jennabet: Thank you, apology accepted. I understand the tendency to write a strongly worded response, and then tone it down upon revision.
mler's response is precisely what I was referring to. I'm not calling Italy or the Italian government discriminatory. However, even in an overall just society, some laws are not always just, and sometimes they do discriminate (Jim Crow, women not being allowed to vote, etc.). However, I believe (and the Courts have seemed to agree) that that law, specifically, is discriminatory.
This is what the Courts have said:
"Le norme precostituzionali riconosciute illegittime per effetto di sentenze
del giudice della legge sono inapplicabili e non hanno più effetto dal 1 gennaio
1948 sui rapporti su cui ancora incidono, se permanga la discriminazione delle
persone per il loro sesso o la preminenza del marito nei rapporti familiari, sempre
che vi sia una persona sulla quale determinano ancora conseguenze ingiuste, ma
giustiziabili, cioè tutelabili in sede giurisdizionale. "
You'll find that paragraph in just about every sentenza issued in a 1948 decision. There are a couple of other places in the sentenze that also refer the particular law in question (or its effects) as discriminatory or unjust.
Here's an example that might help to demonstrate why the 1948 law is discriminatory.
Imagine the following scenario. Vittorio and Paola, a married couple, come to the United States in 1921.
In 1922 they have a daughter, Giuliana
In 1924 they have a son, Tommaso
In 1926 they have another daughter, Rosa
Vittorio and Paola become US citizens in 1935
Since all three children are born in the US before their parents have naturalized, they all have both US and Italian citizenship.
All three children are married by 1946 (let's say they all married Italians from Italy who naturalized as US citizens prior to marriage).
Giuliana has a son in 1944.
Tommaso has a son in 1946.
Renata has a daughter in 1947.
According to the current 1948 law, even though all three of the children born between 1944 and 1947 were born to Italian citizens, only one, Tommaso's son, can inherit Italian citizenship from his parent. And the only reason why the Tommaso's son can have Italian citizenship and the other two children cannot, is because he was born to a male, and the other two were born to females.
Everything in the chain of descent is identical for the three children, yet only one can obtain citizenship. However, there's one change (and once change only) that could have made the other two children eligible: if Giuliana and Renata had been Giuliano and Renato instead.
