Casa da Suplicação (High Court of Appeal) (1440s-1582)

This court of the central administration evolved from the judicial attributions of the royal court (Curia regia), dating back to the beginnings of the Portuguese monarchy, to a body that in the middle of the fifteenth century was designated Casa da Justiça da Corte, and was later known as the Casa da Suplicação¹Hespanha, 1982, p. 335; Testos, 2011, p. 23-24; Testos, 2018b, p. 145, nt. 22..The latter maintained its itinerant character until the judicial reform instigated by King Filipe I in 1582, which led to its permanent establishment in Lisbon²Defined in 1582, they were almost entirely incorporated into the Ordenações Filipinas. Testos, 2018b, p. 119..

• Ordenações Afonsinas (c. 1446)³OA, bk. 1, tit. 1, 2, 4, 7, 16. ;
• Ordenações Manuelinas (1521)⁴OM, bk. 1, tit. 1-2, 4-12.;
• Regimento do chanceler da Casa da Suplicação, dated 10 October 1534⁵Ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 5-6v; Testos, 2017, p. 90.;
• The First Part of the Leis extravagantes compiled by Duarte Nunes de Lião gives specific titles for some of its officers: Desembargadores (high court judges) (tit. 5, laws 1 to 20); Corregedores do Crime (criminal magistrates) (tit. 6, laws 1 to 3); Ouvidores do Crime (criminal judges) (tit. 8, unique law); Procurador dos feitos do rei (crown attorney) in the Casa da Suplicação (tit. 9, laws 1 to 6)⁶Ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 22-28v, 30v-31v; Testos, 2018b, p. 148, nt. 50.

General

This court was characterised by itinerancy—as it accompanied the king on his journeys—with competence to judge appeals in criminal cases from all over the kingdom (with the exception of Lisbon and its district) and appeals in civil cases in the region where the king was staying²²Marques, 1987, p. 298..

As a result of the increasing complexity of the kingdom’s judicial institutions from the end of the Middle Ages onwards, its competences ended up focusing on the processing of grievances from royal and inferior courts²³Testos, 2011, p. 28. With the consequent loss of jurisdiction over matters of grace in terms of justice attributed to a new court (see Desembargo do Paço, “Competences”)., appeals in civil and criminal cases, cases originating in the places where the royal court happened to be based²⁴The Ordenações Afonsinas established that the  Casa da Suplicação was to  judge appeals of criminal cases from Lisbon and its term, when the king was in the city (Testos, 2018b, p. 145). and cases belonging to the Treasury and royal rights, nuclei that structured its organisation (see below, under the subheading “Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents”) in specific hearings²⁵Hespanha, 1982, p. 340-341..

In 1529, the abolition of the office of sobrejuíz (superior judge) of the Casa do Cível led to the division of the handling of civil cases between the two institutions²⁶Ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 74-75v; Testos, 2016, p. 111, nt. 9.; this measure was revoked in 1559, with the restitution to the Casa do Cível of the handling of civil case appeals of the whole kingdom, in any amount [of rents]²⁷Ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 75v-76; Testos, 2016, p. 111..

In addition to the matters they had to deal with in their own sessions, the magistrates of the Casa da Suplicação could be called upon to assume the competences of other magistrates and specific commissions on behalf of the king. One of the cases in which such commissions were used was precisely in cases concerning the interests of the dead and the “absent”. The Casa da Suplicação was called upon to judge, from 1459 onwards, in civil matters involving residuary estates and captives, due to the overload of such cases experienced by the Casa do Cível²⁸Paragraph based on Testos, 2011, p. 25, 29; Testos, 2018b, p. 145..

On entails

Within the scope of the reforms of chantries and welfare institutions, King Manuel I created a special commission of judges (desembargadores) from the Casa da Suplicação to, jointly with the provedor and judge of the hospitals, chantries, hostels, and confraternities of Lisbon and its district, take charge of related cases (see “Competences” under the heading Juízo dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e seu termo)²⁹Perhaps extendable to the rsiduary estates  and orphans, according to the royal charter in which he is entitled «Desembargador dos feitos das capelas, hospitais e resíduos e órfãos» ” (Testos, 2011, p. 37). However, this commission is not to be confused with another commission, practically coincident in time, of a «Desembargador das capelas, hospitais, albergarias, gafarias, confrarias, resíduos, órfãos e suas propriedades e rendas», with jurisdiction over the entire kingdom, which benefited from a specific study of its competences and agents in Rosa, 2012.. This commission was composed of three judges then belonging to the Juízo dos agravos e apelações (Court of grievances and appeals), namely Diogo Lopes de Carvalho, Diogo Pinheiro, and Brás Neto³⁰On their careers, see Testos, 2011, p. 37-38, 128, 148., remaining in office between 1498 and 1506.  Dissolved with the nomination of a new provedor in 1506, it was reactivated four years later, now with a set of desembargadores linked to the Casa do Cível (see headings Casa do Cível, “Competences”, and Court of the hospitals, chantries, hostels, and confraternities of Lisbon and its district, “Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents” and “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails”).

From 1510, with the transfer of this court to the jurisdiction of the Casa do Cível, the sentences issued on these matters became the object of appeal to a magistrate of the Casa da Suplicação, commissioned by the king, designated as “judge (desembargador) of the Chantries”³¹OM, bk. 2, tit. 35, §50. These magistrates are identified as «Desembargadores das Capelas para isso deputados na Casa da Suplicação». or “judge of the chantries, hostels, confraternities, residuary estates, and orphans of the Casa da Suplicação”³²In the royal letter appointing Dr. Brás Neto on February 7, 1511, referred to in Testos, 2011, p. 148.. Due to his delegated jurisdiction, the powers of this magistrate were not specifically delimited in the Ordenações Manuelinas, apart from the allusion to his competence in the handling of cases involving the property belonging to chantries³³OM, bk. 2, tit. 35, §50..

This magistracy was abolished at the beginning of the following decade, since its competences in receiving interlocutory and final sentences on chantries and residuary estates³⁴Warrant of 15 June 1523, transcribed in the official record books of the Casa da Suplicação, ed. Livro terceiro das extravagantes (TT, Feitos Findos, Casa da Suplicação, bk. 3, ff. 50v-52)., as well as the appeals and grievances in the suits of the alms collectors for the benefit of the captives (mamposteiros-mores dos cativos), both passed to the responsibility of the Desembargadores do Agravo da Casa da Suplicação³⁵Competence referred to in a letter of 8 July 1529, ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 74v-75v..

This manner of proceeding continued until the transfer of appeals in civil matters to the Casa do Cível, by an ordinance of 23 September 1559³⁶Lião, 1569, ff. 75v-76.. Appeals in cases relating to chantries and morgados were then excluded from the Casa da Suplicação, until the Philippine reform of 1582 reinstated the previous practice (see heading Casa da Suplicação (1582-1833), subheading “Competences”).

Institutional organisation

The institution was headed by a regedor (chief justice), responsible for the organisation and supervision of the court, who was joined by the chancellor, able to validate the sentences and participate in the main council, these being the most important posts in a tribunal with a complex structure⁴⁰Paragraph based on Testos, 2011, p. 25-6. For a deeper analysis of the organic structure and hierarchy of the Casa da Suplicação, see Hespanha, 1982, p. 340-342; Camarinhas, 2014, p. 229-230..

Composed from the second half of the fifteenth century onwards by two civil and two criminal judges (ouvidores), the organisation of the court was institutionalised around two councils (the main council and the criminal council) and the following main tribunals, from the sixteenth century onwards: Agravos e Apelações (Grievances and Appeals), Ouvidoria do Crime (Criminal Tribunal), Feitos do Rei (King’s Affairs), and the Juízo da Chancelaria (Chancellery Court)⁴¹Paragraph based on Marques, 1987, p. 248, 299; Testos, 2011, p. 24, 97; Hespanha, 2015, §232-237; Testos, 2018b, p. 149..

The roles of its agents

The Desembargadores do Paço e Petições (and Agravos) were initially designated as Desembargadores do Paço e dos Agravos. The formal separation between the desembargadores do Paço and the desembargadores dos Agravos, which occurred in 1521 under the Ordenações Manuelinas, led to the formation of a “subdivision” called the Juízo dos Agravos (see above, subheading “Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents”), its members henceforth designated as Desembargadores dos Agravos. These magistrates judged cases in pairs, although a third judge could be called upon to break a tie or confirm decisions, referred to as the “Terceiro dos Agravos”. The sentences handed down were subject to revision (review) in specific cases (false evidence, bribery of judges, and special royal warrant)⁴²Paragraph based on Testos, 2011, 29-30, 75; Cabral, 2013, p. 73..

Distinguished judges of the Juízo dos Hospitais e Capelas (1499-1506) and the Juízo das capelas, albergarias, confrarias, resíduos e órfãos, from 1510 onwards (see above, under “Competences”) belonged to this Court. In times when the authority of these “specialised” magistrates was on the wane, or jurisdiction was transferred to their counterparts in the Casa do Cível, it fell to the desembargadores dos Agravos to handle the grievances and appeals in matters related to chantries and pious institutions (see above, subheading “Competences”).

The Casa da Suplicação had autonomy in the ruling of cases, given the infrequency of royal intervention in court litigation⁴³Testos, 2011, p. 17.. It was related to the other tribunals of the central and regional administration as it had the authority to hear grievances and appeals against their respective decisions (see above, subheading “Competences”), being responsible for appeals from the Court of the hospitals, chantries, hostels, and confraternities of Lisbon between 1506 and 1510 and of the Casa do Cível in cases judged in the first instance by the Provedores of the Residuary Estates and Chantries of Lisbon (1564-1582)⁴⁴See respectively Rosa, 2012, p. 284, 287 e OF, bk. 1, tit. 50, §16. (see heading, Juízo dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias da cidade de Lisboa e seu termo (1493-1564) and the heading Casa do Cível, subheading “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails”).