Ricerc@Sapienza

The article delves into the relationship between human dignity and fundamental freedoms, considering the particular cases of voluntary prostitution and assisted suicide. Drawing upon the recent judgments of the Italian Constitutional Court (n. 141 and 242 of 2019), it is argued that the criminalization of aiding another person in prostituting themselves or committing suicide is compatible with the provisions of the Constitution. In fact, both judgments explicitly affirm that the rationale of the criminal offenses under scrutiny is to be found in the protection of vulnerable persons.

The purpose of the work is to demonstrate, through a constitutional rereading, the extent of private autonomy post mortem and to overcome the prejudice that the only act mortis causa admissible in our legal system is the will. From this point of view, first it is clarified that acts inter vivos are opposed to acts of last will and not to acts mortis causa and, subsequently, it aims to overcome the theory that distinguishes between typical and atypical content of the will.