Marsilio e lo ius : alcune ipotesi interpretative.

The paper aims to examine some aspects of the legal philosophical theory of Marsilius of Padua contained in his main work, the Defensor Pacis, which have received less attention than the historical and political profiles, and the more classical themes of popular sovereignty and secularism. More specifically, it examines some passages of the Marsilius’ masterpiece in which we can find the treatment of concepts that will become typical of ‘modern’ thinking on rights, such as freedom, will and power. These passages show the author’s pioneering focus on the subjective dimension of law, such as “ius”, as opposed to the objective dimension of “lex”. In this new dimension, the individual begins to stand before the law by exhibiting their own legal vitality beyond mere compliance with legal rules and foreshadowing the reasons for Occamian voluntarism and, more generally, the subsequent Western Theories of Rights.