ABSTRACT
This text intends to dialogue with the work of the jurist António M. Hespanha, more specifically with the article “Porque é que existe e em que é que consiste um direito colonial brasileiro” and the book Como os juristas viam o mundo. Based on his contributions around the law, it aims to discuss the existence of local law and its use by local bodies as opposed to the conception of an erudite, literate law, used by royal officials. In the modern period, one lived with a myriad of rights: Roman law, canon, common (ius commune), royal, local and customary. The first part of this text analyzes lawsuits regarding land issues arising from the District of Paranaguá. The second part focuses on some cases in which officials also used the different coexisting normative orders for their own benefit, focusing on the Captaincies of the North of the State of Brazil. The objective is to understand the local use of law, approaching what professor Hespanha claimed, the existence of a “Brazilian” law in the colonial period.
KEYWORDS
Multinormativity;
ius commune
; law