THE FIRM

Born in Lisbon. Graduated, Masters and PhD in Law by the Lisbon Faculty of Law, and University Professor of Law at the Lisbon Faculty of Law.

Admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association in 1959.

Awarded scholarship to the Institute of High Culture in Rome and attended the Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University in the courses of Paleography and Epigraphy.

In 1960 he participated in the preparatory studies of legislation related to the Commissions Conciliating on Labour Litigation and the Labour Procedural Codes, having presided over the Ministry of Finance’s Working Group set up to harmonize legislation regarding Inter-Territorial Contributions, and also participated in developing various budget laws.

He was editor of the magazine “Ciência e Técnica Fiscal” and correspondent for the International Documentation Bulletin (of The International Tax Association).

Author of wide ranging publications, including Poetry and Law; Considerations on Labour Litigation; Culpa in Contrahendo in Portuguese Law and in Brazilian Law; The Colonial Memoirs of Oliveira Martins, A Critical Appreciation of L.L. Fuller and W.R. Pardue the Reliance Interest in Contract Damages, C.T.F., nº 49; The Reprisals, Volumes I and II; The Brazilian Bank System; The Compensability of Civil and Commercial Credits and Debits in Nationalized Banks; Roman Law; Compensation in Banking Credits; Roman Law Studies; De Re Philosophica. A lawyer; A critical Appreciation of Santos Justo – Fiction in Roman Law; Law of State, Law of Jurists. Lawyers Rights, 1989; Responsibility of Managers for Unpaid Social Security Contributions (with the collaboration of Professor Menezes Cordeiro); Commercial Law and Procedural Law (both with the collaboration of Dr. António Bráz Teixeira); Legal History, (with the collaboration of Professor Martim de Albuquerque), 12th edition; History of Portuguese Law Institutions (with the collaboration of Professor Martim de Albuquerque); Considerations over Conversion in Bankruptcy over Measures of Execution, with Dr. Prazeres Beleza; Law of Accommodation. The Portuguese Report on the Henri Capitant Association’s Mexican Expeditions.

Chairman of the Association of Banks, 1964-1972 (Bank Guilds and Banking Houses); Member of the Iron Industry Installing Commission; of the Government Commission for Regulating the Aluminium Industry; of the Commission for Reorganizing the Bookbinding Industry; Member of the Centre for Tax Studies of the Ministry of Finance; Director of the Social Studies Centre (presently the Ministry of Social Security); Member of the Supreme Council for Welfare and Economic Housing and currently Senator at the University of Lisbon.

Executive Board Member of Banco Borges & Irmão, of S.T.A.R; representing American Express, 1968-1974; 1988; Member of The Fiscal Council at Banco de Crédito Comercial e Industrial, 1970-1974. He was also a Member of the Board of Directors of SIC – Sociedade Independente de Comunicação S.A. (Television Channel) and of PT – Comunicações S.A. (Portuguese Telecom).

He was a member of several institutions, including The Science Academy of Lisbon (Letters’ Section, Legal Science Section); Centre for Overseas Studies, Portuguese Tax Association; Henri Capitant Legal Association; The Luso-Brazilian Association of Comparative Law; The Centre of European Studies; International Fiscal Association; Akademie für Europäischer Privatrechtswissenschafter; Société d’Histoire du Droit (Sorbonne); The Institute of Brazilian Lawyers.

He obtained the National History Prize (1975); The National Infante D. Henrique Prize (1960), The Silva Martha Prize (founded in Brazil in collaboration with the Portuguese History Academy to which he was elected, and the Portuguese Association of Commerce).

He also has the following degrees, honours and decorations: Grand Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword and Constantiniana of Saint George, Officer of the Order of Rio Branco, Brazil, Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Knight of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour of France, Order of the Holy Sepulchre and Order of Our Lady of Vila Viçosa.