The recognition of new social actors and the checkmate of statutory law
| Autor | Maria Fernanda Salcedo Repolês |
| Ocupação do Autor | Professor at the University of Minas Gerais Law School |
| Páginas | 2241-2255 |
Working Group: Society, Culture and Law • 2241
The recognition of new social actors
and the checkmate of statutory law
Maria Fernanda Salcedo Repolês1
Abstract: The starting point of the ‘Polos de Cidadania’ Research Program of
theUniversity ofMinas Gerais inBrazil isthe lackof eectivenessof fun-
damental rights on a day-to-day basis. Our paper aims to discuss this reality
through the theoretical debate of the exhaustion of the legalist paradigm; the
concealment of pluralism inherent to legal order; and the questioning of the
functions of statutory law in the legal system.
When statutory law was converted into the primary social control in
the XIX century a series of presuppositions were constructed. We argue that
they can no longer stand because such paradigm ignores the dynamics of the
application of statutes and its hermeneutical character and it conceals the politi-
cal consequences of decision making. We will analyze these two aspects from
the stand point of four basic presuppositions that support them: that there is a
complete or at least a high standard of transparency between the citizen and the
legislator; that the statutes have a message accessible to all; that social relations
arestandardandnallythattheStateistheonlywaytothesolutionofsocial
conict
Using examples of ground research of the ‘Polos de Cidadania’ team in
the periphery of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, in Brazil, our paper exposes an
experience used to reformulate the traditional presuppositions of the Theory of
Law and advance towards a comprehension of Law that can be called pluralist,
or dialogical. Our paper will propose a new role for statutory law in a context of
contemporary societies, and a path, or a methodology that makes the transition
of paradigm an open, inaugural process.
With this paper we expect to contribute to the discussion about new
methodologyof lawto shareexperiences fromdierent partsof theworld in
1
Professor at the University of Minas Gerais Law School; JSD Constitutional Law; Ms
Social Philosophy; General Coordinator of the ‘Polos de Cidadania’ Research Program,
Coordinator of the Posgraduate Law Program at the University of Minas Gerais Law
School.
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