The source of the mandatory and exclusive patronage of the State Advocacy in favor of the Regions with special statutes (Trentino Alto-Adige, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Sicily, Sardinia, Valle d'Aosta) is constituted, by the various provisions contained in the individual statutes, approved, as is known, by constitutional law, as well as in the various implementing provisions.

In these cases, legal aid is exercised in the manner provided for by art. 1 of the Royal Decree n. 1611/1933 .

The constitutional legitimacy of some of the provisions that attribute the patronage of the Regions with a special statute has been examined with reference to the Region of Sicily and the Region of Sardinia , but the issues of constitutional legitimacy have been deemed unfounded, having been correctly held by the Constitutional Court that there is no it is no limitation or infringement of regional autonomy.

The existence of compulsory legal aid for Regions with special statute entails the applicability of the same principles as the legal aid of State Administrations and, therefore, the non-necessity of the mandate and the obligation of notification of judicial documents to the competent State Advocacy. The examination of the various regulatory provisions, however, must lead us to believe that, even for the Regions with special statute, for which, as mentioned, the patronage was born and was conceived as mandatory and exclusive, it is necessary to make distinctions, with reference to the various situations that, over the years, have matured:

  • REGION OF FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA: the fundamental rule on patronage is found in Presidential Decree 23-1-1965, n. 78 (Official Gazette 03/05/1965, n. 57) issued in application of art. 65 of the special statute, (the constitutional law of January 31, 1963, n. 1). Subsequently the rules of the statute were modified with DPR 1987 n. 469 , containing supplementary provisions of the statute, with which it was established that the Friuli Region can also entrust patronage to its own employees; see also regional law no. 30 which regulates the cases of assignment of legal aid to a lawyer of the Region, in cases in which the legal aid is not entrusted to the State Advocacy, specifying that this can only take place in legally established cases; Regional Law 1 March 1988, N. 7 art. 244. , regional law 22 May 1986, n. 22 which, among the tasks of the legislative office, also includes the handling of disputed affairs and that of looking after relations with the lawyers, when the legal aid is not entrusted to the state attorney.
  • REGION OF SARDINIA: the fundamental rule on patronage is found in the DPR 19-5-1949, n. 250 GU 27-5-1949, n. 121 SO; see also DPR 19-6-1979, n. 348 OJ 9-8-1979, n. 218) see also Regional Law 26 August 1988, No. 32 art. 11 which makes it possible to entrust legal aid also to external lawyers.
  • SICILIAN REGION: the fundamental rule on patronage is found in Legislative Decree 2-3-1948, n. 142 OJ 22-3-1948, n. 68; see also Sicily Regional Law 23 March 1971, n. 7 . With reference to the Region of Sicily, it is necessary to examine a question, connected to the internal structure of the departments which, due to peaceful jurisprudence , have a particular autonomy, which must be taken into account in the notification of judicial documents and in the exercise of legal aid by of the State Advocacy. In particular, the Supreme Court held that "The Region of Sicily, as far as the administrative activity is concerned, does not have its own unitary subjectivity, referring to the individual assessors, to whom, in the context of their respective functions, their own competence with external relevance is attributed , so that each councilor is entitled to stand in court for the branch of administrative activity that he is headed "(Cass. SS.UU n. 2080 of 02/23/1995).
  • TRENTINO ALTO-ADIGE REGION: the fundamental rule on patronage is found in Presidential Decree 1-2-1973, n. 49 OJ 31-3-1973, n. 84 SO; see also regulations implementing the statute DPR 30-6-1951, n. 574 OJ 27-7-1951, n. 170 and Regional Law 11 June 1987, No. 5. relating to the competences of the Executive which, among other things, “deals with the handling of cases not falling within the compulsory legal aid competences of the state advocacy pursuant to art. 39-41 of the decree of the President of the Republic 1 February 1973, n. 49, possibly also with recourse to lawyers outside the administration ".
  • VALLE d'AOSTA REGION: the fundamental rule on patronage is found in the Law 16-5-1978, n. 196 , GU 23-5-1978, n. 141.