Legal System of Portugal

In addition, the national legal system includes regulations or legal instruments of lower rank than laws, the purpose of which is to supplement laws and complete details in order to be applied or implemented (e.g. regulatory regulations, ordinances, regional regulatory regulations, ministerial regulations, implementing regulations and municipal orders and regulations). See European Justice, Law of the Member States – Portugal. [11] Portuguese constitutional law also has a significant influence in Brazil, with the Portuguese Constitution of 1976 and the works on constitutional law developed by Portuguese legal theorist José Gomes Canotilho being the main inspirations of the current Brazilian Constitution. Historically, ancient Portuguese India contributed to Portuguese jurisprudence with a number of prominent jurists and legislators, including the Goan Luiz da Cunha Gonçalves. On this page you will find information about the legal system in Portugal. Opinions on the admissibility and importance of other sources outside the sphere of the state`s political power to create a written right differ depending on whether the sources are considered a means of establishing legislation or as a means of disseminating those rules, or both. Sometimes a distinction is made between direct and indirect sources, avoiding some of the difficulties that arise from differences in the basic approach. Written law (lei) is the main source of law in the Portuguese legal system (Article 1, point 1 of the Civil Code). A “law” is defined as a general rule issued by the bodies with legislative powers which, according to the Portuguese Constitution, are the Assembly of the Republic, the Government and the Legislative Assemblies of each autonomous region of the Azores and Madeira. The IJP – Instituto Jurídico Portucalense offers a database giving access to unofficial versions/English translations of legal acts on the following topics: political systems, telecommunications, communications, data protection, criminal cases (e.g. cybercrime), access to administrative documents, Aslyum and refugees, banking and finance, international judicial cooperation, mental health, ombudsman and passports. Corporate provisions (normas corporativas) resulting from representative bodies of different moral, cultural, economic or professional categories (e.g.

professional associations), which must not conflict with mandatory legal provisions, are also direct sources of law (Article 1 of the Civil Code). In 2011, a new law on gender identity came into force. It is considered the most liberal of its kind in the world and allows transgender people to change their name and gender in legal documents. The Portuguese legal system includes the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and the constitutional laws that are at the top of the hierarchy of norms. The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, approved by Decree of 10 April 1976 (as last amended by Law No. 1/2005 of 12 August 2005 – seventh revision). It also includes the rules and principles of international law (jus cogens), the rules established in international agreements duly ratified or approved and adopted by the competent bodies of the international organisations to which Portugal is a member, as well as the provisions of the Treaties governing the European Union and the rules adopted by its institutions (Article 8 of the Constitution). According to Article 202 of the Portuguese Constitution, “the courts are institutions that exercise their sovereignty and have competence to administer justice on behalf of the people”. The courts are also “responsible for defending the rights and interests of citizens protected by law, suppressing violations of the legality of democracy and settling conflicts between public and private interests.” Article 203 of the Constitution provides that “the courts shall be independent and subject only to the law”.

According to article 205, “judicial decisions are binding on all public and private bodies and take precedence over the decisions of other authorities”. It should also be mentioned that the Public Prosecutor`s Office (Ministério Público) is an institution within the system of administration of justice and part of the State judicial system. It represents a judiciary similar to, but distinct and independent of the judiciary. Like judges, prosecutors are judges. Although the Public Prosecutor`s Office is part of the judiciary, it is autonomous and has its own Law No. 68/2019 of 27 August 2019 (amended by Law No. 2/2020 of 31 March) and extensive powers of initiative. Portuguese law was applied in Brazil until its independence in 1822. After independence, Portuguese laws remained in force and were gradually supplemented or amended by the laws of the Empire of Brazil and later by Brazilian republican laws. Although already separate, with independent development and other influences, Brazilian law has continued to be strongly influenced by Portuguese law, given the cultural affinities between the two countries, the high number of Portuguese residents in Brazil and the fact that many Brazilian lawyers received their legal training at the University of Coimbra. The Portuguese decrees of 1606 formed the framework for Brazilian civil law until 1916, when the first Brazilian Civil Code came into force.

This code was based on the German Civil Code (BGB), which coincided with a trend towards approximation with the German legal system, which was also observed in Portugal. The Brazilian Civil Code of today is that of 2002, which is also inspired by the Civil Code, but also has a clear influence of the Portuguese Civil Code of 1966. Articles 202 et seq. of the Portuguese Constitution define the principles of the administration of justice and the functioning of the courts in Portugal. The courts are sovereign bodies with competence to administer justice on behalf of the people. They are responsible for safeguarding the rights and interests of citizens protected by law, prohibiting violations of the democratic rule of law and settling public or private disputes. Portuguese law is the legal system that applies in Portugal. It belongs to the family of civil legal systems based on Roman law. As such, it shares many similarities with the legal systems of most continental European countries. [4] Weatherill, Stepen, and Beaumont, Paul, EU Law, “The essential guide to the legal workings of the European Union”, Penguin Books, 1999. To obtain a law degree (licenciatura em direito), students must complete four years of study (i.e. eight semesters), corresponding to a total of 240 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation Systems (ECTS).

The law degree is the first cycle of study in higher legal education. Its main objective is to provide students with a solid legal education in all areas of law in order to prepare them for the professional practice of legal activity. For most of Portuguese legal history, Portugal and its colonies had an ancient legal system based on a dual foundation of medieval local customary law and Roman law, largely derived from the corpus iuris civilis. The Civil Code of 1867 was also applied to the Portuguese overseas territories of the time. It was introduced to Portuguese India in 1870 and underwent a major local adaptation in 1880 to adapt to the customs of the local Hindu community. With the changes and adaptations undergone so far, the 1867 Code was in force in the territories of Portuguese India when the Republic of India invaded them (Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954 and the rest of the territories in 1961), although the 1966 Code was never applied here. The Portuguese legal system was maintained and the 1867 Code is still in force in what is now the state of Goa – where it is called the Goa Civil Code or Goa Family Law – as well as in the current Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Macau was under Portuguese administration until 1999, with general Portuguese laws applied to this area. The agreements between Portugal and China on the transfer of Macao`s administration stipulate that the Portuguese legal system in the territory will remain in force for 50 years.