Giasone del Maino was the illegitimate son of the patrician Andreotto del Maino. He was brought up in
Milan, and studied law at the
University of Pavia with the Bartolist jurist
Alexander de Tartagnis. He taught at the
University of Pavia from 1467 to 1486. After a few years in
Padua he returned to Pavia, where he lectured to large classes of Italian, French, and German students. In 1494 he accompanied the Milanese
ambassador Erasmo Brasca to the court of
Emperor Maximilian. In 1507 he made a speech welcoming
Louis XII of France. In that year
Andrea Alciato came to Pavia to study with him and his pupil Filippo Decio. He died in Milan in 1519. Giasone del Maino belonged to the so-called school of the
postglossators, who applied Scholastic methodology to both civil and canon law in order to develop universal legal principles. He distinguished himself for combining this rigorous method with profound
Classical scholarship, which made him a forerunner of
legal humanism. His commentary on the
Digest was one of the most widely used commentaries of the sixteenth century. == Works ==