Il negozio giuridico dal patrimonio alla persona

Object of this article is to affirm the persistent validity of the general category of juridical act expressing the principle of private autonomy. This is "negozio giuridico", the German Rechtsgeschäft, that has no precise translation in English language, where the best one would be “declaration of will”. “Legal act”, indeed, as it is translated e.g. by PECL (see notes sub art. 1:107), results to be too poor to specify that “negozio giuridico” is a declaration of intention the German Willenserklärung. At a certain moment this category has appeared too generic with respect to the great variety of types of inetntion to be declared in legal relationships. Now the author argues that consideration of intention is still essential in contracts and legal promises, since they express the intention to be legally bound (comp. the implicit definition of contract in art. 2:101 PECL). More than that nowadays the declaration of intent is the basis of many juridical acts regarding persons as such. This has opened a new age for the category of “negozio giuridico”, especially evident in the case of “living will”, which the author proposes to call more appropriately “leaving will”.