Paolo Onorato Vigliani

Paolo Onorato Vigliani (known in some sources as Paul-Honoré Vigliani) (Pomaro Monferrato, 24 July 1814 – Florence, 12 February 1900) was an Italian magistrate and politician. He served twice as Minister of Justice.

Childhood and early life He was the child of Alfonso Onorato Vigliani, a doctor, and Cristina Sesti. He had a brother who died when he was not yet twenty and a sister, Marianna. At the age of 4 he lost his father and was raised until the end of his studies by his uncle, Abbot Ferdinando Vigliani, professor of literature, prefect of studies at the Trevisio College in Casale. This uncle had previously taught in the Collegio delle Province but after the Carbonari uprising he had been removed from Turin. He was a major liberal influence on Vigliani’s education. At 18 Vigliani enrolled at the Faculty of Law in Turin and at the age of 22, in 1836, he graduated.

Early in his legal career he came to the attention of Count Giacinto Fedele Avet, King Charles Albert’s Minister of Justice, and he was appointed private secretary to the ministry on 31 August 1841. During the revolution of 1848, Vigliani, who had already entered the judiciary, collaborated on the newspaper Costituzionale Subalpino, founded by his lawyer friend Vigna. On 23 January 1860 he was appointed senator.

Minister of Justice In October 1869 he assumed the position of Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals for the first time in the third Menabrea government. In his first term of office he promulgated the naval penal code, and with his measured approach to business managed to calm the political attacks against the ministry by the parliamentary opposition and even by some judges, due to the conduct of his predecessor Michele Pironti, whose rigid and conservative views had alienated many. In December of the same year, however, he had to resign his position. His was the last draft code presented to the Assembly by the historical Right. He also promoted the compilation of the new commercial code Relations between the Kingdom of Italy and the Papacy had remained tense after the passage of the Law of Guarantees in 1871. In particular the question of the Exequatur remained contentious; the Vatican refused to apply for it from the Italian state so its bishops were assured of the right to take up their dioceses, while the Kingdom of Italy continued to insist upon it as a key provision of the separation of church and state. The matter was not finally resolved under Vigliani, but the negotiations between him and Don Bosco on behalf of the Vatican were marked by a civil and conciliatory tone that was a notable change from previous discussions.

He left the Ministry in March 1876.