Lawsuit Regarding a Shipment of Chocolate, Cinnamon and Vanilla
[LAW / ROTA ROMANA / CATHOLIC CHURCH].
PARACCIANI, Pietro.
R.P.D. Paracciano Spoletana, seu Januen. Mercium, veneris, 11. Maii 1792.
Rome, Tyopgraphia Reverenda Camara Apostolica, 1793.
Small folio (28.2 x 19 cm). 8 pp. (last 2 pp. blank), uncut; woodcut vignette armorial of the Roman Curia, with the papal mitre, at head of title. Unbound and untrimmed; light age-toning, especially on final two blank pages.
A rare legal document, untraced in OCLC and on the web. It records a decision by the Reverendissimus Pater Dominus Pietro Paracciani, an auditor of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church. Recent scholarship suggests that Pietro Paracciani may have been a younger brother of Cardinal Urbano Paracciani (1715-1777), who also served as auditor and then dean of the Roman Rota from 1753 to 1764.
This legal case centers on a commercial dispute between Nicolas Savi, a Spoleto-based chocolate shop owner, and Giovanni Domenico Poglia, a Genoese merchant who served as Savi's agent for this and other transactions. In August 1782, Savi commissioned Poglia to procure a significant consignment of goods for his business: 1,000 pounds of cocoa, 100 pounds of cinnamon, and one pound of vanilla. The legal document, primarily in Latin but occasionally incorporating original Italian correspondence, meticulously chronicles Poglia’s efforts to acquire these items in Genoa and his ongoing communications with Savi regarding price negotiations, terms of sale, and other pertinent details. Following the loss of the shipment due to a shipwreck, Poglia sought compensation and payment from Savi. However, Savi contested this claim, enlisting the support of the Spoleto law courts. Initially, Paracciani and the Tribunal of the Roman Rota appears to favor Poglia, citing the principle of force majeure, but subsequently it raises questions concerning insurance, specifically whether Savi instructed Poglia to secure coverage for this order.
* For Pietro Paracciani, see: M. Cattaneo, “Urbano Paracciani Rutili”, in Treccani: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/urbano-paracciani-rutili_(Dizionario-Biografico)/; and “Urbano Paracciani”, in S. Miranda, Florida Atlantic University Libraries, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church (https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1766-ii.htm#Paracciani).
Sold
