The case law of the Italian constitutional court, its power laws, and the web of scholarly opinions

Abstract

The paper examines the citation network of the via incidentale rulings of the Italian Constitutional Court ("ICC"), vis-à-vis the web of scholarly opinions, comments, and annotations, devoted to such cases. The aim is to deepen the notion of legal relevance. On the one hand, a remarkable number of cases that are considerably discussed by experts, are neither hubs nor authorities in the ICC citation network. On the other hand, cases that are relevant in the ICC citation network are scarcely debated, or even ignored, by scholars. This twofold outcome suggests that we should combine research on the citation network of the courts with the web of scholarly opinions, to obtain a more detailed picture of which decisions and verdicts have to be reckoned as relevant in a given legal system.