_Titles of Honour._--The former existence of so many separate sovereignties and "fountains of honour" gave rise to a great many hereditary titles of nobility. Besides many hundreds of princes, dukes, marquesses, counts, barons and viscounts, there are a large number of persons of "patrician" rank, persons with a right to the designation _nobile_ or _signori_, and certain hereditary knights or cavalieri. In the "Golden Book of the Capitol" (_Libro d'Oro del Campidoglio_) are inscribed 321 patrician families, and of these 28 have the title of prince and 8 that of duke, while the others are marquesses, counts or simply patricians. For the Italian orders of knighthood see KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY: _Orders of Knighthood_. The king's uncle is duke of Aosta, his son is prince of Piedmont and his cousin is duke of Genoa.
_Justice._--The judiciary system of Italy is mainly framed on the French model. Italy has courts of cassation at Rome, Naples, Palermo, Turin, Florence, 20 appeal court districts, 162 tribunal districts and 1535 _mandamenti_, each with its own magistracy (_pretura_). In 13 of the principal towns there are also _pretori_ who have exclusively penal jurisdiction. For minor civil cases involving sums up to 100 lire (£4), _giudici conciliatori_ have also jurisdiction, while they may act as arbitrators up to any amount by request. The Roman court of cassation is the highest, and in both penal and civil matters has a right to decide questions of law and disputes between the lower judicial authorities, and is the only one which has jurisdiction in penal cases, while sharing with the others the right to revise civil cases.
The _pretori_ have penal jurisdiction concerning all misdemeanours (_contravvenzioni_) or offences (_delitti_) punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three months or by fine not exceeding 1000 lire (£40). The penal tribunals have jurisdiction in cases involving imprisonment up to ten years, or a fine exceeding £40, while the assize courts, with a jury, deal with offences involving imprisonment for life or over ten years, and have exclusive jurisdiction (except that the senate is on occasion a high court of justice) over all political offences. Appeal may be made from the sentences of the _pretori_ to the tribunals, and from the tribunals to the courts of appeal; from the assize courts there is no appeal except on a point of form, which appeal goes to the court of cassation at Rome. This court has the supreme power in all questions of legality of a sentence, jurisdiction or competency.