Un anno col cancelliere del Tribunale. La tutela dell'ordine pubblico nella Livorno del 1785

The Grand Duke Peter Leopold’s greatest claim to fame, as is well-known, was the abolition of the death penalty and torture. Prior to implementing Beccaria’s recommendations, the Grand Duke deemed it more prudent to strengthen the apparatus of control. The reform of criminal laws and the "softening of sentences" were preceded by a major police reform. And it was from both, acting in unison, that the Prince expected the radical reversal of the philosophy of public order in force until then, in the belief that it was better to prevent crime, rather than to intervene with the executioner when the damage was done. The powers of police intervention were expanded and the summary procedure, which permitted quick intervention against troublesome individuals, was strengthened; the need to exert control lay behind the widespread control of his subjects and the right to issue, if necessary, admonitions, precepts, "economic punishments". Livorno has preserved an important, rare and precious record of the correctional activity carried out by police to control and protect public order: it consists of a couple of notebooks documenting the day-by-day operations of control and repression conducted in 1785 to regulate society. After explaining the nature and aims of Leopold’s reforms, the paper illustrates the data emerging from the study of this source: the approach, procedures and methods of the records office and the correctional action carried out by this institution in the course of a year. The instances of social conflict are also defined and the ex officio actions that were envisaged to contain them are analyzed .