribuita agli organi amministrativi di polizia, sia pure di natura collegiale e mista, la competenza di adottare provvedimenti essenzialmente di prevenzione, quale l'ammonizione, il domicilio coatto ecc.
La Camera esaurirà i suoi lavori in una sola seduta
Domani sera stessa la Camera chiuderà la sua tornata straordinaria dopo l'approvazione del disegno di legge che sarà presentato dal ministro Guardasigilli on. Rocco. L'esame del progetto e la sua approvazione costituiranno un esempio eloquente dello stile fascista, in quanto dopo una breve sospensione di seduta, la Camera nella giornata di domani udrà la relazione del relatore e approverà quindi il progetto ministeriale, sospendendo quindi i suoi lavori. Il Capo del Governo ha conferito in proposito nuovamente nel pomeriggio di oggi col ministro della Giustizia on [?] Rocco. Secondo il Giornale d'Italia il ministro di Giustizia on. Rocco, ha apportato lievi innovazioni di carattere procedurale al testo approvato venerdì scorso dal Consiglio dei ministri. Il testo che sarà presentato alla Camera, conterrà infatti un articolo, col quale sarà data al Governo facoltà di emanare le norme di applicazione della legge. Tali norme sono state oggetto di studio da parte dell'on. Rocco, che ha anche preparato in linea generale i relativi schemi di provvedimento. E dopo che la legge, approvata dalla Camera e dal Senato e munita della firma Sovrana sarà stata pubblicata sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale, le norme di applicazione saranno emanate per decreto reale. Il Tevere dice che a presidente del Tribunale che giudicherà a Roma gli imputati dei vari complotti contro il Duce è stato designato il generale Graziani, che attualmente fa parte della Milizia. I cinque consoli della Milizia che comporranno il collegio giudicante non sono stati ancora scelti.
Source: Source: Internet Archive