Diritto e natura. Brevi osservazioni. Precedenti romani della tutela della salubrità ambientale in tema di immissioni e proprietà, Law and nature - A Brief perspective. Roman precedents for the protection of environmental health about immissions and property

The Italian legislator in 1942 introduced in the Civil Code the article 844, to establish criteria to regulate the cases of intolerable immissions, trying to balance the interest of full and exclusive private property and the interests of economy and industry. The Romans did not have a single discipline on the subject of environmental health, although the reason for allowing others to live in a non-unhealthy environment and not to tolerate compromises to their rights in the decisions of jurists is recognisable. Among the testimonies preserved in ancient legal sources is, for example, the regulation on emissions and fumes, introduced to safeguard neighborly relations and to protect property and not damage economic activities.