A story that began in the thirteenth century

Legal studies in Portugal date back to the foundation of the University during the reign of King D.Dinis. The exact date of its establishment can be dated to between 1288 and 1290.

Once it had moved in 1308 from its original premises in Lisbon to Coimbra, the University was awarded a charter, dated 15 February 1309, which set out that there was to be a doctor in Decretis and a master in Decretalibus, as well as a teacher of Law. The University was at first composed of simple "chairs" and not genuine "Faculties" in the modern sense. It is believed that the methodology adopted in the teaching of law closely followed the Bologna model, based on a definition-setting discourse with its roots in explanatory processes of textual exegesis. It is assumed that three kinds of exercises were used: lectiones, repetitiones and disputationes.

Strangely peripatetic, the site of the Portuguese University continued to alternate between Lisbon and Coimbra until the sixteenth century. But what we must emphasize is that since the beginning, the law courses occupied a leading position in our “Estudo Geral” programme. Significantly, these courses had the largest number of students, and the their teachers were much more highly remunerated than others. The degree in legal science, as well as conferring social power and prestige, opened the doors to a profitable living from the profession, to a greater extent even than medicine.