Ler História (Jun 2023)
A polícia em Portugal no século XVIII: ambiguidades e equívocos
Abstract
The charter of 25 June 1760 creating the post of Intendant-General of the Police of the Court and Kingdom – not an Intendancy-General of Police as it is often called – has been presented as an important innovation of Pombal’s administration, an instrument of the police state that was beginning to take shape. Without questioning the extent of the political changes taking place, this article contends that the document in question was rooted in a tightly constrained, conservative legal framework and did not have the disruptive impact that has been attributed to it. Nor, in terms of policing, did it align Portugal with the “more refined courts” that according to the charter the government wished to emulate. Furthermore, it is argued that substantive changes in the way the Police of the Court and Kingdom operated only occurred after 1780 amid controversy and persistent uncertainty as to its intendant’s powers.
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