The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation is the highest court of Italy. Appeals to the Court of Cassation generally come from the Appellate Court, the second instance courts, but defendants or prosecutors may also appeal directly from trial courts, first instance courts. The Supreme Court can reject, or confirm, a sentence from a lower court. If it rejects the sentence, it can order the lower court to amend the trial and sentencing, or it can annul the previous sentence altogether. A sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation is final and definitive, and cannot be further appealed for the same reasons. Although the Supreme Court of Cassation cannot overrule the trial court's interpretation of the
evidence it can correct a lower court's interpretation or application of the
law connected to a specific case. As explained by the Cassazione, "The appeal in cassation may be lodged against the measures issued by the ordinary courts at the appellate level or in degree only: the reasons given to support the use may be, in civil matters, the violation of the right material (errores in iudicando) or procedural (errores in proceeding), the vices of motivation (lack, insufficiency or contradiction) of the judgment under appeal; or, again, the grounds for jurisdiction. A similar scheme is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court in criminal matters". The Italian judicial system is based on
civil law within the framework of late
Roman law, and not based on
common law. Its core principles are entirely codified into a normative system which serves as the primary source of law, which means judicial decisions of the supreme court, as well as those of lower courts, are binding within the frame of reference of each individual case submitted, but do not constitute the base for judicial
precedent for other future cases as in Common Law. While in Civil Law jurisdictions the doctrine of
stare decisis (
precedent) does
not apply, in practice the decisions of the Supreme Court of Cassation usually provide a very robust reference point in
jurisprudence constante. The two essential aims of the Supreme Court of Cassation are to ensure that lower courts correctly follow legal procedure, and to harmonize the interpretation of laws throughout the judicial system. ==Members and organization==