Il Dolo tra affetto ed effetto: Alberto De Simoni e la scienza penalistica italiana della seconda metà del XVIII secolo

The latter half of the eighteenth century represents a fundamental step in the historical development of intention’s concept. By that time the traditional objectivist approach, linked to the originalDoctrina Bartoliand culminating in the Carpzov’sdolus indirectus, loses force. Then an effective psychological dimension, in particular a volitive one, tends to emerge (to get established). In this historical phase the Italian criminal law doctrine plays an important role. Inter alia, Alberto De Simoni enhances the intention as content of mens rea, also proposing the assumption (overcome only by Carrara) for which the intention is consistent with the prediction of the event in terms of certainty and not of chance. De Simoni, then not only deepens the psychological content of intention, but also proposes a modern theory of evidence to ascertain it.