Casa do Cível - Vinculum Information System Guide

Chronological span

This court resulted from the evolution of the judicial attributions of the royal court (curia regia) in the first centuries of the Portuguese monarchy, although the first reference to the Casa do Cível dates only from 1362¹.

As part of the reform of the system of justice ordered by King Filipe I of Portugal, the Casa do Cível was abolished in 1582 and replaced by the Casa da Relação do Porto (see heading Casa da Relação do Porto). Jurisdiction over the rest of the territory was attributed to the Casa da Suplicação, which was renewed in the same year (see heading Casa da Suplicação (1582-1833)).

Normative documents (main)

Ordenações Afonsinas(c. 1446)²;
Ordenações Manuelinas (1521)³;
Warrant (alvará) on the dispatch of civil cases, following the abolition of the office of sobrejuiz (superior judge) of the Casa do Cível, dated 8 July 1529⁴;
Regulation (ordenação) on appeals to the Casa do Cível, dated 23 September 1559⁵.
Regimento do Juiz dos Feitos das Misericórdia e Hospital de Todos-os-Santos, dated 18 December 1565⁶.

Competences

General

The Cortes of 1434 determined that the Casa do Cível was authorised to hear appeals in criminal cases from Lisbon and the surrounding area and in civil cases throughout the kingdom, with the exception of the five leagues from where the royal court was located, decisions that were enshrined in the Ordenações Afonsinas¹².

From 1459, due to the overload experienced by the superior judges of this court, the cases related to residuary estates and captives were transferred to the Casa da Suplicação (see heading Casa da Suplicação (1440s-1582), subheading “Competences”)¹³.

In 1529, the abolition of the office of superior judge of the Casa do Cível led to the division of the dispatch of civil cases between the two institutions, until the revocation of this measure, by the ordinance of 23 September 1559, restored to the Casa do Cível the handling of civil appeals from the whole kingdom, in any amount [of rents]¹⁴.

The Ordenações Filipinas fixed the jurisdiction of the Desembargadores of the Casa do Cível in cases involving movable assets valued at one hundred thousand réis and immovable property of up to eighty thousand réis, given that above these amounts the cases could be appealed to the Casa da Suplicação (see heading Casa da Suplicação (1440s-1582), subheading “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails”)¹⁵.

On entails

The Casa do Cível was authorised to hear appeals from the Provedores of the Chantries and Residuary Estates of Lisbon (from 1564 to 1582) (see heading Provedor of the chantries, hospitals, hostels, and confraternities of Lisbon and its district (1493-1564), subheading “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails” and Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos de Lisboa e termo (1564-1832), subheading “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails”). The Regimento (directive) of the latter institution, dated 6 December 1564, determined that appeals against its judgements were received by the three oldest appeal judges (desembargadores do Agravos) of the Casa do Cível¹⁶.

In that same year, with the transfer of the Hospital de Todos os Santos to the Misericórdia of Lisbon, one of the Desembargadores of the Casa do Cível was appointed to handle the cases of these two institutions.

Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents with regard to entails

Institutional organisation

Both the Ordenações Manuelinas and the Regimento of the Relação da Casa do Porto (1582) recognised the functional authority over the institution of the governor, responsible for the organisation and oversight of the court²², and the chancellor, able to validate the sentences and participate in the main council²³. These officials were in charge of a group of magistrates distributed across five main judicial bodies: Agravos e Apelações, Sobrejuizes, Ouvidoria do Crime, Corregedoria da Cidade de Lisboa, and Feitos da Índia²⁴.

In parallel with these permanent judiciaries, the institution held a series of private courts, listed in the Regimento of the Relação da Casa do Porto as belonging to the former Casa do Cível: Hospital de Todos os Santos and the Misericórdia, Appeals court the ouvidor of Customs, the Provedoria of the orphans, Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos, the Conservadoria of the city of Lisbon, and the court of the German community of Lisbon²⁵.

The roles of its agents

Desembargadores dos Agravos
From 1510 onwards, three of the Desembargadores of the Casa do Cível became part of the collective judiciary body of the chantries and pious institutions of Lisbon, although the end date of this practice is not known (see heading Casa da Suplicação (1440s-1582), subheading “Competences” and Juízo dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias da cidade de Lisboa e seu termo, subheading “Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents” and “Relations with other institutions with regard to entails”).

Juiz dos Feitos das Misericórdias e do Hospital de Todos os Santos
His specific Regimento, dated 18 December 1565, determined this judge’s authority to perform the demarcations and measurements of all assets and properties of the Hospital de Todos os Santos and the attached chantries, “as there are no administrators to whom the administration of these pertains”, as well as to resolve any ambiguities that may arise with regard to the said patrimony²⁶.

Relations with other institutions with regard to entails

From 1510 to an unknown date, three desembargadores from the Casa do Cível were part of the Juízo das Capelas e Hospitais de Lisboa. This court of appeal also intervened in matters related to entails in the city and domain of Lisbon, given its capacity to settle matters related to the patrimony of the chantries attached to the Hospital de Todos os Santos and to settle appeals of the sentences drawn up by the Provedores of the Residuary Estates and Chantries, whose sentences could be appealed to the Casa da Suplicação in suits exceeding one hundred thousand reais²⁷ (see above, under Competences—Entails).