Magistratura togata vs. giustizia amministrativa nella Colonia Eritrea, 1907-1911. Il memoriale Conte e il rapporto n. 10330 di Salvago Raggi

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the reactions of the Italian colonial establishment in Eritrea to the reforms of the judicial system introduced by the judicial ordinance (ordinamento giudiziario) known as R. D. 2 July 1908, n. 325. Passed thanks to the efforts of Governor Giuseppe Salvago Raggi, the new judicial ordinance sanctioned the rise to a position of prominence in the judiciary by the “commissari” to the disadvantage of the magistrates. This innovation found a determined opposition inside the Italian community in Eritrea that organized a steady but ineffective resistance in order to contrast the implementation of the judicial ordinance. This article present the text of two documents related to this particular phase. The first one is the “Memoriale” by Ernesto Conte, a pitiless description of the shortcomings of the judiciary system run by the Italians. The second document (the report nr. 10330) is the official answer by Salvago Raggi to the accusations contained in Conte’s “Memoriale”. Both documents show the gravity of the confrontation that took place in 1911-1912 between the colonial government and the Italian settlers in Eritrea.