An Old Empire Gives Birth to a New One

Abstract

This paper analyzes the institutional and legal organization of the Brazilian Empire during the transition from the Old Regime to a liberal world, in a country still deeply affected by its colonial status. The paper tries to answer the following questions: With the country moving towards independence, how was the new liberal order put in place in a continental, agro-exporting, slave-owning and predominantly illiterate country like Brazil, whose source of power came mainly from large rural estates? And how was the new normativity established during this huge and long period of transition? It is determined that the liberal framework involved new constitutional and infra-constitutional laws, while also accepting the survival of old legal and judicial rules and doctrines.

Keywords

• constitutionalism
• patrimonialism
• liberalism
• Brazilian Empire
• codification