Following Portugal's recognition as an independent State (1143/1179), the first kings imposed the development of a new process that would lead to the effective organization of its institutions on the one hand, and on the other, legitimize the supervision of the State itself. At a time when the administration of justice was the main connection with the people it was normal, as had occurred throughout the rest of the West, for monarchs to be concerned with providing justice. However, in a burgeoning kingdom other areas imposed themselves as regulators of royal power. In this context we recall the administrative institutions; the Curia, the Council, the Courts and the Chancery. All together, with the institutions of justice, they were initially placed in the hands of judges and magistrates. Later the first courts would be organized, out of which the Higher Court of Appeals would emerge as appellate justice. The document presented herein was its first Regulation. The "Royal Higher Court of Appeals", which the king moved to Brazil in 1807, and would become extinct in the nineteenth century (1833) to be replaced by the Court of Appeal of Lisbon.
Portugal; justice; sentence; royal officials
