Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon
Former President of the Institute for Legal Co-operation

 

“1 Since 1976-77, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon has made co-operation with Portuguese-speaking African countries, with Macao and also with East Timor its essential task.

The following activities have taken place or are taking place within the framework of this co-operation:

1st Support for the creation of the Faculty of Law in Bissau and the teaching of undergraduate courses at that Faculty and at the Faculties of Law of the Eduardo Mondlane University (in Maputo), of East Asia (in Macau) and of Dili;

2. Joint organisation and teaching of master’s and doctoral courses at the Faculties of Law of the Eduardo Mondlane University (in Maputo and Beira) and the Agostinho Neto University (for the time being, in Luanda and Lubango);

3. The organisation of postgraduate courses;

4. organising and participating in conferences and symposia, both in these countries and in Cape Verde and São Tomé and Prícipe;

5. Supporting academic and non-academic law libraries;

6. the creation of the Luso-African Journal of Law.

2. In recent years, these cooperation activities have been enriched by the growing convergence with Brazilian Universities (legitimising the creation of a specific Institute for this purpose) and the start of exchanges with American Universities (which, in the future, should have repercussions on collaboration with Lusophone Africa).
3. The three decades of legal co-operation just mentioned are inextricably linked to the pioneering work of José de Oliveira Ascenção, José Manuel Sérvulo Correia and António Marques dos Santos, and the encouragement of successive Presidents of the Board of Directors and Scientific Council, especially Isabel de Magalhães Collaço, António Sousa Franco, Jorge Miranda and Miguel Teixeira de Sousa, the capacity for conception and execution of successive Presidents of the Cooperation Institute (well represented by Dário Moura Vicente), and dozens of Professors, Assistants and Trainee-Assistants who have dedicated years of their lives to this true national and Lusophone service.
4. Because it is a national service – projecting our legal culture and enriching it with the specific contribution of our brothers and sisters in language and in so many other common traits. In essence, cementing Lusophony.

Therefore, it is also a service to a linguistic and cultural community spread throughout the world, which is strengthened by the hundreds of graduates, the many dozens of masters and the two Lusophone African doctors – one Guinean and the other Angolan – trained in the framework of a cooperation that has borne fruit, in quantity and quality, more quickly than many would have predicted.

A commitment from our Faculty that we will continue to honour!” (Lisbon, 2008)

António Costa
Former Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon

“Goa is a state with a very rich culture of its own, which makes it a unique meeting point between Western and Eastern legal traditions. One of these areas of contact par excellence is precisely the legal system.

As is well known, the Goan legal system is the result of the fusion of the Portuguese and Indian legal systems, making it a hybrid legal system, which represents a very particular example of the influence of Portuguese law.

It should be noted that the main source of Goan civil law is the Seabra Code, which governs family and inheritance law. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the most prominent commentator on this Code was a distinguished Goan jurist, whose work marked several generations of Portuguese lawyers and magistrates: Luiz da Cunha Gonçalves.

The symbiosis between the Portuguese and Indian legal systems that is reflected in the law in force in Goa is therefore a good example of the meeting of cultures that has moulded Goan society over the centuries and which Portugal will do its utmost to help preserve within the framework of the bilateral cooperation it is willing to maintain with India.

This co-operation must also include legal co-operation that aims, first and foremost, to ensure the preservation and dissemination of one of the most enduring cultural ties between India and Portugal: the law.

It is therefore essential that Goan law students and lawyers have access to new developments in European law.

While India, like Portugal, is currently facing the challenge of globalisation, the way in which this is felt varies in each country. For this reason, the exchange of experiences on how the Portuguese and Indian legal systems face up to this challenge is essential, and is made possible in particular by exchanges with other educational institutions, which is very useful for lawyers and policy-makers in both countries.

(As a lawyer with a degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon – FDUL), I would like to emphasise the cooperation activity that has been carried out by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.

over the last ten years in Goa by my Faculty, namely the exchange between FDUL and the Salgaocar College of Law.

Bearing in mind the aforementioned concerns arising from the challenge of globalisation, the teaching given in the courses organised by FDUL in Goa has its main emphasis on European, International and Comparative Law.

As part of this co-operation activity, which is now a decade old, I would like to highlight the postgraduate course entitled Diploma in Civil Law, which has been attended by almost 500 students every year in Pangim.

On the other hand, mention should also be made of the research internships in Lisbon that have been offered to various lecturers from this College.

Finally, the cooperation activity also includes the publication of important works, such as the one coordinated by Dário Moura Vicente and Jorge Duarte Pinheiro containing a bilingual version, in Portuguese and English, of the provisions of the Civil Code of 1867 that are still in force in Goa, Daman and Diu, annotated by FDUL professors, as well as the collaboration, by FDUL professors, on the work organised by Anthony d’Souza and Carmo d’Souza, Civil Law Studies: Na Indian Perspective, published in 2009.

This link between the law schools and the teaching staff of FDUL and Salgaocar College demonstrates the desired rapprochement between Indian and Portuguese civil society.

This type of legal co-operation must be maintained and deepened within the broader framework of relations between Portugal and India. It is important that a growing number of Goan law students and jurists can get to know Portugal and attend its universities, but also that more Portuguese students and jurists can take an interest in Goan legal culture and learn from it.

Legal cooperation, particularly between these two schools, would not have been possible without the strong commitment of various institutions that made it possible financially, among which I would highlight the role of IPAD – the Portuguese Institute for Development Support, Camões – the Institute for Cooperation and Language and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

It is therefore the Portuguese government’s intention to continue to support cooperation between Portugal and India in the education sector, as far as the country is able, and as it has done in this project.

The government is certain that the dialogue between academics, provided by the above-mentioned cooperation activities, is an element that facilitates relations between Portugal and India, through the reciprocal knowledge and understanding that it makes possible.

The intensification of these relations will undoubtedly bring cultural, economic and political benefits to both countries.

Legal co-operation between educational institutions should therefore be continued, intensified and extended to other institutions.” (Goa, 2017)

Geraldo de Almeida
Lawyer and Lecturer at the Cape Verde Institute of Legal and Social Sciences

“The most important training experience in my personal and professional life was my time at the Faculty of Law in Lisbon, first as a student and then as a lecturer. I can say, without vanity, that today I am a teacher esteemed by my students and a jurist respected by my fellow citizens thanks to the scientific and methodological ballast I received from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. If knowledge sets you free, I can say without shame that the FDL opened the doors to freedom for me.” (Praia, 2018)

Emílio Kafft Kosta
Doctor of Laws; Professor at the Faculties of Law of Bissau and the University of Lisbon

“I pay a well-deserved tribute to Cooperation (between the Portuguese State and Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, to the Institute for Legal Cooperation) for the much it has done in favour of building an authentic Portuguese-speaking legal community. As far as I’m concerned, the tribute is also for the hand he has given me at crucial moments in my academic life. As an undergraduate student, as a master’s student, as a doctoral student – in the first quarter of the current century – as a researcher and, for the last seven years, as a professor at FDUL, these institutions have always responded positively to my vicissitudes, despite my self-restraint, offering the support that I had sought somewhere else. A big congratulations!” (Lisbon, 2018)

Teodoro Waty
PhD in Law from FDUL; Professor at the Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique)

“After doing my undergraduate degree in Development Studies at the Centre for African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University and studying Economics at the University of London, I enrolled at the Faculty of Law, which in 1992 was starting to cooperate with the Faculty of Law at Lisbon University.

In each of the ten semesters of my degree, I had resident lecturers, assigned by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon to teach subjects that were essential for breaking with the previous curriculum, inspired by Marxist legal studies.

Professors from the Lisbon University Faculty of Law taught the first two groups of postgraduates in Mozambique and the first Masters in Law graduates from that university.

Attentive to the evolution of its Mozambican counterpart, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon began to send lecturers with Master’s degrees and organise Master’s degrees for its teaching staff, which was the seedbed for the first two PhDs in Law organised by the Eduardo Mondlane University.

It was thanks to this co-operation that I belong to the group of the first five Masters graduates in Mozambique with a degree from the University of Lisbon and the first Mozambican to do a PhD in Law at that University.

The two Faculties of Law co-operate with other Mozambican universities in awarding Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Law.

It’s a perfect example of South-North co-operation in a reproductive investment – knowledge.

The fruits of the University of Lisbon Law School’s work can be seen in politics, in the three pillars of the administration of justice, in parliament, in government, in culture, in defence and in Mozambique’s economic growth.

The University of Lisbon and its Faculty of Law are Portugal’s most effective consulate in Mozambique.” (Maputo, 2018)

Gilberto Correia
Lawyer and former President of the Mozambican Bar Association

“I did my law degree at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. I wanted to continue with postgraduate studies that would simultaneously add technical and professional value and enhance my academic and professional profile in the market where I work. For several years I rejected some of the possibilities that arose in the Mozambican legal market, precisely because I felt that they did not meet the requirements I had defined. Then the opportunity arose to apply for a Master’s Degree in Legal Sciences, and more recently for a PhD, in the context of the Legal Cooperation Programme between the Eduardo Mondlane University and the Classical University of Lisbon. Fortunately, I was admitted to both programmes. I’ve finished my Master’s and I’m probably less than a year away from finishing my PhD. I can assure you that my expectations in this area have been exceeded. Prestige, innovation and excellence are indelible hallmarks of the postgraduate courses promoted or participated in by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. They give added value to the student who attends them, while at the same time enabling them to intervene differently in the market.” (Beira, 2018)

Lino Diamvutu
Master of Laws and PhD student at FDUL; Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Agostinho Neto University (Angola)

“The teaching of the science of law at FDUL is of high quality, due to the excellence of its teaching staff. The postgraduate programmes held at universities in Angola, under the scientific coordination of the Institute of Legal Cooperation of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, are very useful for both professionals and academics. As for the doctorate, its level of demand and scientific rigour ensure the production of works of international reference.” (Luanda, 2018)

Otavio Luiz Rodrigues Jr., Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo Law School; Coordinator of the CAPES Law Area

“My experience at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon took place in 2010 and 2011, when I did my post-doctoral internship under the supervision of Professor Jorge Miranda. It was an extremely important period for my research, which was geared towards writing my livre-docência thesis (a Brazilian academic degree equivalent to the Habilitation in Germany), which I later defended at the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo, where I am a lecturer. During my post-doctoral internship, I frequented the Faculty’s library on a daily basis and had access to Portuguese and foreign periodicals, as well as an extensive bibliographic collection. The most up-to-date legal literature, the journals in electronic version and the physical conditions helped me enormously in my research. In addition, by accompanying Professor Jorge Miranda in his teaching activities, I got to know the reality of legal teaching at the University of Lisbon. The welcome and attention of the professors was another striking feature of my time in Lisbon, which is yet another distinguishing feature of this century-old teaching institution. The contact with people from different parts of the Portuguese-speaking world is another very positive memory of these months of research at the University of Lisbon.” (São Paulo, 2018)

Elgar Noronha
Lawyer and Lecturer at Salgaocar College of Law (Pangim, Goa)

“Considering that a Civil Code is being prepared in India and the state of Goa is the only one that has had a Code, the exchange activities since 2008 between FDUL and the V.M. Salgaocar College of Law in Goa are the only and indispensable link that connects us to the rich Portuguese civil heritage.” (Goa, 2018)

Carmo d’Souza
Professor at Salgaocar College of Law (Pangim, Goa)

“I fondly recollect the association of Goa with Lisbon University. The journey that had the passion of history, the difficulties, of the first explorers, the nostalgia of several lawyers and judges, lawyers who had built dreams and careers and dreams had suddenly snapped by events and of those who had decided to bury the past in the reign of forgetfulness. Among the great efforts of cementing the relationship quietly stands the foundation laid by Doutor Dario Moura Vicente with a consistency, determination against odds, to build a team to lecture in Goa, to chart a course with a possibility of capturing Indian intellectual jewels from Goa. He carefully picked his twin team of Doutor Bastos and Doutor Pinheiro to scout for ways and means of co-operation. Their several meetings with lawyers provided insights into what lay ahead. Perhaps selecting of two experts yielded Doutor Dario the fascinating fruits from venturing into the field of education. Legal history, codes, translations, jurisprudence and interpretation – a profound conceptualisation of jurisprudence, a gold mine yet unassessed. Not to forget the efforts of others, including Doutor Quadros our own ( Goan origin) who came to Goa, and did play an important role, the vision of earlier Conferences held in Goa and Portugal and the ever encouraging efforts of Late Doutor Santos.” (Goa, 2018)

Ranjana Ferrão
Professor at Salgaocar College of Law (Pangim, Goa)

“Diploma in Civil Law is a 5 week programme conducted in association with School of Law, Lisbon at V.M. Salgaocar College of Law, Goa. It is an intensive introduction to the Civil law system designed to prepare students to enter practise in civil law. Every week one professor and legal practitioner comes from Lisbon to impart quality education on contemporary international law. The class content pays special attention to comparative law of contracts, the Portuguese civil code, rights of children, European constitution, law of succession among others. The programme disseminates knowledge, promotes understanding, and encourages critical discourse of civil law. Around 60 law students enrol in the programme every year. This course offers a unique opportunity to learn from influential and well-known academics from Portugal. The programme encourages networking and provides scholarships to law professors from Goa to visit Lisbon and exchange knowledge and ideas.” (Goa, 2018)

Maria Ângela Carrascalão
Professor at the National University of Timor Loros’ae
Minister of Justice in the VII Government

“The Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, included in the Foundation of Portuguese Universities, has supported the Faculty of Law of the National University of Timor Lorosa’e since its creation in 2005 in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. The excellence of the teaching quality has been decisive for the credibility of the UNTL Law Course and has contributed to the training of human resources in the Portuguese language, which is essential for the consolidation of Timorese identity.” (Dili, 2018)