Um olhar sobre a formação do Direito Civil no Brasil

The history of the construction of Civil Law in Brazil reflects in much the type of colonization received since the Portuguese navigator uttered the phrase that remained in history, as a milestone for all time: “Earth in sight”. The objective of this essay is to make explicit, albeit superficially, the paths covered by civilian norms in Brazil, from the discovery, passing through the imperial period to the present day, demarcating this institutionalized process under the responsibility of the State, starting from the analysis of Ordinances, to the late advent of the first Civil Code as a reproduction of the Brazilian latifundia of the time, of a patrimonialist nature, until the conquest of the Democratic State of Law, with the advent of the new Civil Code in 2002, which departs partially from patrimonial tradition of civil law and already reveals the tendencies of repersonalization. Thus, making use of the dialectical-historical method, it is sought to demarcate the extent to which these initiatives were part of an effectively democratic process and to what extent served merely as an instrument of social control and reproduction, imposed by the current Law.