ABSTRACT
Paolo di Castro was a late medieval jurist and law professor who taught at the universities of Florence, Siena, and Padua. From his university lectures on the most important parts of Roman law, extensive commentaries survive which were cited and reprinted well into the seventeenth century. He also acquired ample practical professional experience as assistant judge (auditor) for the papal Rota in Avignon, as well as an adviser for statutory reforms in Florence and Fermo. His European-wide fame is based on the hundreds of legal expert opinions (consilia) rendered on behalf of parties to a lawsuit by a secular or ecclesiastical court. Renowned for the impartiality of his opinions, he was well versed in canon law and was even asked by the cardinals supporting the Roman pope for an expert report on how to possibly end the schism of the Latin Church.
