The judge’s power over life and death

Abstract

European Constitution makers have been reluctant to grant specific rights and powers related to life and death, but judges are more and more involved in life-end questions. The paper analyses a few Italian cases of the last thirty years in which the judges' conscience seems to have increased their power. 1. How do constitutions do with the power over life and death The power over life and death doesn’t look like a power that could be entrusted to human beings. “Master over life and death” sounds more like a science fiction (Robert Silberberg 1957) or a computer-game or a psychoanalysis of Anders Behring Breivik and other terrorists. Shouldn’t it just be a power of spiritual sovereignty reserved to religion? In fact, there are ideas and myths of a supreme divine power over life and death, for example in the death-rebirth of Isiris and Dionysos. In the Ancient Testament, 1 Samuel 2:6 states: “The Lord brings death and makes alive”. This power over life and death is es* Contributo referato dalla Direzione della Rivista,versione rielaborata di una relazione a un colloquio internazionale su “Droit et Culture : Regards croisés pluridisciplinaires sur la fin de vie”, tenutosi a Firenze dal 25 al 27 giugno 2018. ** Professore ordinario di Istituzioni di diritto pubblico nell’Università del Piemonte Orientale, joerg.luther@uniupo.it.