Definition - General aspects

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At a lower level, among the sources of “second level”, we find the Ordinary laws, which are issued by the legisla-tive body (Parliament). Lower again, other laws follow, of so-called “sub-primary” nature, which are established by the executive body (the Government)⁴, for example in particularly necessary and urgent cases, or by authorization by the Parliament. These acts are the Decrees, which are in Italy the Decreti-Legge (“law-decrees”, abbr.: D.L.), and the Decreti Legislativi or Decreti Delegati (“legislative decrees”, abbr.: Dlgs.). They all have force of law all the same, but in particular the Law-Decrees have a provisional nature, i.e. after a deadline they expire, if not converted into a law⁵.

Secondary sources in the Italian system are surely the Regolamenti⁶, hierarchically subordinate to laws, and is-sued by the executive body, with the main scope to inte-grate the law; to regulate in detail its enactment; to regu-late the internal organization of public offices etc.

Other rules are established not only by the central bodies of the State, but also by the sub-national entities, such as the Regions, which issue rules within their specific juris-diction; Provinces and Municipalities, rather, issue only administrative acts, through which they wield their ad-ministrative power in their own jurisdiction⁷.
At central level, the administrative activities are managed by specific bodies (Ministries in Italy, Departments in other country), each one of which depends on Ministers, chosen among members of the Government. Ministers, e.g. the Minister of Education⁸, exert their function in their own field according to the policy which has been established by the government, and they are responsible for the several central offices (among which Agencies and/or Commissions with special functions). (We must recall here that, in the Italian post-unification phase, the peripheral administration of public education was managed, by the Provveditori agli Studi – “Directors of Education” – who, on a provincial basis, represent the ministerial authority).

Whit this purpose, the Minister of education gives political addresses, coordinates and controls his general executives, who have the function to direct and manage the administrative activities through adopting administrative acts and measures. A specific kind of these, is constituted by Ministerial Decrees, Writs and Administrative Circulars. These ones, in particular, are not real administrative acts, but rather a tool of the public administration for communicating to the recipients (i.e. its own offices: executives, officials and public employees) specific dispositions (work orders, internal rules, instructions and directives) in order to implement laws and general directives by the competent Ministry. Therefore the circulars are internal acts and they are not properly sources of the law, since they have no normative power but “internally”, i.e. they are binding only towards the subjects inside the public administration. 

4 On the official web site of the Italian government (http://www.governo.it) information is available on the government’s composition, its functions etc., and it is accessible a chronological lists of the govenrments in Italy from 1943 onward.
5 See the entries in the Glossary inside the ABC del diritto, a reference tool in the web site trumento NIR-Norme In Rete, a project launched in 1999 by the Secretary for Justice, coordinated and funded by the Authority for the Automation of Public Administration (Autorità per l'Informatica nella Pubblica Amministrazione - AIPA).
6 See the dictionary Piccolo Dizionario del Consiglio-Glossario dei termini, by the Consiglio Regionale delle Marche.
7 On the web site of the ISTAT (Istituto nazionale italiano di statistica), an up-to-date database is available, which contains information and statistic data about Italian Regions, Provinces and Municipalities (Comuni).
8 A chronological list of Ministers and Subsecretaries of Italian Reign and Republic (Ministri e dei Sottosegretaria alla Pubblica Istruzione del Regno d’Italia, 1861-1946; 1946-2008) is available on the web site of the research institute Bianchi Bandinelli Association.

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