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Abstract The paper aims to explore the phenomenon of the spread in democracy of new powers – produced by inexhaustible technological developments – from the perspective of the philosophy of Institutions. It traces the original idea of democracy, in which the «government of the people» arises from the conversion of natural liberty into social and political liberty, dwells on the political and juridical meaning of authority, analyses the traditional instruments used to condition human opinions and behaviours, and reconstructs – in light of this itinerary – the functioning and new grammar of the digital order. What opens before us is a fluid and disorganized scenario, dominated by digital systems, algorithms and artificial intelligence, that draws the attention of philosophers and sociologists, jurists and scholars of language and of anthropology. The old single order, outlined by the political and juridical machine of the modern State – which, through an aloof and solemn language, aimed to impart regularity to human behaviour and to give society direction – is replaced by multifarious models of order, each of which is generated by its own logic, practices, and autonomous control techniques. Under the omnipotence of technology, concepts such as authority, liberty, truth and power undergo a vortex of semantic transformations that penetrate a new symbolic space into human reasoning and actions.

This book features a discussion on the modernisation of law and legal change, focusing on the key concepts of "innovation" and "transition". These concepts both appear to be relevant and poorly defined in contemporary legal science. A critical reflection on the heuristic value of these categories seems appropriate, particularly considering their dyadic value. While innovation is increasingly appearing in the present day as being the category in which one looks at the modernisation of law, the concept of transition also seems to be the privileged place of occurrence for such dynamics. This group of Italian and Brazilian scholars contributing to this volume intends to investigate such problems through an interdisciplinary prism. It includes points of view both internal to legal studies - such as the history of law, theory of law, constitutional law, private law and commercial law - and external, such as political philosophy and history of justice and political institutions. ; Innovation and transition in law: some introductory remarks on the heuristic value of a conceptual pair / Massimo Meccarelli, Cristiano Paixão, Claudia Roesler (pp. 9-19). -- Time of innovation and time of transition shaping the legal dimension: a methodological approach from legal history / Massimo Meccarelli (pp. 23-44). -- What is a legal transition? Thoughts on legal change amidst a political transition (Brazil, 1980-2020) / Maria Pia Guerra (pp. 45-65). -- New philosophical paradigms and demand for law: space for innovation. Reflections on the time of transition as a practical structure / Flavia Stara (pp. 67-77). -- Melancholy as a permanent transition in law and democracy / Douglas Antônio Rocha Pinheiro (pp. 79-95). -- Uses of silence in political and legal transitions: a methodological approach to constitutional history / Cristiano Paixão (pp. 97-119). -- Legal concepts from the standpoint of innovation and preservation of meaning: a rhetorical perspective / Claudia Roesler (pp. 123-140). -- Latent innovations in a legal system and civil law categories / Francesco Gambino (pp. 141-154). -- The words of Justice and the long italian transition (1943-1958) / Antonella Meniconi (pp. 155-184). -- Rhetoric, technological innovation and legal audiences: the case of Brazilian Supreme Court / Isaac Costa Reis (pp. 185-202). -- Constituent power and constitutional change in Brazil's transition to democracy (1945-1946) / Raphael Peixoto de Paula Marques (pp. 205-224). -- Transition to democracy and the Brazilian presidential system post-1946: the relationship between institutional design and political instability / Claudia Paiva Carvalho (pp. 225-246). -- The physical body through the juridical lens: an issue of law of innovation and of innovation in law (XIX-XX cent.) / Elisabetta Fusar Poli (pp. 247-271). -- From telegraph to telephone: an exemplary transitional space in the legal discipline of technical innovations (1877-1903) / Francesca Martello (pp. 273-304). -- In the middle of nowhere. The never-ending transition of Italian private companies (società a responsabilità limitata - SRL) / Alessio Bartolacelli (pp. 305-336). -- The evolution of the form of government in Italy / Giovanni Di Cosimo (pp. 337-348).