The lost manuscript of the Brazilian translation of the Digest and its connection with counsellor Vasconcellos

Abstract

This paper provides a narrative for the remarkable discovery in the year of 2016 in Salvador, Bahia, of a long-lost manuscript containing the only complete Portuguese translation of Justinian’s Digest (Pandects) – the common foundation of all civil codes – and describes the various unsuccessful attempts to publish it before its disappearance. Then, the paper shall analyze the life and career of the manuscript’s author, Counsellor Manuel da Cunha Lopes and Vasconcellos, starting from his graduation in 1864 at the Largo de São Francisco Law School, through his tenure as a judge during the Second Empire, until his passing in his hometown of Valencia, Bahia, in 1920.