La compensatio lucri cum damno come "latinismo di ritorno"

Il saggio esamina in chiave critica l’origine storica e la diffusione applicativa della compensatio lucri cum damno, mettendo in luce come questo istituto civilistico ormai saldamente presente nell’esperienza giurisprudenziale italiana debba le sue origini ad un trapianto propiziato dalla comparazione in tempi moderni. In questa prospettiva esso costituisce esempio notevole di un « latinismo di ritorno », quale regola giuridica veicolata da un’espressione latina che ha però avuto modo di essere associata alla regola stessa non dai giureconsulti romani, ma da giuristi moderni, operanti in altre esperienze giuridiche, che riferirono la propria intuizione ad una veste linguistica latina per conferirle prestigio, propiziandone la recezione in Italia anche per effetto di tale prestigio linguistico. The article reviews the historical origin and the case law applications of the Compensation Lucri CumDamno (CLCD), a legal construct routinely discussed by courts in Italy when handling issues of collateral source in tort law. Contrary to the widespread belief that this rule is somehow derived from the Roman legal tradition, the article sheds new light on this traditional historical account, highlighting how the circulation of CLCD in Italy was the product of a doctrinal transplant from the German scholarship writing in the years of the BGB codification. Against this backdrop, the CLCD portrays a clear example of what may be defined as a « returning Latinism », i.e.a Latin vested legal concept encapsulating a rule that has gained momentum in Italian law on the false premise that—because of the linguistic form with which it become known —the concept was firmly entrenched in Roman law, having been part of that tradition of thought ever since the times of Justinian. A closer look reveals instead that the returning Latinism was conceptually framed in Latin—because of the legal prestige associated to this linguistic vest—by non Italian scholars, writing in modern times in foreign legal systems. The Latinism then circulates in Italy thanks to doctrinal transplants mediated by modern comparative law, but its linguistic form of expression creates the illusion of its Roman origin, as it has also been the case in Italy for the common law conceived Latinism «Res Ipsa Loquitur ».