FALCO, MARIO

FALCO, MARIO (1884–1943), Italian jurist. Born in Turin, Falco specialized in canon and ecclesiastical law. He became lecturer in law at the universities of Macerata (1910) and Parma (1912) and was appointed to the chair at the University of Milan on its foundation in 1924. He held this post until the promulgation of the antisemitic laws in 1938. Most of Falco's extensive legal writings are concerned with canon law. They include Il Concetto Giuridico di Separazione della Chiesa dallo Stato (1913), La Codificazione del Diritto Canonico (1921), and Corso di Diritto Ecclesiastico (1938). An active Zionist, he participated in Jewish affairs both locally and nationally and was a member of a government committee which prepared the draft law on the Italian Jewish community in 1930. (Giorgio Romano)