The Portuguese customary electoral constitution: the election of representatives to the ancient cortes

ABSTRACT

The historic Portuguese Constitution guaranteed the electoral autonomy of the municipalities as part of the prerogatives and freedoms that the monarch swore to respect at the beginning of each reign. Thus, the election of representatives to the old cortes (parliament) was based on traditional, unwritten conventions and practices. The lack of general legislation gave rise to a customary or unwritten electoral constitution, in the true sense of the word. This article deals with the electoral basis that each municipality formed to elect its representatives each time the cortes were convened, based on the king’s letters of convocation and the municipal electoral minutes that have survived to the present day.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 M. Caetano, História do Direito Português (Séc. XII–XVI), seguida de Subsídios para a História das Fontes do Direito em Portugal no Séc. XVI (Lisbon, 2000), p. 314.

2 V. Moreira and J. Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I: Constitucionalismo antes da Constituição (sécs. XII–XVIII) (Lisbon, 2020), pp. 433–59.

3 For a bibliography on the election of municipal representatives to the Portuguese General Cortes: V. de Santarém, Memorias para a Historia e Theoria das Cortes Geraes que em Portugal se celebrarão pelos tres estados do reino ordenadas e compostas neste anno de 1824 (Lisbon, 1827), Parte I, pp. 8–14; J.J.L. Praça, Direito constitucional portuguez: estudos sobre a carta constitucional de 1826 e Acto Addicional de 1852, 2 vols (Coimbra, 1879), vol. II, p. 85; H. da G. Barros, História da Administração Pública em Portugal nos Séculos XII a XV, 11 vols (Lisbon, 1885), vol. I, pp. 567–77; A. de S. Júnior, Censo Eleitoral da Metrópole (Câmaras Legislativas): Dados referentes ao regime absoluto, ao regime monárquico constitucional e ao regime republicano (Lisbon, 1916), pp. 6–7; P. Mêrea, ‘O Poder Real e as Cortes’, in Estudos de Filosofia Jurídica e de História das Doutrinas Políticas (Lisbon, 2004), pp. 252–3; J.B. Barreiros, ‘A propósito da aclamação de D. João IV em Braga’, O Distrito de Braga, n.° 3/1-2, (1964), pp. 233–5; A. de Sousa, O Parlamento Medieval Português e Outros Estudos (Porto, 2014), p. 39 and pp. 139–140, note 32; F.R. da Silva, ‘O Porto e as Cortes no Século XVII ou os Concelhos e o Poder Central em Tempos de Absolutismo’, Revista da Faculdade de Letras – História 10, (1993), pp. 9–68; P. Cardim, ‘Entre o centro e as periferias. A assembleia de Cortes e a dinâmica política da época moderna’, in Os Municípios no Portugal Moderno: Dos Forais Manuelinos às Reformas Liberais (Évora, 2005), pp. §§ 49–55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cidehus.1121; I. Graes, Contributo para um Estudo Histórico-Jurídico das Cortes Portuguesas entre 1481 e 1641 (Coimbra, 2005), pp. 319–29; M.H. da C. Coelho, ‘No palco e nos bastidores do poder local’, in Fernando Taveira da Fonseca (coord.), O poder local em tempo de globalização. Uma história e um futuro (Coimbra, 2005), pp. 49–74; M.H. da C. Coelho, ‘Les Còrtes Portugaises au Moyen Âge: Les procureurs des communes’, in Diana Repeto García (coord.), Las Cortes de Cádiz y la Historia Parlamentaria (Cádiz, 2012), pp. 723–36; J. Domingues and M. Monteiro, ‘Sistemas Eleitorais e Democracia Representativa no Limiar do Constitucionalismo Português’, Historia Constitucional 19, (2018), pp. 599–612. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17811/hc.v0i19.513; V. Moreira and J. Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I: Constitucionalismo antes da Constituição (sécs. XII–XVIII) (Lisbon, 2020), pp. 337–9; P. Cardim, ‘As Cortes e a representação política no Antigo Regime’, in P. T. de Almeida (Dir.), O Parlamento Português, 4 vols (Lisbon, 2023): vol. I: Antigo Regime e Monarquia Constitucional, pp. 11–14.

4 For example, in the letter of convocation of 15 April 1535, King John III of Portugal ordered the city of Coimbra to elect two representatives to the cortes of Évora, ‘according to your good customs’ (Lisbon, IAN/TT – Cortes, Maço 5, n.° 5, Doc. 2, folios 5-6. 5-6); in a ‘power of attorney’ dated 7 May 1535, granted to the representatives elected by Santarém, it was stated that the town had ‘made it its good custom’ to elect representatives to the Cortes (Lisboa, IAN/TT – Cortes, Maço 5, n.° 5, Doc. 4, fl. 15).

5 The only known written record is the ‘assento’ (registered decision) of 18 February 1698, which the Lisbon Senate had drawn up to be observed in future acts of election to the cortes (Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, pp. 353–4). After this date, the ancient cortes were never convened again, but that decision was printed 130 years later, in 1828, to serve as electoral instructions for the election of representatives to the traditional cortes of that year, convened to appoint Prince Miguel as absolute King of Portugal.

6 In the fifteenth century, the monarchs of Castile formalised the express recognition of this municipal electoral freedom by law: ‘we are pleased that when we send us to call the said representatives to make Cortes, that the election of the said representatives be freely chosen by the councils (…) because the said cities and towns freely choose and send their said representatives’ (Royal Ordinances of Castile, Book 2, Tit. 11, Law2). There were, however, councils that adopted and registered their own electoral system in writing, as was the case in Madrid (J.M. Carretero Zamora, ‘Régimen electoral de Madrid a las procuraciones en Cortes: las ordenanzas electorales de los siglos XVI y XVII’, Revista de la Facultad de Geografía e Historia 4, (1989), pp. 173–94).

7 Cardim, ‘As Cortes e a representação política no Antigo Regime’, p. 11. Also unfoundedly, the author refers to two documents on tensions and conflicts generated in the election of representatives to the cortes: the royal response, dated 19 March 1643, to a ‘chapter’ formulated by the representatives of the city of Braga at the Cortes of 1641, which deals with municipal elections, not elections to the cortes (IAN/TT – Registo Geral de Mercês, Mercês da Torre do Tombo, Liv. 15, fl. 120); and the complaint lodged by the Torres Novas trades’ masters at the same cortes in 1641, demanding municipal representation in that town and not at the cortes (IAN/TT – Maço 8 de Cortes, n.° 12, fls. 12–13) (see Cardim, ‘As Cortes e a representação política no Antigo Regime’, pp. 12–13.

8 Domingues and Monteiro, ‘Sistemas Eleitorais e Democracia Representativa’, p. 609.

9 Domingues and Monteiro, ‘Sistemas Eleitorais e Democracia Representativa’, pp. 609–11; Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, p. 338.

10 L. Suárez Fernández, ‘Reflexión sobre las Cortes medievales castellanoleonesas en homenaje a Juan Torres Fontes’, in Homenaje al profesor Juan Torres Fontes, 2 vols (Universidad de Murcia-Academia Alfonso X el Sabio, 1987), vol. II, p. 1653. See some examples provided by M. Diago Hernando, ‘La representación ciudadana en las asambleas estamentales castellanas: Cortes y Santa Junta Comunera. Análisis comparativo del perfil sociopolítico de los procuradores’, Anuario De Estudios Medievales 34, (2004), pp. 609–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/aem.2004.v34.i2.166.

11 Lisbon, IAN/TT – Maço 8 de Cortes, n.° 21, fls. 6-6v.

12 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383), 2 vols, edição organizada por A.H. de Oliveira Marques (Lisbon, 1990), vol. I, p. 184.

13 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Afonso V: Cortes de 1441–1447, organização e revisão geral de João José Alves Dias e Pedro Pinto (Lisbon, 2017), p. 261.

14 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, organização e revisão geral de João José Alves Dias (Lisbon, 2001), p. 41.

15 F.F. Neves, Livro dos Acordos da Câmara de Aveiro de 1580: subsídio para o estudo da vila municipal e nacional portuguesa no século XVI (Aveiro, 1971), p. 71 and p. 72, respectively.

16 V. de Santarém, Alguns Documentos para Servirem de Provas à Parte 1.ª das Memorias para a Historia e Theoria das Cortes Geraes que em Portugal se celebrárão pelos tres estados do reino ordenadas no anno de 1824 (Lisbon, 1828), p. 29.

17 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes (various documents).

18 Silva, ‘O Porto e as Cortes no Século XVII’, p. 21.

19 A. de Oliveira, ‘A República e as Repúblicas’, in O poder local em tempo de Globalização: uma história e um futuro (Coimbra, 2005), p. 36, n. 94.

20 Évora, AM – Livros de Vereações.

21 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383), 2 vols. edição organizada por A.H. de Oliveira Marques (Lisbon, 1993), vol. II, pp.17, 82, 244, 250, 256, 262, 384 and p. 385 respectively. Vide Coelho, ‘No palco e nos bastidores do poder local’, p. 53, n. 13.

22 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, p. 45.

23 Silva, ‘O Porto e as Cortes no Século XVII’, p. 30.

24 Silva, ‘O Porto e as Cortes no Século XVII’, p. 30.

25 Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, p. 185.

26 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 7.

27 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383), vol. II, p. 287. Italics added.

28 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Afonso V: Cortes de 1441–1447, p. 117. Italics added.

29 Coimbra, AHM – Cartas Originais dos Infantes, n.° 72. Italics added.

30 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, p. 35. Italics added.

31 Castelo de Vide, AM – Livro de Vereações 1673-1677, fls. 15–15v. Italics added.

32 J. A. P. Ferreira, ‘Vereações’ Anos de 1401–1449 (Porto, 1980), pp. 101–102. Italics added.

33 Coimbra, AHM – Cartas Originais dos Infantes, n.° 1. Italics added.

34 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 1.° de Cortes, doc. 37. Italics added.

35 Santarém, Alguns Documentos para Servirem de Provas, pp. 12–13. Italics added.

36 Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, pp. 454–5.

37 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383) vol. II, pp. 23, 41, 59 and p. 101, respectively.

38 Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, pp. 456–7. Italics added.

39 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1499, organização e revisão geral de João José Alves Dias (Lisbon, 2001), p. 15.

40 Moreira and Domingues, História Constitucional Portuguesa I, pp. 353–4.

41 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 28-N. These Cortes were eventually cancelled.

42 Porto, AHM – Livro 4° de Vereações, fl. 173v–174v.

43 Silva, ‘O Porto e as Cortes no Século XVII’, p. 20.

44 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Afonso V: Cortes de 1439, organização e revisão geral de João José Alves Dias e Pedro Pinto (Lisbon, 2016), pp. 457–60. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/20746.

45 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, p. 45.

46 Lisboa, IAN/TT – Cortes, Maço 5, n.° 5, Doc. 1, fl. 1.

47 A.I.S.S. Ribeiro, Nobreza e Governança: Identidades e perfis sociais (Coimbra, 1777–1820), 2 vols. (Coimbra, 2012), vol. I, p. 132, note 285. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/24349.

48 M.L.I.L.F. da Silva, ‘Representatividade e poder nas Cortes portuguesas dos séculos XIII e XIV: a presença dos povos’, (SYN)THESIS 5, (2012), p. 164. Available at: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/synthesis/article/view/7359.

49 G. Pereira, Documentos Históricos da Cidade de Évora (Évora, 1887), Segunda Parte, pp. 155–6. Italics added.

50 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1498, organização e revisão geral de João José Alves Dias (Lisbon, 2002), pp. 19–20 and pp. 21–2, respectively. Italics added.

51 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383), vol. I, p. 157.

52 Actas de Vereação de Loulé Séculos XIV–XV, Separa da Revista Al’-Ulyã 7, Loulé, Câmara Municipal, 1999/00, p. 203.

53 Lisbon, IAN/TT – Cortes, Maço 5, n.° 5, doc. 4, fl. 46–47v.

54 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 1.

55 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 6.

56 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 9.

57 Lisbon, AHM – Livro 2.° de Cortes, doc. 25. Italics added.

58 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Fernando I (1367–1383), vol. I, pp. 155, 157, 159, 161 and p. 163, respectively. Italics added.

59 Actas de Vereação de Loulé Séculos XIV–XV, p. 203. Italics added.

60 Lisbon, IAN/TT – Cortes, Maço 5, n.° 5, Doc. 4, fls. 44–45v. Italics added.

61 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, p. 39. Italics added.

62 Cortes Portuguesas. Reinado de D. Manuel I: Cortes de 1502, p. 77. Italics added.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

José Domingues

José Domingues is Professor at the Faculty of Law at Lusíada University, Porto, Portugal. He is a researcher at the Centre for Legal, Economic, International and Environmental Studies (CEJEIA), where he coordinates, together with Professor Vital Moreira, the following three research projects: Project 2 – Bicentenary of vintismo constitutionalism | 1820–1823; Project 2 – Towards the history of political representation in Portugal; Project 3 – Portuguese constitutional history. These research projects have resulted in many articles published in national and international journals, books, and book chapters, as well as articles aimed at non-academic audiences.

Vital Moreira

Vital Moreira is a retired Professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. He is also Professor at Lusíada University, Porto, Portugal and a researcher at its Centre for Legal, Economic, International and Environmental Studies (CEJEIA). He is known as a constitutionalist and his ongoing research projects include those on the history of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, the constitution of 1822, the history of political representation in Portugal, and Portuguese constitutional history in general, all of them in partnership with Professor José Domingues.