Italian labour jurists for many years neglected their own ori-gins for reasons of convenience and cultural ínterest. With the help of hitherto unpublished documents, this essay aims to illus-trate the debate on labour and corporative law which went on be-tween 1925 and the early thirties. The Author's main focus is on the first competitive examination for a chair of corporative law held by the University of Pisa in 1929. On the basis of the Pro-ceedings of the Commission, which proclaimed Carlo Costamagna the winner, and the decision of the Higher Council for Education to annul the award, it is possible to gain insight, on the one hand, into the clash between the Italian juridical school and committed jurists within the regime and, on the other, into the mechanisms ensuring the reproduction of the traditional academic classes, the effects of which were reflected also in the post World War II period.