Giuseppe Zurlo
Giuseppe Zurlo, also called Giuseppe Zurolo, (Baranello, 6 November 1757 – Naples, 10 November 1828) was an Italian jurist and politician, belonging to the Zurolo family.
thumb|Hand-drawn drawing of the Italian politician and jurist Giuseppe Zurlo.

 Biography 
A member of the Freemasonry, in 1784 he became Scottish Master of the aristocratic lodge La Vittoria of Naples, elevated by the Grand Lodge of London to a provincial Grand Lodge. In 1813 he was Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Naples.

From a young age he held highly prestigious judicial and administrative positions within the administration of the Kingdom of Naples, up to that of Minister of Finance, under Ferdinand I, and Minister of the Interior during the French government (1806 –1815) and during the riots of 1820. As Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe managed the process of abolition of feudalism, decreed with a series of provisions approved by the sovereigns Joseph Bonaparte and Gioacchino Murat between 1806 and 1811.

He decreed the transfer of disputes between the barons and the municipality to the feudal commission, removing them from the ordinary judiciary. The commission, an extraordinary judiciary whose procedures reflected the vertical logic typical of the executive and whose sentences were final, proved to be much faster and more effective in resolving disputes and in executing the law.

A staunch supporter of the need for a radical change in the system of government, Giuseppe, through his personal life experience, knew first-hand the ills that afflicted the populations of the South. In addition to the economic and social problems of his homeland, Molise, he had a thorough knowledge of the conditions of Calabria, where he stayed on two occasions: the first time, as a member of the commission set up to investigate the earthquake of 1783, and a second time, in 1790, when he was a judge of the Gran Corte della Vicaria.

On this occasion he was given the task of carrying out a survey of the "defenses" of the Regia Sila and a verification of the occupations and usurpations of various lands carried out by local owners to the detriment of the royal state property.

 Assignments 

 Minister of Justice and Worship (February 1809 - November 1809);
 Minister of the Interior (November 5, 1809 - May 1815).

 Writings 

 
 

 External links 

 Official 

 
 

 Other 

 

 References 

 Bibliography 

 Historical sources 

 
 
 
 

Category:1757 births
Category:1828 deaths
Category:18th-century Italian people