Os jesuítas e a construção da ordem jurídica: uma contribuição ao estudo da normatividade dos catecismos e confessionários na América Portuguesa (séculos XVII-XVIII)

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to examine the role of the Jesuits in the construction of the juridical order in Portuguese America. Particularly interested in catechisms and confessionary, this analysis deals with a view in which early modern law is inseparable from moral theology and is part of a wider juridical and structural order in the natural universe. Jesuit catechisms and confessionaries written for the conversion of indigenous people from the beginning of 17th and the middle of the 18th century are the main sources of this research.