REMARKS ON THE EFFICACY OF “LEI ÁUREA”, THE BRAZILIAN SLAVERY ABOLITION ACT

Abstract

This paper discusses the efficacy of the Brazilian Slavery Abolition Act, “Lei Áurea”, contending that the former slaves, albeit free, did not enjoy the social rights that should have accompanied their freedom. The discussion starts with a brief history of slavery in Brazil before positing the following research question: If the objective of Lei Áurea was to abolish slavery in Brazil, why did it represent no actual freedom for black people? The abolition will be discussed drawing on ethical values of freedom, human dignity, and equality, as well as in light of Keynesian positivism and justice. This discussion serves as a background to the actual objective of this paper, that of demonstrating that regulation would have been the only instrument for the social efficacy of Lei Áurea – the ought to be issue that the absentee Liberal State of the 19th century refrains from including in the norm. As a result of the Lei Áurea, the conclusion advocates for the application of the Compensatory Justice Theory to put forward affirmative policies aiming to compensate the African slaves’ descendants for damages caused in the colonial times, especially the offence to the fundamental principle of dignity and other fundamental principles enacted in the 1998 Federal Constitution.