La notificazione tra conoscenza legale e conoscenza effettiva

The notification is intended to provoke knowledge, as can be inferred from its very name, deriving from the Latin notum facere. In the institute however – Minoli observed in one of the most important studies on the theme of the last century – the predominant role is played by the facere, by the activities to be carried out, and not by notitia: the effective achievement of knowledge is not essential for the procedure to take place. Over the years this sensitivity has changed. The constitutional protection granted to the right of defense and the influence of other models, in particular the German one, have made it more felt the need for the rules of notification to provide the recipient with a real chance to learn the content of the act addressed to him, so as to determine their behavior in time. This need conflicts with another, which is also of primary importance. If to exercise a right it is necessary to make a deed known to someone, the holder must have a reliable knowledge production tool, able to overcome any obstacles due to the poor cooperation of the recipient. Otherwise, enforcing the right in question would be very burdensome, if not completely impossible. Rules are therefore needed that, in the presence of certain assumptions, require us to consider what is not necessarily so, sanctioning its legal knowledge.