FILANGIERI, Gaétan, celebrated for íiis valuable works on political economy and legislation, was born at Naples on the 18th of August 1752. He was the third son of Cesar prince of Araniello, by Marianne Montalto, daughter of the Duke of Fragnito. His family was ancient, and rose to distinction at the first establishment of the Neapolitan monarchy. Angerio,. its founder, was the son of one of those brave Normans who landed in Italy about the beginning of the eleventh century, and accompanying Count Roger in all his military expeditions, received from him ample domains as the reward of his exploits. His descendants were allowed to take the honourable title of Filii An-gerii, and hence the name Filangieri. Gaétan from his infancy was destined for the profession of arms; when he was seven years of age he was enrolled in one of the royal regiments, and he commenced actual service at the age of fourteen. His education was at first neglected, from a misconception of his character, which was supposed to be averse to all literary or speculative pursuits. The injudicious methods adopted at that time in the teaching of Latin had, it seems, disgusted him, and alienated his mind from the study of this language; and hence an impression lŗad been hastily taken up of his general unfitness for all literary exercises. A lucky accident, however, not only removed this apprehension, but showed that his former impatience of the modes of tuition then in use arose from the clearness and vigour of his judgment. It happened that his brother’s preceptor had one day mistaken the solution of some geometrical problem. Gaétan immediately perceived the source of this error, which he demonstrated to the master. This incident, apparently trivial, determined his future destiny. Encouraged by his success, he quitted the military service, and determined to follow his natural taste for science and philosophy. So diligent was he in repair- 1 ∩g the defects of his education, that at twenty years of a S e .he had acquired a knowledge of Greek and Latin, of ancient and modern history, of the great principles both of il and of public law, and was besides well initiated in •mathematical science. Although his genius inclined him 5 °Lly to the study of legislation and policy, he sacrificed his views to the wishes of his friends, and entered on the: piotession of the law, which was then the certain road both to honour and fortune. His eloquence and his extensive knowledge soon obtained him success; and, about this period, a circumstance happened which greatly conduced to his celebrity. Enormous abuses prevailed in the administration of justice at Naples, arising from the uncertainty of the law, which occasioned constant misconceptions, and almost always led to arbitrary judgments. By a wise ordinance of the king, passed in the year 1774, at the suggestion of the minister Tanucci, those abuses were reformed; the law was restored to its proper authority; its judgments were freed from the control of precedents; and the judges were ordained in every case to publish the grounds of their decisions. Although this reform was generally applauded, it excited the murmurs of the bar. Filaņgieri now became the advocate of the court, and published a defence of the royal decree, founded upon the most enlarged views of equity and reason. The extensive knowledge and matured judgment displayed in this performance attracted the attention of the ministers, and Filangieri was encouraged to pursue the course in which he had already acquired so much distinction. Through the influence of his uncle, the Archbishop of Palermo, he was in 1777 placed in an honourable office at court; and almost at the same time he was named officer of the royal corps of marine volunteers, who were more particularly attached to the king’s person. But his abode at court neither broke in upon his regular habits of life, nor interrupted the course of his studies; nor did he allow it to interfere with the composition of the great work on legislation and government in which he was engaged, and to which for several years past he had devoted all his inquiries. About the commencement of the eighteenth century a great school of philosophy had been formed at Naples, in which the principles of the civil law, of the law of nations, and of legislation, were established on the solid and comprehensive basis of general utility. From this school numerous works of celebrity have proceeded; amongst others, the great work of Beccaria,· which, though confined to one branch of legislation, contains principles which are of universal application. There was still wanting, however, a general treatise on legislation, for the purpose of examining the science in all its relations, and of laying down some common and universal principles of equity and expediency as its only true basis; and it was to this important undertaking that Filangieri’s philosophical mind was now directed. His subject he proposed to divide into seven books. The first, in which he demonstrates the general rules of legislation, and the second, which treats on political laws, and on those laws also which are connected with the general structure of society, appeared at Naples in 1780; and such was its popularity, that not only in Italy, but throughout Europe at large, the author was ranked among the most celebrated writers on public law. According to his theory, the goodness of laws is either absolute or relative. It is absolute when they are agreeable to those great and universal principles of equity and expediency which are obligatory on man under every diversity of country, climate, government, or manners; it is relative, according as the laws agree with the nature of the government, with the genius and character of the people, with the climate, with the fertility or sterility of the soil, with the physical circumstances of the country, with the religion of the inhabitants, and with the degree of civilization to which they have advanced. In his second book, which treats of political laws, and of those laws also which are connected with the general economy of society, he examines two points; namely, the state of population and of wealth. With respect to the first point, the great question which he considers is, whether Europe is as populous as it might be? This question he resolves in the [7:9:576]negative, and he proceeds to explain the causes of this deficient population. According to his hypothesis, the state of agriculture affords in every country the surest evidence as to the state of the population; but the backwardness of agriculture in most parts of Europe sufficiently indicates that the population is deficient; therefore he infers the defective state of European legislation on these two capital points. The great obstacles to the improvement of agriculture, and, consequently, to the increase of population, he considers to be, Isí, the small number of proprietors, and the great number of non-pro-prictors; 2dly, too many large, and too few small properties; 3dly, the exorbitant and inalienable possessions of the church in several states; 4√∕z⅞∕, the excess of the public imposts, and the violent modes of levying them; bthly, to these he adds other causes of less importance, such as the state of most of the regular troops of the European states; also public corruption, and the dissoluteness of private morals. The progress of agriculture, the great source of wealth as well as of population, may also be obstructed by a bad political administration, by bad laws, or by those causes which occasion a great influx of inhabitants to the respective capitals of the different states. It belongs to a pure system of legislation to remove some of those obstacles, and to counterbalance such others as are inevitable, by suitable encouragements. Having discussed those momentous questions, he next enters into a comprehensive survey of the other sources of riches, namely, arts, manufactures, and commerce, and points out how these may be obstructed by a faulty legislation, and, at the same time, the means by which such obstructions may be removed. In order fully to comprehend the merits of these performances, we must consider that all the faults which the author reprehends were committed by his own government; a circumstance which imposed on him the delicate task of stating obnoxious truths with freedom and boldness, and, at the same time, without giving unnecessary offence. So well, however, did he appreciate the views.of those whom it was his wish to enlighten, that he was immediately promoted by the king to a commandery in the royal order of Constantine. In 1783 he married a Hungarian lady of noble birth, who was entrusted with the education of the second daughter of the king, and who to outward attractions united the gift of a sound judgment and an agreeable disposition. That he might the more freely enjoy domestic happiness, and, at the same time, have leisure for the composition of his work, on which he became every day more intent, he resigned, with the consent of the king, all his military employments and his office at court, and retired to a country-seat about twenty miles from Naples. In the same year he published his third book, relating entirely to the principles of criminal jurisprudence. In these discussions he maintains the same tone of decision and independence as before. Abuses are freely pointed out, and the defects of the penal code, and the forms of criminal procedure, are fairly exposed. In thus pointing out those defects in the domestic administration of his government, Filangieri excited the hatred of an interested and powerful class; and a proposition which he made in his third book, for the reformation of abuses in the Roman Catholic church, drew down upon his work the censure of some of the ecclesiastical tribunals. In 1785, however, he published the fifth, sixth, and seventh volumes of his work, which comprehended his fourth book. These were devoted to the consideration of education, morals, and public instruction; and though on these important points we may be occasionally disposed to question his views, we must nevertheless admire his mild and philosophical spirit still opposed to every excess, his extensive knowledge, and his happy talent of arranging and combining it for the illustration of his argument; his animated, flowing, and perspicuous style; and, above all, that rectitude and philanthropy which are diffused over all his reasonings. His fifth book, which treated of the laws relative to religion, was soon afterwards published. But his health was now considerably impaired, owing to an excess of application, so that the remainder of his work advanced but slowly; and other interruptions soon followed. In the year 1787 he was called by the new king, Ferdinand IV., to the supreme council of finance. He returned to Naples, and from that time was wholly engrossed with the important business of this office. His health, already injured, was soon completely broken by severe and active application; and several domestic misfortunes operating upon a mind of deep sensibility, at last threw him into a state of melancholy. He finally retired from all business into the country, where he soon afterwards became seriously ill, and on the 21st of July 1788 he expired. Before his death he had finished the eighth volume of his work, containing the first part of the fifth book, in which he treats of the different systems of religion that preceded Christianity. Of the second part of the same book he had only made a rude sketch, in which were noted down the principal subjects of discussion; namely, the advantages of Christianity and the dangers of superstition; the inconveniences of mixing spiritual with temporal concerns; the excessive riches of the clergy, and the immense increase of their power. He was also to examine the foundation of ecclesiastical rights, and to present, in a new system of legislation, a remedy for the abuses which he pointed out. A chapter on toleration would have terminated this book. In his sixth book he proposed to treat of the laws relative to property; and in his seventh and last, of the nature of the paternal power and the government of families. He had also other important works in contemplation when his course was terminated by death. This eminent person, besides some of the rarest gifts of genius, was endowed by nature with the additional advantage of a most imposing presence. His manners were eminently graceful and dignified. His countenance bore the traces of habitual reflection, and of deep sensibility, mingled with an expression of soft melancholy. In private life nothing could exceed the simplicity of his character, except the animation and interest of his conversation. See La Seienza della Legislazione, Livorno, 1807, 5 tomes 8vo. This is the last Italian edition of Filangieri’s great work. There is a French translation in 7 vols. 8vo, published at Paris in 1798, from the Neapolitan edition of 1784. The first two books have been translated into English, under the title of The Science of Legislation, from the Italian of Filangieri, and published in 2 vols. 8vo, Lond. 1806.