Motivare la legge? Le norme tra politica, amministrazione, giurisdizione

This book contains the reports presented at the conference "Motivate the Law? Political, Administrative and Jurisdictional Legislation", held in Rome on 3 April 2014. The conference, promoted b the Parliamentary Committee on Simplification and by the Istituto di Studi sui Sistemi Regionali Federali e sulle Autonomie "M. S. Giannini" (ISSiRFA--CNR), ( "M.S. Giannini" Institute for Studies on Federal Regional Systems and Local Governments) with the question embedded in the title, intended to promote a critical analysis of a theme that especially after the reform of Title V of the Constitution and the novelties on this matter introduced by the European Union, has widely attracted the attention of scholars (and not only). The presentations gave an overview of the debate in the literature on the motivation of regulatory acts and the various, and at times, heterogeneous and opposing purposes embodied by such acts. In summary, knowing about the motivation of the legislation would be of help in interpreting the law as a whole and each of its provisions; a communication tool for informing members about the reasons that induced the legislator to take action for the "common good"; a way for "defining" the options before the judges, including the constitutional judge, in the application of the law. But motivation in a regulatory system made up of several tiers, is also a technique for justifying the exercise of legislative power (as occurs in the European order) and, in a participatory democracy, it is a modality for reporting on the consultation activities that were carried out during the formation of the law and that the legislator took (or did not take) into account. Motivating a legislative act would ultimately be tantamount to meeting the deeply felt need in democratic societies to understand the work of the legislator, that often is not captured by merely reading the text or the preparatory documentation. Reference here is not being made to the language used, but rather to the need to identify the reasons and purposes of a legislative choice (or omission).