A institucionalização do saber jurídico na Monarquia Constitucional : a Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra (1834-1910)

Abstract

The institutionalisation of the juridical knowledge in the Constitutional Monarchy – the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra The unity of the juridical curriculum in the constitutional monarchy denotes the polarisation of the process of institutionalisation of the juridical knowledge from disruption to continuity. It can be argued that the leadership of the Faculty of Law, as responsible for the juridical skill of the curricula, is a sign of its early recognition as the main legitimating instance of the intellectual power, being the government power the second legitimating instance. The study carried out about the Faculty of Law teachers intends to demonstrate the process of structuration of the academic field, strongly based on the invocation of the science. Our investigation particularises some domains embedded in the juridical knowledge that appeared to be especially connected with the conceptualisation and instrumentation of the State. For this purpose the study focused the discipline which is nuclear for the juridical grammar: the Philosophy of Law. We hope to have demonstrated that the liberal thought is a diffuse one and turned out to be a third way of socio-politics theorisation, as far off the pure liberal political model as the socialist and collectivist doctrines that were very disseminated at the time. The third way particularly exhibits in the statement of the political representation of social issues, in relation with the individual representation and the apology of the organic solidarity among political powers. The implications of this thought exceed the political realm and are especially linked to the economic field, sustaining the model of an intervenient State that would combine individual initiative with social interests to stand for national well-being.