ABSTRACT
This article discusses the creation of the first law schools in Brazil, resulting from debates that took place during the first post-Independence decade: first in the Constitutional Assembly (1823) and then in the General Assembly (1826-1827). The study focuses on the parliamentary debates that resulted in the Act of August 11, 1827. The main objective is to investigate how the projects discussed by the two assemblies were part of the processes of state-building and nation-building, initiated with Brazil’s political emancipation, and whether or not the approved law moved away from the Portuguese concept of legal education. The central argument states that there were differences between the models of legal education approved by the Constitutional Assembly and the General Assembly, due to the fast changes that occurred in the political context of Pedro I’s reign. Ultimately, the new law managed to move away only partially from the Portuguese legal tradition.
law courses; parliamentary debates (1823, 1827); Nation-State