Divorce in Italy: a textual analysis of cassation judgment

The dissolution of marriage is a complex social phenomenon that needs new topics of investigation, especially concerning the role of legal institutions in the conflict between partners. The research aims to identify the main issues that emerge in the institutional dimension of the phenomenon, identifying evolution and complexity of this within the sentences of the Italian Court of Cassation. Through judgments’ analysis, we can trace the variety of the phenomenon and identify interpretations of law in line with the evolution of contemporary institutions. The sentences are inserted in a demographic framework and are subsequently explored with topic probabilistic model (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), aimed to trace latent topic. In conclusion, the topics extracted refer to three main-dimensions, one to the procedural phases, another concern the difficulty of leaving the separation phase and ending up in divorce, and finally the debate on the social-economic measures of divorce maintenance.