Introduction 1. The Main Theories of the Material Constitution 2. The Content and Nature of the Material Constitution 3. The Function of the Material Constitution 4. Conclusion 5. Appendix (1931): The function of the material constitution
Biography
Costantino Mortati (1891–1985) was one of the most important Italian constitutional scholars of the twentieth century. Born in Calabria to an Italo-Albanian family, he pursued a broad academic path, earning degrees in law, philosophy, and political science in Rome. His interdisciplinary training shaped his later approach to constitutional law and theory. Mortati began his academic career in the interwar period, teaching constitutional law at several universities, including Messina, Macerata, Naples, and Rome. His early work engaged with the institutional transformations of fascist Italy and introduced key concepts in constitutional doctrine such as 'the governing function', but he remains best known for his influential theory of the “material constitution,” After World War II, Mortati played a key role in shaping modern Italy. Elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946 as a member of the Christian Democratic Party, he contributed to drafting the Italian Constitution as part of the Commission of 75. In 1960, he was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court, where he served until 1972. His work remains central to Italian constitutional doctrine and theory today.
Marco Goldoni is Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Glasgow. His main research interests are in jurisprudence, constitutional theory, Law and Political Economy.
