THE GREEN BAG The decision as to the extent and gravity of the injury is provided for by a series of royal acts but — two years after the acci dent the workman or the insurance com pany may demand a review of the decision if the state of health of the injured man shows that there was made an error of judgment — or if there are new develop ments in his case caused by the old injury. Controversies respecting the indemnity take place before' that tribunal appointed by law. Up to any controversy involving forty dollars — two hundred lire — or less there is no appeal from the trial court. The following industries are not governed by this act : 1. The government of Italy which has its own system of indemnity for personal injuries of its servants. 2. Those who having industrial plants and engaged in industrial undertakings con templated by this act, have founded, or will found at their own expense, buildings recog nized by royal decree, which provide in a permanent manner for a body of workmen exceeding five hundred and further assign an indemnity to injured workmen not less than that fixed by law, and have already depos ited as security with the State such guar antee as may be fixed by the minister of agriculture. Those heads of industries who fail to insure their laborers within the legal time
or do not renew such insurance at the proper time or employ more laborers than their list shows, are punished with a tax of five lire a day for every workman employed for the number of days during which they were uninsured, and in case of accident to one of their workmen must pay the indemnity guaranteed by law, and an equal amount to the government. Notwithstanding the insurance affected under this law there still remains the crimi nal responsibility with the head of an in dustry for injuries suffered by his workmen, and this criminal responsibility still remains with him if the sentence of the court declares that the responsibility for the accident lies with him to whom the owner or head has intrusted the care of his business. The head of an industry must give notice at least two days after an accident to the police under penalty of a heavy fine. At present the law on the subject is very well settled by decisions of previous years of the Court of Cassation, but these deci sions would not throw any valuable light on the matter for American lawyers, as they deal chiefly with the legal meaning of cer tain words of the act. The lawyers tell me that there is now very little litigation upon questions of personal injury litigation, while before the passage of this law the courts were largely occupied with suits of that sort. FLORENCE, ITALY, February, 1906.
