Il diritto, la legge e il potere

All his life, Sciascia was torn between an ethical aspiration towards the attainment of Justice in society, and an awareness of the limitations of the human administration of Justice, this latter carrying with it the possibility of judicial error or, more seriously, of the intrusion of the defence of privilege into the process of handing down verdicts and the imposition of sentences. His novels and inchieste frequently dramatise an innate conflict between Justice and Power, between Justice and Law, or even between Justice and judgement, an irresolvable conflict. This paper was presented at the 12th Leonardo Sciascia Colloquium, held in Rome on the 7th and 8th October 2021. [Publisher's text]