Il De Monetae mutatione (1609) di Juan de Mariana e la questione costituzionale sollevata contro la svalutazione monetaria

Abstract

This contribution offers an Italian version, translated by Paolo Evangelisti, of an essay previously published under the title Quantitative Easing Four Centuries Ago: Juan de Mariana’s De monetae mutatione (1609), in J. Witte Jr., S. McDougall, A. di Robilant (eds.), Texts and Contexts in Legal History: Essays in Honor of Charles Donahue (Robbins Collection – University of California, Berkeley, 2016), pp. 367–379. 

This contribution concentrates on Juan de Mariana’s De monetae mutatione (1609), a plea against the attempt by King Philip III to rescue his country from bankruptcy by debasing copper money. Mariana’s critical evaluation of the laxist monetary policy in his time rested on a strong constitutionalist understanding of the relationship between institutional power and citizens’ rights. He defended a rules-based monetary order, in which the natural rights of the individuals must be protected against the arbitrary exercise of power by the prince. Considering the stability of money as some kind of divine reference point, Mariana fiercely rejected the unholy attempt to tinker with money’s value, warning against its diabolic effects, particularly the expropriation of citizens without their consent. 

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Print edition for purchase published by Editrice Morcelliana (ISSN 2239-6098; ISBN 978-88-372-3325-9; external link), © 2019 Editrice Morcelliana.