1. Introduction. 2. Between the past and the present. The ‘prototypes’ of the current forms of conforming interpretation within the Italian legal system. 3. The first ‘prototype’. The interpretation in conformity with the Constitution in the first forty years of the Italian incidental constitutional review. 4. The second ‘prototype’. The presumption of conformity of law with the international treaties. 5. The present day. The ‘procedural’ nature of all obligations of conforming interpretation. 6. Who imposes the duty of conforming interpretation on the Italian courts? 7. The logical limit of conforming interpretation. 8. Breaches of the limit by the very courts imposing the duty of conforming interpretation on the other courts. 9. The Italian courts and interpretation in conformity with... 10. The crux of the matter. What is the ‘European law’ which the courts must comply with?
1. Introduction.
‘Conforming interpretation’ is the interpretative technique which recommends – in a more or less binding way, as we shall see below – that a judicial body interpret a legislative text which it considers should apply to the case before it in a compatible manner… let us, say for the moment, generically with ‘something different’, that is in conformity with a provision which “does not have the same origin and legitimation” as that contained in the former text.
This is a multi-use and fluid instrument which may be used by interpreting bodies in the most varied contexts. Conforming interpretation could be compared with a zip capable of holding together two levels of legislation – or even two logics or two worlds – which are distant from each other, no matter which levels are actually involved, but which nonetheless must necessarily both be taken into account by a court when ruling on a specific dispute.
