Ius Commune in Portuguese America: Criminal Issues on Local Canon Law in the ‘First Constitutions of the Diocese of Bahia’ (1707)

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze criminal matters contained in the “First Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Bahia”, a particular canon law text elaborated during the diocesan synod that took place in Salvador de Bahia in 1707 and one of the few examples of a formal juridical culture in Colonial Brazil. The study is concentrated in criminal issues not in a dogmatic perspective, but it is actually concerned with understanding the possible relations between particular law and ius commune tradition.