Legal Question in Family Law in Portugal

C�digo Civil Portugu�s

In fact, to the Civil Law, the assets comprise all assets and liabilities of relationships that a person holds.

In line with the tradition of civil law countries of continental Europe, in Portugal the most relevant aspects of commercial activity, including the acquisition of companies, are regulated by the civil law. The regime applicable to the acquisition of companies is, however, not codified under a sole statute, but results from different pieces of legislation governing different aspects.

The main rules on Portuguese Property Law1 are stated by the civil code of 1967

that entered

in force on the 1

st

of June.

The Portuguese civil code follows the structure of the BGB; it is divided in five books:

----Book One � General Part

Book Two � Law of Obligations

Book Three � Property Law

Book Four � Family Law

Book Five � Succession Law

Book Three encompasses six titles:

- Title I � Possession (Articles 1251 to 1301)

- Title II � Ownership (Articles 1302 to 1402 � Ownership; Articles 1403 to 1413 �

Joint-Ownership; Articles 1414 to 1438 � Condominium)

- Title III � Usufruct (Articles 1439 to 1483) and Use and Residence (Articles 1484 to

1490)

- Title IV � Emphyteusis (revoked)

- Title V � Lease Building (Articles 1524 to 1542)

- Title VI � Servitudes

(Articles 1543 to 1575)

Book III does not have a general part. So, the legislator provided for general aspects on

property law in Title II, referred to ownership. For example, defence of ownership is ruled by

Articles 1311 to 1314, and Article 1315 extends the application of these provisions to all ius

in rem. The same happens, mutatis mutandi, to the legal regime of joint-ownership (Articles

1403 to 1412); it applies to all situations where a right is held by more than one person.

Some basic legal concepts on Property Law are to be found on the general part (Book One) of

the Portuguese civil code (Articles 202-216), such as the concept of things [coisas] (Article

202) and their classification (Articles 204 to 211), the notion of fruits [frutos] (Article 212),

and the definition of improvements [benfeitorias] (Article 216).

Securities [garantias das obriga��es] are to be found in the second book, Articles 601 to 761.