The influence of writings by Augusto Teixeira de Freitas on contemporary Brazilian consumer protection laws

Abstract

The present paper analyses the influence of Augusto Teixeira de Freitas on the development of Brazilian private law, specifically in terms of protection of interests and rights of consumers. As a research problem, the paper analyses the possible influence of the Draft of a Brazilian Civil Code written by Teixeira de Freitas on the implementation of the Brazilian consumer protection laws as established by Federal Law 8078/90 (the Consumer Protection and Defense Code), considering the “consumer” legal status was not referenced at the time of writing of the Draft in the nineteenth century, having references been solely made to “purchasers”, “clients” or “buyers”. Thus, the main hypothesis of the present work consists of the influence of the Draft on the existing Brazilian private codification in its entirety. In this sense, the argumentative, dialectical and hermeneutic methods have been employed on the analysis, as well as the critical-methodological approach, legal history and legal exploratory research. In this context, exploratory, bibliographical and documentary researches have been carried out, along with the indirect observation technique.