Pinto Ferreira’s thinking and action:Constitutional Law at the Law School of Recife

Abstract

This article aims to analyse Professor Luiz Pinto Ferreira’s constitutional trajectory during his period both as a student and as a scholar at the Law School of Recife (Faculdade de Direito do Recife - FDR). It also aims to analy-se the impact of his thinking in Brazilian constitutional history. Inspired by Carlo Ginzburg’s evidential paradigm, which values daily life particularities and details as a strategy to understand the general historical context, the research revisited Pinto Ferreira’s academic, legal (as philosopher, professor and social thinker) and political path since the 1930s. We found that, given the range and depth of his main works on Constitutional and Public Law, Pinto Ferreira has contributed to the development of Brazilian constitutional thought as a jurist, professor and  politician, having played a special role in the process of elaboration of the 1988’s Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, as a member of Comissão Afonso Arinos; and of the State of Pernambuco’s 1989 Constitution, as an author of its draft. We conclude that the coupling of his constitutional thought and his political performance, both inseparable from his being a scholar at the Law School of Recife, has also contributed to spread the image of the School and of the Federal University of Pernambuco (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE) as a relevant legal and political center in Brazil.