Le strategie informali di autotutela del cittadino: significato, presupposti, linee di tendenza

Abstract

Contrary to some widely held “evolutionary” beliefs, informal self-protection (as opposed to formal - normally judicial - heteroprotection) of legally recognized rights (as opposed to mere interests) is on the increase in the legal systems of contemporary complex societies. The article sketches some of the general causes of such a tendency - more and new rights, more right-holders, increased rights- consciousness, due process revolution, congestion, intrinsic limitations in the implementation of rights of certain kinds, and, paradoxically, juridification - as well as some other system-specific causes, related with the performance of given legal institutions. Accordingly, some hypotheses are drawn about when should we expect that attempts at an informal self-protection of rights will appear and increase. Therefore, the Italian case, commonly seen as one where informal behaviours of selfprotection are exceptionally and “pathologically” diffused, is not regarded as wholly peculiar, but rather as being, albeit partially, well in line with this general trend.