FRIEDRICH SPEE E LA PRESUNZIONE D’INNOCENZA

Abstract

In his famous Cautio Criminalis, published for the first time in 1631, Jesuit Father Fiedrich Spee seems to have anticipated, a century and a half before the French Revolution, the idea of Presumption of Innocence. The Author deals with it below two profiles: with reference to the victim of trials based on illicit evidences and to the so called elision of the clues to be assessed for the application of torture. Father Spee will be reported as one of the most significant figures for the abolition of the torture.