"To avoid the costs of litigation, the parties compromise…": extrajudicial settlements in the Venetian Commonwealth, c. 1550

Abstract

This essay takes a close look at the «infrajudicial» level of conflict resolution in Venetian Dalmatia around the mid-16th century. Often treated as Crime History’s proverbial «poor relation», I am arguing that these activities, widely understood, were not restricted to the privileged and more fortunate social groups. Instead, I will demonstrate that such settlements were in fact more diffused throughout the Venetian Commonwealth, and, as such, they may even be considered characteristical of everyday life that transcended social, economic, and geographical provenances.
In doing so, I am addressing the following main questions: What constitutes these «infrajudicial» dealings and how could this concept, derived with respect to Old Regime France (Benoît Garnot), be made useful in the context of the Republic of St Mark, long considered one of the prototypes of pre-modern «rule of law»? How and under which circumstances may additional differentiations such as class, education, and gender be useful categories of inquiry? By juxtaposing experiences and practices of Venetian subjects from all social backgrounds, new insights into a field of research dominated by traditional approaches derived from legal history stand to be gained.