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Portugal: Religious Rules and State Law

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Religious Rules, State Law, and Normative Pluralism - A Comparative Overview

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 18))

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between religious rules and State law in the Portuguese legal system. Sociological data concerning religious diversity and a brief description of the Portuguese constitutional and legal system of State/Religion relations (which can be labeled as a model of non-identification with cooperation), are provided in the Introduction, where the authors also discuss the meaning to be given to “religious rules”. In a second moment, different fields of intersection between religious rules or religiously enacted rules and State law, namely in the domain of family law, are identified. A special focus is given to the relevance of Canon law, due to a tradition of cooperation between the Portuguese state and the Catholic Church through Concordats. Finally, adjudication issues, concerning the relation between civil and religious jurisdictions, are discussed. The authors conclude that the Portuguese legal system is religion-friendly and reveals openness to religious pluralism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to data available at the website of the National Institute of Statistics, the Portuguese resident population in 2013 amounted to 10 427 301. http://www.ine.pt/. Accessed 31/03/2015.

  2. 2.

    Available at http://censos.ine.pt. Accessed 31/03/2015.

  3. 3.

    See data for 2012 available at the website of Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, placing Portugal amongst the countries with a low level both of social hostility concerning religion and of government religion-based restriction. http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high/. Accessed 10/02/2014.

  4. 4.

    The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (hereinafter CPR) bears the date of its passage by the Constituent Assembly – April 2nd 1976 – and entered into force on April 25th 1976 (Article 296). The English translation available for consultation at the website of the Portuguese parliament [www.parlamento.pt] has been generally followed in this paper.

  5. 5.

    For an historical perspective about the relations between State and religions, see Adragão 2002.

  6. 6.

    Replacing the existing Law on Religious Freedom of 1971 and Concordat of 1940.

  7. 7.

    On this, see the contribution of Silvio Ferrari in this book.

  8. 8.

    Whether or not meeting the characteristics to be considered as “confessional laws”, “private orders” or “primary legal orders” (see Gonzalez del Valle 2005, 86–88; Raimundo 2012, 248), a question which falls outside the scope of this report.

  9. 9.

    In Case 423/87, the Constitutional Court sustained that all religions should be treated equally according to CPR, equality of treatment allowing for differentiated treatment of religions according their social representativeness but not for discrimination or privilege (on this, Miranda et al. 2007; Brito 1999; Adragão and Gonçalves 2006, 179 ff).

  10. 10.

    Agreement between the Imamat Ismaili (the institution representing Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, according to article 2) and Portugal, signed in Lisbon on May 8th 2010 and approved by Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic 109/2010, hereinafter APII.

  11. 11.

    Decree Law 47344/66, November 25th, with subsequent amendments.

  12. 12.

    Therefore, susceptible to judicial review of constitutionality by the Constitutional Court under the terms established by Articles 277 ff CPR (on this, Adragão 2007, 184 ff).

  13. 13.

    The juridical nature of these agreements, as well as several aspects of their legal regime, are debated, see inter alia Canas 2007, 327 ff and Raimundo 2012, 351 ff. Diversity of legal instruments does not seem to amount to discrimination, rather mirroring the diverse legal nature of the religious denominations (Adragão 2007, 184; Medeiros 2012, 645 ff; Miranda and Marques 2010, 918 ff.).

  14. 14.

    Decree Law 48/95, March 15, with further ammendments.

  15. 15.

    More accurately, Coelho and Oliveira (2008, 186 ff) prefer to call it a system of optional civil marriage to Catholics and members of other religious communities settled in the country and a system of compulsory civil marriage to members of churches or religious communities not having the status of settled in the country, for the law gives no relevance to the religious ceremony eventually performed by these latter.

  16. 16.

    Divorce is not admitted by Canon Law; the application of civil divorce to canonical marriages was introduced in 1975, by the State, through an Additional Agreement that changed the Concordat of 1940.

  17. 17.

    Namely, decree Law 411/98, 30th December, with subsequent amendments.

  18. 18.

    See Article 11/2, Decree Law 411/98.

  19. 19.

    E.g. labor rules protecting working conditions (Canotilho and Machado 2013, 292 ff; Raimundo 2012, 248).

  20. 20.

    EU Directive 2000/78/EC on equal treatment in access to employment or occupation and membership of certain organizations allows for the existence of so-called “occupational requirements” in Article 4. The Labor Code (Law 7/2009, 12th February, with subsequent amendments, hereinafter LC) partially incorporates the regulation of this article in article 25/4 (on the issue, see Brito 2012, 279.

  21. 21.

    See also Decree-Law 70/2013 and Decree-Law 329/98, November 2nd.

  22. 22.

    Both parents have the right to educate their children in accordance with their own convictions on religious matters, “with respect for the moral and physical integrity of the children and without prejudice to their health”, until minors reach the age of 16 (Articles 11 LRF and 1886 CC).

  23. 23.

    Law 174/99, September 21st, abolished compulsory military service in peacetime, thus reducing the practical importance of this form of conscientious objection.

  24. 24.

    Law 12/2007, 17th April, article 6.

  25. 25.

    Law 32/2006, 26th July, article 11.

  26. 26.

    Law 25/2012, 16th July, article 9.

  27. 27.

    According to Article 14 of the Law 59/2008, September 11th

  28. 28.

    Discussing the constitutionality of this requirement, Adragão 2002, 522 ff.

  29. 29.

    Inter alia, Decision 545/2014 of the Constitutional Court and Neto 2009.

  30. 30.

    Article 11 of Decree-Law 252/09 and aAticle 12 of Decree-Law 253/2009.

  31. 31.

    Article 18 Concordat, Article 13 LRF, Decree-Law 253/2009 and Decree-Law 252/2009.

  32. 32.

    See Case 268/04 of the Constitutional Court, annotated by Adragão 2004, and, more recently, the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Coimbra on May 7th 2011 critically reviewed by Adragão (2012a).

  33. 33.

    The English translation used in the text follows the one available at http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showtopic.php?org_id=1361&kb_header_id=4131

  34. 34.

    On this issue, identifying strategies and tools, see Silvio Ferrari’s contribution on this book.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law Faculty, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Paulo Pulido Adragão (Associate Professor) & Anabela Leão

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  1. Paulo Pulido Adragão
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  2. Anabela Leão
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Correspondence to Paulo Pulido Adragão .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facoltà di Scienze Politiche e Sociali, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Rossella Bottoni

  2. Università degli studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Rinaldo Cristofori

  3. Università degli studi di Milano , Milan, Italy

    Silvio Ferrari

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Adragão, P.P., Leão, A. (2016). Portugal: Religious Rules and State Law. In: Bottoni, R., Cristofori, R., Ferrari, S. (eds) Religious Rules, State Law, and Normative Pluralism - A Comparative Overview. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28335-7_18

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