The current Portuguese Civil Code () was approved on 26 November 1966 and entered into force on 1 June 1967. It replaced the previous Portuguese Civil Code of 1868.
Its text was prepared by a Commission of Professors of Law which in its final phase was presided and substantially changed by Professor
Antunes Varela, which is why it is often referred to as "Varela's Civil Code" as opposed to "Seabra's Civil Code", the previous Civil Code of Portugal which preparation commission was presided over by the
Viscount of Seabra and entered into force precisely one century before the new code was enacted in 1967.
However, due to Professor Vaz Serra's important contributions, the Portuguese Civil Code is often also referred to as "Vaz Serra's Civil Code", specially by authors from the Faculty of Law of the
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...
.
Structure
The Code adopted the German classification of areas of Civil Law, following the
BGB, and is divided into 5 main parts (or "books"):
# the General Part (''Parte Geral''), Sections 1 through 396, comprising regulations that have effect on all the other four parts and on
Private Law
Private law is that part of a legal system that governs interactions between individual persons. It is distinguished from public law, which deals with relationships between both natural and artificial persons (i.e., organizations) and the st ...
in general, such as
sources of law
Sources of law are the origins of laws, the binding rules that enable any state to govern its territory. The terminology was already used in Rome by Cicero as a metaphor referring to the "fountain" ("fons" in Latin) of law. Technically, anything ...
,
legal interpretation,
personhood
Personhood is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in philosophy and law and is closely tied with legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty. According to law, only a legal person (ei ...
,
legal capacity,
emancipation of minors
Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism by which a minor before attaining the age of majority is freed from control by their parents or guardians, and the parents or guardians are freed from responsibility for their child. Minors are norma ...
, declarations of will,
rescission, formation of contracts,
limitation periods, and
agency.
#
Law of Obligations
The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law (legal system), civil law legal system and so-called "mixed" legal systems. It is the body of rules that organizes and regulates the rights and duties arising between individua ...
(''Direito das Obrigações''), Sections 397 through 1250, describing contractual obligations and all other sources of civil obligations, including
torts
A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with c ...
,
unjust enrichment
Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...
and ''
negotiorum gestio
''Negotiorum gestio'' (, Latin for "management of business") is a form of spontaneous voluntary agency in which an intervenor or intermeddler, the ''gestor'', acts on behalf and for the benefit of a principal (''dominus negotii''), but without th ...
''.
#
Property Law
Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prope ...
(''Direito das Coisas''), Sections 1251 through 1575, describing
possession,
ownership
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as '' title'', which may be separated and held by dif ...
, other property rights (e.g.
servitudes), and how those rights can be transferred.
#
Family Law
Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.
Overview
Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include:
* Marriag ...
(''Direito da Família''), Sections 1576 through 2023, describing
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
,
marital property schemes,
legal guardianship, and other legal relationships among family members.
#
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
Law (''Direito das Sucessões''), Sections 2024 through 2334, which regulates what happens to a deceased's estate, as well as the
law of wills and contracts concerning succession (''pacta successoria'').
The Civil Code was subjected to many revisions and changes both in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
as well as in some of its former overseas possessions where it still is in force, but the main structure and concepts of it remain untouched since 1867.
The Macau Civil Code of 1999
In the former Portuguese possession of
Macau
Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
, handover to China in 1999, a new Civil Code was approved in 1999. The Macau Civil Code is direct descendant of the Portuguese Code, as it follows the same structure, but with several developments, changes, simplifications and additions.
Bibliography
* CARLOS FERREIRA DE ALMEIDA, ASSUNÇÃO CRISTAS and NUNO PIÇARRA (eds.), Portuguese law. An overview, Almedina, Coimbra, 2007.
* JORGE GODINHO, Macau business law and legal system, LexisNexis, Hong Kong, 2007.
* JORGE GODINHO, The Macau Civil Code. A partial English translatio
See also
*
Portuguese Goan Civil Code
*
Brazilian Civil Code
The current Brazilian Civil Code (Law 10.406 of January 10, 2002) has been in force since January 11 or 12, 2003, after its one-year ''vacatio legis''. The first version dates from 1916, after the publication of Law No. 3,071 of the same year.
S ...
External links
Civil Code of Portugal(in Portuguese), as maintained by the ''
Diário da República''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codigo Civil
Portuguese
Law of Portugal
1967 in law
Legal codes of Portugal