“Quem sabe o que é um advogado”? A resposta de Luís Manuel Júlio Frederico Gonçalves às tentativas de reforma dos provisionários goeses em 1869

Abstract

– Provisionários lawyers played a role of particular importance in the legal, political and administrative organization of the Estado da Índia during the 19th Century. The aim of this article is to try to understand the local reactions to the attempts from the Portuguese Government to control provisionários’ selection process and professional practice by the decree of 13 May 1869. On this basis, emphasis is placed on the study of the arguments put forward by Luís Manuel Júlio Frederico Gonçalves, whose response should be considered a decisive step to protect provisionários’s interests. The paper also shows that the 19th Century was an arena of social and professional struggle between on the one hand the provisionários and Goan elites and on the other hand the letrados (or lettered) Portuguese judges appointed to the Estado da Índia courts and the Portuguese