Theses defended
Courthouses as spaces of recognition, functionality and access to justice - the case study of Family Courts in Portugal
December 19, 2013
Law, Justice, and Citizenship in the Twenty First Century
António Casimiro Ferreira
One of the most overlooked topics at the level of reflection regarding the law and the legal system has been the subject of the architecture of the spaces of justice, important for the application of justice itself. Architecture organizes and structures space making it intelligible, understandable, and capable of being interpreted as possible, being that the exterior and interior, as well as materials and objects present therein can facilitate or inhibit our activities through how they mean and represent certain messages. Hence it becomes necessary to make an analysis of the spaces of justice - and here I have in mind the Court as a privileged public space of justice - taking into consideration the circumstances of time, place of jurisdiction, the historical, political, regulatory, and sociocultural contexts, as well as legal tradition. This research intends to fill a lack in terms of socio-juridical studies, especially in Portugal, creating an original state of the art.
Thus, the objective of this research was to examine the spaces of the courts of justice, i.e. spaces where disputes are settled, where power relations occur, but also relations of social and personal vulnerability, in the sense defined in the context of the theoretical debate on access to law and justice in Portugal. Thus, I analyzed the trends (international and national) of development of its construction and / or adaptation (types of buildings and their internal organization, focusing on different infrastructures and accessibilities) and respective use, including, here, the representations and spatial practices of the real actors (professionals and users), and then analyze the possible connection of the construction, adaptation or use of the spaces of justice in general, and in particular the courts, with the issue of access to the law and justice.
As a specific objective, the case study focused on the Portuguese Family and Juvenile Courts. Family and children law today is called to respond to new problems, manifested between a trend towards privatization / negotiation and a tendency to (re) publicity, particularly in terms of new and conjugalities and children's rights. Hence, emerged the need to analyze the spaces of justice in an area so rich and complex, in which interaction with the judicial system is associated most often with private life, fragility and emotion, not only because of the type of case involved (divorce, parental responsibilities, juvenile delinquency, neglected children, among others) as one's own relationship with the spaces.
If the intention that architecture should play is to make people's lives more comfortable, it is important to think about a new model of court, in particular a new model of family and children court, given the functions of recognition, functionality and access to law and justice.
Public Defence date
Doctoral Programme
Supervision
Abstract
Thus, the objective of this research was to examine the spaces of the courts of justice, i.e. spaces where disputes are settled, where power relations occur, but also relations of social and personal vulnerability, in the sense defined in the context of the theoretical debate on access to law and justice in Portugal. Thus, I analyzed the trends (international and national) of development of its construction and / or adaptation (types of buildings and their internal organization, focusing on different infrastructures and accessibilities) and respective use, including, here, the representations and spatial practices of the real actors (professionals and users), and then analyze the possible connection of the construction, adaptation or use of the spaces of justice in general, and in particular the courts, with the issue of access to the law and justice.
As a specific objective, the case study focused on the Portuguese Family and Juvenile Courts. Family and children law today is called to respond to new problems, manifested between a trend towards privatization / negotiation and a tendency to (re) publicity, particularly in terms of new and conjugalities and children's rights. Hence, emerged the need to analyze the spaces of justice in an area so rich and complex, in which interaction with the judicial system is associated most often with private life, fragility and emotion, not only because of the type of case involved (divorce, parental responsibilities, juvenile delinquency, neglected children, among others) as one's own relationship with the spaces.
If the intention that architecture should play is to make people's lives more comfortable, it is important to think about a new model of court, in particular a new model of family and children court, given the functions of recognition, functionality and access to law and justice.