... that considered private disputes. This chapter examines how far this civil justice was accessible to ordinary people. In particular, it asks whether the Giustizia Vecchia can be defined as a court of equity or as a court of law, and analyses the practical consequences of this for ordinary people. The vast...

... to extenuating circumstances, such as the poverty of defendants. It could be justified in legal terms by appealing to the ideals of equity. The permeation of the justice system by private interests is particularly clear in the case of the guilds. Comparing the Giustizia Vecchia with other Venetian courts...

..., because commitments to equity allow central governments to limit the scope territorial governments would otherwise have for deploying their superior resource base to pursue more diverse territorial policy portfolios. They also allow central governments—directly or indirectly—to ‘tax’ richer territories...