José Homem Correia Teles (May 10, 1780 – July 3, 1849) was a Portuguese jurist, judge and politician. He studied

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

from 1795 to 1800 and learned the profession of

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

from his father. From 1803 on, he held judicial posts in the countryside and, in 1821–24, in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Besides practicing law in Lisbon, he was a member of the Portuguese parliament several times between 1820 and 1843, and participated in drafting the Portuguese

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

in 1827/28. The writings of Correia Teles reflect and continue the 18th century's process of legal codification. His principal work of 1826, ''Digesto portuguez'', appearing 1835 in three volumes, presented a homogeneous view of Portuguese law, even though it relied on foreign codes such as the Code Napoléon. His other works include ''O Manual de Tabelião'', ''Manual de Processo Civil'', ''O Código Civil,'' ''O Direito Português'' and ''Theoria da Interpretação das Leis e Ensaio sobre o Censo Consignativo''.

References

* * Municipío de Estarreja
José Homem Correia Teles
retrieved November 2007 19th-century Portuguese judges 1780 births 1849 deaths University of Coimbra alumni {{Portugal-law-bio-stub