Corpo e differenza culturale. I. L’articolo 5 del codice civile italiano nello specchio della tradizione giuridica occidentale

This paper offers the first partial result of a two-person research project which attempts to combine a comparative and economic analysis of law with an intercultural law approach. The paper focuses on Article 5 of the Italian civil code which governs the dispositions of the human body and considers it as a set of separate parts. The essay goes on to address the doctrinal and judicial debate on the separated parts of the body in civil law (with particular regard to the Italian, French and German legal systems) and common law (Anglo-American systems). After assessing the possible developments that an economic analysis of law can offer, the last part of the paper scrutinizes the relationship between culture, religion and law in the multicultural society, with specific regard to how these domains impact and reflect the dispositions of the body.