ABSTRACT
When the various divisions of Italian law were enumerated, for each type of law listed - for instance, criminal law, administrative law, constitutional law there also existed a legal text setting forth the norms of that system and a set of courts to administer those norms. For the purposes of administering civil justice, Italy is again divided into units. Whereas politically, legislatively and administratively, the units were the State, its twenty regions, the provinces and the communes, for the purposes of civil justice the state is divided into twenty-seven judicial districts, which are in turn divided into circondarii. Territorial competence is generally decided according to where the defendant, il convenuto, has his residence, domicile or abode. If these are unknown, or the defendant does not live in Italy, then the appropriate judge of the locality in which the plaintiff, l'attore, lives has competence.
