The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law (Portuguese: Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)), also known as the National Faculty of Law (Portuguese: Faculdade Nacional de Direito), is a law school located in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Founded in 1920 through the merger of two private law schools dating from the 1880s, it is the third oldest law school in Brazil, after the University of São Paulo Faculty of Law and the Federal University of Pernambuco Faculty of Law, both founded in 1827. It is also the largest public law school in Brazil, with an enrollment of around three thousand students.
Its alumni include some of the most distinguished legal scholars and public officials of Brazil, and members of the Supreme Court like Lafayette de Andrada (1945–1969), Assunção Galotti (1949–1974), Nélson Hungria (1951–1961), Nunes Leal (1960–1969), Cordeiro Guerra (1974–1986), Moreira Alves (1975–2003), and Marco Aurélio Mello (1990–present).
The Faculty is located in the palace once dedicated to the Count of Arcos, in which the Brazilian Senate met from 1826 to 1924.
Contents
History
The National Faculty of Law of UFRJ is the result of the merger in 1920 of two private schools, the Free Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of Rio de Janeiro and the Free School of Law. It was a long-held dream of prominent citizens such as Fernando Mendes de Almeida and others, who dreamed of creating a private law school. With the establishment of the republic and the creation of a free educational system, Mendes de Almeida called on former supporters of the idea and, with new members, worked for the establishment of Free School of Law and Social Sciences of Rio de Janeiro, which eventually became the National Faculty of Law.
The creation of the National Faculty of Law, through the merger of the two private colleges, represented an end to the monopoly of legal education, which until then was the nearly exclusive province of the Faculdade de Direito do Recife in Olinda, and the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo. The founding of the National Faculty of Law added much–needed diversity to the nation's legal education.
The National Faculty of Law, together with the UFRJ Polytechnical School and the UFRJ Medical School, became in 1945 the basis for a new university, the University of Brazil. During that period the faculty's library was created, the college's magazine "A Época" was launched, the Literary Guild and the Law Journal were created, under a committee formed by Cândido de Oliveira Filho, Luiz Carpenter Raul Pederneiras, Virgílio de Sá Pereira, Gilberto Amado and Afrânio Peixoto.
In the 1930s, the National Faculty of Law experienced memorable public contests for remarkable teachers, such as Joaquim Pimenta (sociology). The class of 1937 was especially noted for graduates such as José Honorio Rodrigues, and Evaristo de Moraes Filho, who became professor in labor law and sociology with his thesis on Auguste Comte.
In the 1940s the National Faculty of Law transferred to its current building, during a period marked by strong student mobilization (especially as resistance to the Estado Novo). Notable recruiting drives continued, bringing young lawyers to the Chairs of the Faculty, such as San Tiago Dantas and Hélio Tornaghi.
The 1950s consolidated the reputation of the National Faculty of Law. In 1955, the inaugural class of San Tiago Dantas, entitled "Legal Education and the Brazilian crisis", attracted much attention. At that time, San Tiago presented new guidelines for the legal education and criticized legal teaching methods of the time, defending the case system as opposed to the text system, and also argued that an interdisciplinary approach to Law was more suitable to modern times.
Notable alumni
Members of the Supreme Court
Lafayette de Andrada (1945–1969)
Luís d'Assunção Gallotti (1949–1974)
Nélson Hungria (1951–1961)
Victor Nunes Leal (1960–1969)
João Baptista Cordeiro Guerra (1974–1986)
José Carlos Moreira Alves (1975–2003)
Ilmar Nascimento Galvão (1991–2003)
Marco Aurélio Mello (1990–present)
Arts
Jorge Amado, writer
Clarice Lispector, writer
Gustavo Barroso, writer, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Oscar Arararipe, writer and painter
Rubem Fonseca, writer and screenwriter
Ary Barroso, songwriter
Geraldo Vandré, singer-songwriter
Lamartine Babo, songwriter
Alceu Amoroso Lima, writer, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Mário Reis, singer
Humberto Teixeira, songwriter
Marcos Barbosa, writer, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
José Eduardo Pizarro Drummond, writer, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Ronald de Carvalho, poet
Scholars
San Tiago Dantas, legal scholar
Heleno Fragoso, criminal lawyer and legal scholar
Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, historian, literary critic and journalist
Pedro Calmon, chancellor of the University of Brazil, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco, legal scholar, historian, literary critic, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Francisco José de Oliveira Viana, legal scholar, historian, sociologist, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Levi Carneiro, legal scholar, writer, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Celso Furtado, economist, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Politics and diplomacy
Chagas Freitas, governor of the State of Guanabara (1971–1975) and the State of Rio de Janeiro (1979–1983)
Carlos Lacerda, governor of the State of Guanabara (1960–1965)
Osvaldo Aranha, diplomat, politician, governor of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (1930), ambassador to U.S. (1934)
Ronaldo Sardenberg, diplomat, politician, ambassador to the United Nations (2003–2007), minister of Science and Technology (1999–2002)
Arthur Virgílio, diplomat, politician, Senator for the State of Amazonas (2003–2011)
Abraão Ribeiro, mayor of São Paulo (1945–1947)
José Hosken de Novaes, governor of Paraná (1982–1983)
Antônio Balbino, governor of Bahia (1955–1959)
Petrônio Portella, governor of Piauí (1963–1966)
Guilherme Palmeira, governor of Alagoas (1979–1982), mayor of Maceió (1989–1990)
Pedro Calmon, Minister of Education (1950–1951) and (1959–1960), member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco, Minister of External Relations, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Alberto Maria José de Orléans e Bragança, member of the Brazilian Imperial Family
Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Minister of Strategic Affairs (2007-2015)
Sports
Heleno de Freitas, football player
João Saldanha, football player and coach