Dr Elena Pezzato HeckHistory of Law: a link between Bologna and Heidelberg

Dr Elena Pezzato Heck conducts research at the University of Bologna as a research assistant at the Chair of Roman Law and the Law of Antiquity of Prof. Dr Giovanni Luchetti. She also studied law at the University of Bologna and subsequently obtained her doctorate in Roman law. In September 2022, she was habilitated as Professore associato (the so-called abilitazione scientifica nazionale di II fascia). Elena Pezzato Heck's research focuses on late antique Roman and Justinian law, but she also pursues a historiographical approach: A study dedicated to the translation and examination of the dissertation by Otto Gradenwitz – the founder of the Institute for History of Law in Heidelberg – is currently in print. At this institute Elena Pezzato Heck has since spent numerous research stays under the direction of Prof. Dr Christian Baldus, following an initial stay as part of the Erasmus program while still a student. During her doctorate, she returned to Heidelberg as part of the Erasmus program and was able to extend this research stay thanks to further funding from the University of Bologna. In 2021, Dr Elena Pezzato Heck received a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a research project at the Institute for History of Law. Thanks to the HAIreconnect project, she once again returned to Heidelberg in the summer of 2023.

"In my dissertation, I have investigated the property law benefits in favor of the surviving wife in the event of the husband's death. In doing so, I concentrated on those legal institutions of late antiquity and Justinian law which, at the time of the husband's death, brought about a transfer of property in favor of the widow. These are the legal and testamentary succession of the surviving wife, the return of the dowry and her gain in the event of a marital gift and the so-called "poor widow's quarter". This is an interdisciplinary topic, which in some respects comes close to women's history studies, but is not limited to them.

In 2022, I received the international "Giuliano Crifò" prize for my doctoral thesis, which is awarded by the Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana at the University of Perugia with the aim of promoting the study of law and history in late antiquity. The prize was awarded to the best dissertation in the years 2019 to 2021 on Roman law and Roman history in late antiquity.

I am currently continuing to devote myself to the study of late antique law and in particular to the investigation of a largely unexplored source from the 5^th century: the Syriac-Roman law book, which promises to provide new insights. To this end, I am studying the Syriac language, which, as a Middle Eastern Aramaic language, belongs to the north-western branch of the Semitic languages.

In addition to these studies, which take up the main research areas of the chair in Bologna, I am also involved in historiographical research. In collaboration with Prof. Dr Christian Baldus, I recently examined the dissertation of Otto Gradenwitz (1860 to 1935), Professor of Law at Heidelberg University and founder of the Institute for History of Law. In this latest study, which is currently being printed by Pacini Editore and will be published in the "Bebelplatz" series under the direction of Prof. Tommaso dalla Massara (Università Roma Tre), I have translated Gradenwitz's dissertation into Italian and analyzed it, also and especially with reference to the manuscript. The study also takes into account the procedural peculiarities of the doctoral regulations at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin (now Humboldt-Universität) in the 19^th century. I presented on this topic as part of my HAIreconnect project in July 2023 at the Heidelberger Rechtshistorische Gesellschaft.

In the controversial debate at the time, which was dominated by the renowned Bernhard Windscheid, Gradenwitz's critical work called into question the classification of the institute of the “precondition” as a "self-restriction of the will" and its nature as an "undeveloped condition". Although not free of errors and youthful naivety, it is an insightful study that provides a glimpse of the future research directions of one of the most influential German jurists of the 20^th century. The critical translation into Italian makes it possible to revive a work that would otherwise have fallen into oblivion and, in particular, to make available to Italian-speaking readers a study of a legal institution that is still of great legal interest. As is so often the case, it is thanks to Roman law that we have been able to rediscover the foundations of our common European legal culture."