General Theory of Civil Law

Code:

D230

Acronym:

TGDC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Legal Sciences

Instance: 2024/2025 - A (since 16-09-2024 to 23-05-2025)

Active?	Yes
Course/CS Responsible:	Law

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LDB	221	Novo Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2016	2	-	12	150

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This course unit, offered during the 2nd year of the degree, aims at introducing the main legal framework governing Private Law. It prepares the students to the forthcoming subjects within the Private Law field, such as: Law of Contracts, Obligations, Property Law, Family Law and Succession Law, etc. It is focused mainly on the analysis of the First Part of the Portuguese Civil Code (1966), and special effort is done so that students become aware of the Fundamental Principles governing Private Law (eg. Private Autonomy, Civil Liability, Reliance Principle, etc.) and grasp the central role played by "the person" in the (Private) Law.

Learning outcomes and competences

Ability to use the fundamental instruments of private law and understand the basic notions about the subject matter, so that students can apply them later in their academic and professional life.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Introduction to Private Law and its methodology
2. Fundamental Principles governing Private Law
3. (Main) "Rights" and "duties" among civil persons
4. The exercise of rights: protection and limits (eg. "abuse of right" doctrine)
5. Content and protection of personality rights (such as life, privacy, freedom, imagine, honour, etc)
6. Lack of capacity to legally act on its own
7. Legal persons: general features
8. Goods (classes and their relevance to the applicable legal regime)
9. General theory of contract: concept and effects
10. Foundations of the theory
11. Formation of contract: offer and acceptance
12. Contents; incorporation of terms
13. Policing contractual intention: mistake, fraud, threat, duress
14. Representation: authority of agents and disclosed agency
15. Invalidity: voidance, voidability and unenforceability

Mandatory literature

Orlando de Carvalho; Teoria geral do direito civil. ISBN: 978-989-8951-74-8
Filipe Albuquerque Matos; O^novo estatuto jurídico dos animais. ISBN: 978-989-99-824-5-1
António Pinto Monteiro; Das Incapacidades ao Maior Acompanhado - Breve Apresentação da Lei nº 49/2018, RLJ, 2018. ISBN: 0870-8487
Pinto Carlos Alberto da Mota 1936-1985; Teoria geral do direito civil. ISBN: 972-32-1325-7
Paulo Mota Pinto; Direitos de personalidade e direitos fundamentais. ISBN: 978-989-54076-3-7
António Pinto Monteiro, Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto, Paulo Mota Pinto; Teoria Geral do Direito Civil, Gestlegal, 2020. ISBN: 9789898951533

Complementary Bibliography

Andrade Manuel A. Domingues de 1899-1958; Teoria geral da relação jurídica. ISBN: 972-40-0425-2
Ascensão José de Oliveira 1932-; Direito civil. ISBN: 972-32-0801-6
Mafalda Miranda Barbosa; Lições de teoria geral do direito civil. ISBN: 978-989-8951-57-1
Cordeiro António Menezes 1953-; Tratado de direito civil português. ISBN: 972-40-1195-X
Fernandes Luís A. Carvalho; Teoria geral do direito civil
Heinrich Ewald Hõrster; A^parte geral do código civil português. ISBN: 978-972-40-8146-5
Lima Fernando Andrade Pires de 1906-1970 212; Código civil anotado
Mendes João de Castro 1929-1983; Direito civil
Moncada Luís Cabral de; Lições de direito civil. ISBN: 972-40-0833-9

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical lessons: exposition of the (subject) contents with regular application of the case-method.
Practical lessons: work with cases and study of jurisprudential trends and criteria.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	186,00
Frequência das aulas	150,00
Total:	336,00

Eligibility for exams

According to the Law School applicable regulations.

Calculation formula of final grade

According to the Law School applicable regulations.

Examinations or Special Assignments

None.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

According to the legal regime and the Law School applicable regulations.

Classification improvement

According to the Law School applicable regulations.