The unspeakable speech, or the possible “estilo” in the “Lei da Boa Razão”

Abstract

The solution found in the Lei da Boa Razão for estilo reveals a deeper tension between political and judicial power intrinsic to the ideologic representation of the enlightened despotism which underlies Pombal’s legislation. It is this dimension that we intend to demonstrate through the analysis of the evolution of estilo as a source of law and a part of the historical process of development of the assento, the antecedents of Pombal’s reform of the organization of superior jurisdictions and the restrictions to the power to produce assentos, as well as the impact of the postulates of legal rationalism in the treatment of estilo in the king’s legislation. We intend to determine, from the less explored perspective of Pombal’s solution to estilo, the relevance of the Lei da Boa Razão to the redefinition of the system of sources of law in accordance to the rationalist cannon, as well as the subsequent influence of usus modernus pandectarum in the legal doctrine of Corrêa Telles’ Comentário crítico to the Lei da Boa Razão.