ITALIAN CONSTITUTION
106 - 120

Article 106 [Appointment of Members of the Judiciary]
(1) Appointment to the judiciary is based on competitive examinations. (2) The law on the organization of the judiciary may provide for honorary magistrates, possibly by election, to perform the duties of single judges. (3) By proposal of the superior council of the judiciary, full professors of law as well as lawyers with at least fifteen years practice and registered for practice in higher courts, may be appointed to the court of cassation for exceptional merits.

Article 107 [Disciplinary Action]
(1) Members of the judiciary may not be removed from office. They may not be dismissed, suspended, or moved to other jurisdictions or functions except either by decision of the superior council of the judiciary for reasons and with opportunity of defense as defined by the organizational law, or by their own consent. (2) The minister of justice may initiate disciplinary action. (3) Judges may only be distinguished by function. (4) The public prosecutor enjoys the guarantees defined by the organizational law.

Article 108 [Laws on the Organization of the Judiciary]
(1) The organization of the judiciary and every judicial authority are defined by law. (2) The law has to protect the independence of judges, of special courts, of the public prosecutors attached to them, and of all those not belonging to the judiciary who participate in the administration of justice.

Article 109 [Judicial Police]
The judiciary directly commands the judicial police. Article 110 [Minister of Justice]
Notwithstanding the powers of the superior council of the judiciary, organization and operation of the administration of justice are vested in the minister of justice.

Section II Rules on Jurisdiction
Article 111 [Legal Proceedings]
(1) Justice must be administered by fair trials defined by law. (2) Trials are based on equal confrontation of the parties before an independent and impartial judge. The law has to define reasonable time limits for the proceedings. (3) In criminal trials, the law provides for timely and confidential information of the accused regarding the nature and reasons of charges brought against them; they are granted the time and means for their defense; they have the right to question those who testify against them or to have them questioned; those who may testify in favor of the accused must be summoned and examined under the same conditions granted to the prosecution; any evidence in favor of the accused must be acknowledged; the accused may rely on the help of an interpreter if they do not understand or speak the language of the proceedings. (4) In criminal trials, evidence may only be established according to the principle of confrontation between parties. No defendant may be proven guilty on the basis of testimony given by witnesses who freely and purposely avoided cross-examination by the defense. (5) The law defines in which cases evidence may be established without confrontation between the parties, either by consent of the defendants or as an effect of proven misdemeanor. (6) Reasons must be stated for all judicial decisions. (7) Aainst sentences and measures concerning personal freedom delivered by the ordinary or special courts, appeals to the curt of cssation are always allowed regarding violations of the law. These provisions may be waived only in the case of sentences pronounced by military courts in time of war. (8) Against decisions of the council of state and of the court of accounts, appeals to the court of cassation are only admissible for reasons of jurisdiction.

Article 112 [Criminal Proceedings]
The public prosecutor has the duty to initiate criminal proceedings.

Article 113 [Judicial Review]
(1) Against a decision taken by the public administration before an ordinary or administrative court, legal action is always admissible to protect one's own rights under civil or administrative law. (2) Such judicial protection may not be excluded or limited to specific forms of action or to specific categories of claims. (3) The law defines which jurisdictional organs may annul decisions of the public administration, in which cases and with which effects.

Title V Regions, Provinces, Municipalities
Article 114 [Municipalities, Provinces, Metropolitan Cities, Regions, State]
(1) The republic consists of municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities, regions, and the state. (2) Municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities, and regions are autonomous entities with their own statutes, powers, and functions according to the principles defined in the constitution. (3) Rome is the capital of the republic. State law regulates its legal status.

Article 115 [Regions]
{ abolished }

Article 116 [Special Forms of Autonomy]
(1) According to their special statutes adopted by constitutional law, particular forms and conditions of autonomy are enjoyed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Southern Trentino, and the Aosta Valley. (2) The region Southern Trentino consists of the autonomous provinces Trento and Bolzano. (3) Upon the initiative of the region concerned, after consultation of local administrations, state law may assign further particular forms and conditions of autonomy to other regions according to the principles laid down in Art. 119; such forms and conditions shall concern the matters specified in Art. 117 (3) as well as the matters listed in paragraph 2 of the same article under the letters l) - with regard to the organization of the offices of the justices of the peace only -, n), and s). The law, based on an agreement between the state and the region concerned, needs the approval of the chambers with a majority of their members.

Article 117 [State and Regional Legislative Power]
(1) Legislative power belongs to the state and the regions in accordance with the constitution and within the limits set by european union law and international obligations. (2) The state has exclusive legislative power in the following matters: a) foreign policy and international relations of the state; relations of the state with the european union; right of asylum and legal status of the citizens of states not belonging to the european union; b) immigration; c) relations between the republic and religious denominations; d) defense and armed forces; state security; weapons, ammunitions and explosives; e) money, protection of savings, financial markets; protection of competition; currency system; state taxation system and accounting; equalization of regional financial resources; f) state organs and their electoral laws; state referenda; election of the european parliament; g) organization and administration of the state and of national public bodies; h) law, order and security, aside from the local administrative police; i) citizenship, registry of personal status and registry of residence; l) jurisdiction and procedural laws; civil and criminal law; administrative tribunals; m) determination of the basic standards of welfare related to those civil and social rights that must be guaranteed in the entire national territory; n) general rules on education; o) social security; p) electoral legislation, local government and fundamental functions of municipalities, provinces and metropolitan cities; q) customs, protection of national boundaries and international prophylactic measures; r) weights, units of measurement and time standards; coordination of the informative, statistical and information-technology aspects of the data of the state, regional and local administrations; intellectual property; s) protection of the environment, of the ecosystem and of the cultural heritage. (3) The following matters are subject to concurrent legislation of both the state and regions: international and european union relations of the regions; foreign trade; protection and safety of labor; education, without infringement of the autonomy of schools and other institutions, and with the exception of vocational training; professions; scientific and technological research and support for innovation in the productive sectors; health protection; food; sports regulations; disaster relief service; land-use regulation and planning; harbors and civil airports; major transportation and navigation networks; regulation of media and communication; production, transportation and national distribution of energy; complementary and integrative pensions systems; harmonization of the budgetary rules of the public sector and coordination of the public finance and the taxation system; promotion of the environmental and cultural heritage, and promotion and organization of cultural activities; savings banks, rural co-operative banks, regional banks; regional institutions for credit to agriculture and land development. In matters of concurrent legislation, the regions have legislative power except for fundamental principles which are reserved to state law. (4) The regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law. (5) Regarding the matters that lie within their field of competence, the regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano participate in any decisions about the formation of community law. The regions and autonomous provinces also provide for the implementation and execution of international obligations and of the acts of the european union in observance of procedures set by state law. state law establishes procedures for the state to act in substitution of the regions whenever those should fail to fulfill their responsibilities in this respect. (6) The power to issue by-laws is vested in the state regarding all matters where it has exclusive legislative power, insofar as it does not devolve such power to the regions. The power to issue by-laws is vested in the regions in any other matters. Municipalities, provinces and metropolitan cities have regulatory power with respect to the organization and the fulfillment of the functions assigned to them. (7) Regional laws have to remove all obstacles which prevent the full equality of men and women in social, cultural, and economic life, and promote equal access of men and women to elective offices. (8) Regional laws has to ratify agreements reached by a region with another region aimed at the better exercise of their functions, including the establishment of joint institutions. (9) Within its field of competence the region may establish agreements with foreign states and understandings with territorial entities that belong to a foreign state, in the cases and forms provided for by state law.

Article 118 [Administrative Functions]
(1) Administrative functions belong to the municipalities except when they are conferred to provinces, metropolitan cities, regions, or the state in order to guarantee uniform practice; the assignment is based on the principles of subsidiarity, differentiation and adequacy. (2) Municipalities, provinces and metropolitan cities have their own administrative functions and, in addition, those conferred to them by the law of the state or the region according to their respective fields of competence. (3) State law provides for forms of coordination between the state and the regions in the matters referred to in letters b) and h) of Art. 117 (2); it also provides for forms of understanding and coordination in the matter of the protection of the cultural heritage. (4) State, regions, metropolitan cities, provinces and municipalities support autonomous initiatives promoted by citizens, individually or in associations, in order to carry out activities of general interest; this is based on the principle of subsidiarity.

Article 119 [Financial Autonomy]
(1) Municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities and regions have financial autonomy regarding revenues and expenditures. (2) Municipalities, orovinces, metropolitan cities and regions have autonomous resources. They establish and implement their own taxes and revenues, in harmony with the constitution and in accordance with the principles of coordination of the public finances and the taxation system. They receive a share of the proceeds of state taxes related to their territory. (3) The law of the state establishes an equalization fund to the benefit of areas where the fiscal capacity per inhabitant is reduced, with no restrictions as to the allocation of its proceeds, (4) The funds deriving from the sources mentioned in the previous paragraphs have to enable municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities and regions to finance in full the functions attributed to them. (5) In order to promote economic development, social cohesion, and solidarity, to remove economic and social inequalities, to foster the actual exercise of human rights, to pursue ends other than those pertaining to the exercise of their ordinary functions, the state may allocate additional resources or carry out special actions to the benefit of certain municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities and regions. (6) Municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities and regions have their own assets, assigned to them according to general principles established by state law. They may only contract loans in order to finance investment expenditure. State guarantees on such loans are excluded.

Article 120 [Free Circulation and Substitution Clause]
(1) Regions may not charge import or export duties, nor duties on transit between regions, nor adopt provisions which may hinder in any way the free movements of persons and goods between regions, nor limit the right to work in any part of the national territory. (2) The Government may act as a substitute for regional, metropolitan city, provincial, or municipal authorities whenever those should violate international rules or treaties or community law, whenever there is a serious danger for the public safety and security, and whenever such substitution is required in order to safeguard the legal or economic unity of the nation, and particularly in order to safeguard the basic standards of welfare related to civil and social rights, irrespective of the boundaries of the local governments. The law defines appropriate procedures in order to guarantee that substitution powers are exercised within the limits set by the principles of subsidiarity and fair cooperation.

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