Not a most praiseable one is found among all the virtues”: the king christian and justice in the afonsine ordinations

o rei cristão e a justiça nas ordenações afonsinas

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to analyze the concept of justice in Portugal in the 15th century from a legal documentation called Ordenações Afonsinas. Our proposal is to understand the place occupied by the king, as ruler and judge, as well as to perceive the elements that influenced the understanding of justice, such as religion, tradition and history. To do this, we will seek a critical analysis of the Alfonsine Ordinances, with emphasis on the passages on the definition of Justice, anchored to the pertinent bibliography of Justice in the late medieval Iberian period. Portugal was, in that period, notably a Christian kingdom that struggled to organize itself in terms of justice and the achievement of an ideal of the “common good”. With very noticeable limitations, royal action, in the field of justice, sought to balance and harmonize the kingdom in the dialogue between punishing and forgiving.