Scientific Process

CIDP was established in 2014 with the purpose of studying Portuguese and European Private Law, in a transversal and integrated way. Since then CIDP has grown nationally and internationally to become a research center dedicated to the study of Private Law. Research projects undertaken by CIDP may address any scientific problems of Private Law, preferably within the thematic lines chosen for the period 2018-2022.

Researchers may, jointly or autonomously, propose certain research projects that they consider to be of special scientific and social interest. Those projects are then presented for approval to both the Scientific Coordinator and the Scientific Committee. For this approval process, the following factors must be taken into account: the scientific and methodological quality of the project, its scientific and social impact, its adequacy to research lines and its alignment with public and CIDP’s own funds and that may be assigned to the project.

 

The research activities undertaken by CIDP must comply with its Code of Ethics in Research and are governed by the following principles:

 

Scientific and methodological autonomy and independence:

The coordinator of the project should, along with the project’s researchers, organize the project in a way that is most appropriate for the scientific purposes pursued. The sources of funding for CIDP, which may come either from national or foreign entities, and either from the public sector or from the private sector, do not condition or compromise, under any circumstances, the independence of researchers or the scientific integrity of results.

 

Accountability

The project’s investigators are hold accountable towards the Scientific Coordinator and their peers, for their execution and the results achieved.

 

Data collection

All data collected and produced during the project’s execution should be stored, catalogued and inserted in the CIDP’s internal data basis, allowing a funded confrontation of the conclusions reached. In the data processing, CIDP guarantees the fulfilment of the highest standards of ethics and legality, especially if personal data or copyright are at stake.

 

Internal diffusion

The disclosure of research results, especially in national and international peer reviews, should be preceded by their presentation at bimonthly meetings held by the various sections. So, it is encouraged the disclosure of interim results in order to ensure the quality of the results and also to enable the collaboration of all researchers.

 

Integration of young researchers

It is encouraged the active collaboration – and not merely informal collaboration – of the young researchers, in order to enable them to became authors or co-authors of the projects to be carried out.

 

Exchange

The research activity seeks to integrate national and foreign researchers from other R&D Institutions, in particular R&D Institutions with which CIDP has concluded research collaborations and protocols. Research activity seeks as well to integrate and collaborate with leading personalities within the scientific and social sphere so that they can contribute to the results of the research or which can, within the framework of a scientific dialogue, scrutinize those results.

 

Interdisciplinary

The articulation between research projects and the constitution of teams of researchers with diverse interests and specialties is enhanced in order to promote interdisciplinary research.

 

Applied investigation

CIDP seeks a permanent articulation with agents of the legal practice, in order to identify practical questions that, at any moment, demand the study of Legal Science. This balance is needed to stimulate young scientific research and to bring CIDP activity closer to the community in which it operates.

 

Open Science

The results should be, whenever possible, made available to the academic community for free.

Top
Thematic Lines

The CIDP decided to focus its activity for the period 2018-2022 on three research thematic lines, which will serve as a basis for the research projects in which teams of researchers from all sections of CIDP participate in an articulated manner:

Private Law in the Digital Era
Coordination Dário Moura Vicente

PRESENTATION

The advent of the Digital Era changed the social, economic and legal structures.

The contemporary panorama demands, from the Law, a privileged attention to problems until now unknown or still little studied.

Among them, the social relevance of personal data raises new questions in the field of personality rights, automation and artificial intelligence require that civil liability mechanisms be redesigned and the development of e-commerce requires the study of the rights of online consumers.

This new reality extends to the financial field, with a direct impact on investor rights and corporate financing models.

Transformations also operate in the field of procedural law, with a clear focus on the so-called Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods, such as mediation, conciliation and arbitration, regarding the Directive 2013/11/EU, of 21st of May, which regulates the alternative resolution of consumer disputes.

 

Among the various issues to be analysed within this thematic area the following arise:

 

  • What is the impact of the automation process on the concept of legal personality, given its ontological roots?
  • How can the theory of will be squared with the emergence of artificial intelligence, in the fields of both contracts and civil liability?
  • Is the right to informational self-determination a actual personalty right?
  • How to articulate the principle of exclusivity of financial activities – according to which only duly authorized entities can carry out financial activities – with the growth of investment and robo-advisor platforms and the emergence of new mechanisms of online investment (e.g. crowdfunding)?

 

 

COURSES OF ACTION

Within this research thematic line, CIDP chooses the following courses of action:

 

Publications

Papers will be published in peer-reviewed journals about Private Law in the Digital Era: among them, articles on The new frontiers of legal personality; Mediation in electronic commerce; Insurtech developments; The right to informational self-determination as a right of personality; and Notes on the financing startups and their regulation.

 

Conferences

The I Crowdfunding Conference – Collaborative Finance through Capital and Loans was held on the 8th of May of 2018, in collaboration with the Portuguese Securities Market Comission (CMVM) [note: hyperlink to this event, which also appears on one of the course tabs]. Conferences on Online Dispute Resolution (in the 1st semester of 2020) and on The Legal Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (in the 2nd semester of 2021) are also scheduled.

 

Courses 

In the academic year 2018/2019, several courses will be held within this research line:

The Socialisation of Private Law
Coordination Rosário Palma Ramalho

PRESENTATION

I. The "Socialization of Private Law" is related to the evolution of civil law from the individualistic background that characterized it in the liberal environment of the 19th century, towards a more social approach, linked to the implementation of the Welfare State in the 20th century.

In the course of this evolution, equality principle in Civil Law evolved from a formal perspective to a more substantive approach, which requires the promotion of affirmative actions. At the same time, goals like the pursuit of contract fairness, the recognition and the protection of personality rights were developed and non-discrimination issues have raised as new goals of Civil Law. And the same goes for the protection of the weaker party of the contract, such as consumers, tenants and employees.

In pursuit of these goals, Civil Law regulated new contracts, and developed specific rules directly intended to achieve a better balance of the rights and duties of both parties in modern trading. In this regard, Civil Law also focused its attention on E-commerce and, in general, on consumer´s protection, based on the same distributive justice of the ideal  contract, and, by doing so, the protection of the weaker contracting party and the ideal of distributive justice of the contract became part of the scope of Civil Law.

Alongside with these developments, Civil Law also began to relate differently with other areas of Private Law that deal with issues of great social density, such as Consumers Law and Labour Law.

Moreover, Civil Law and other specific areas of private law are now facing new social needs and challenges, as a result of economic globalization, digitalization and the emergence of new contracts and new forms of work, particularly in the context of digital platforms or in relation to remote work and to telework.

 

II. In this line of research, the CIDP intends to explore subjects where private law applies to more sensitive subjects from a social point of view, in the context of the global and digitalized world where we live today.

The diversity of these subjects requires the study of different legal areas and is only possible with the contribution of CIDP’s researchers from all those fields.

This is, therefore, one of the characteristics of this Project.

On the other hand, the CIDP´s academic background makes it possible to closely involve  the students in this Project, with the aim of leading them to reflect about these issues problems at an early stage.

Finally, most of the issues addressed in this Project go beyond our national borders and should therefore be discussed worldwide. For this reason, this Project privileges international activities, that aim to bring specialists from foreign universities to the debate and allow for different perspectives on the topics to be addressed.  

These characteristics justify the different lines of action of this project, which are described in the following paragraph.

 

LINES OF ACTION

Whitin this line of investigation, the CIDP promotes the following activities:

 

  • Organization of courses and other training activities that develop these themes, in different legal areas, creating think-tanks and forums of reflection;
  • Holding of national and international conferences and webinars on specific topics related to the socialization of Private Law;
  • Holding discussion forums with students, including international Moot Courts.

 

PUBLICATIONS

The CIDP promotes the publishing of articles in peer review journals that address the subject of Socialization of Private Law, from different scientific perspectives and in different areas.

Moreover, the CIDP also promotes the publishing of reviews and journals on Labour Law and Consumer Law, as well as on the Welfare State and the socialization of Civil Law.

For example, CIDP is currently promoting with other partners the following publications:

 

  • Civil Law Magazine (since 2016);
  • International Journal of Labour Law (since 2021), organized and published by the Institute of Labour Law.

 

CONFERences

The CIDP also promotes the holding of national and international conferences, on different subjects related to this line of research.

Since 2018, the following conferences with interest in our topic are worth mentioning:

 

  • Seminar: Labour Law, October 10, 2019, organized by the Institute of Labour Law;
  • Webinar: Labour Law in Emergency Times, April 29, 2020, organized by the Institute of Labor Law;
  • Luso-Brazilian Conference: Labour Law and Pandemic, February 13, 2021, organized by the Institute of Labour Law;
  • Webinar: Protection of Work in Times of Covid, March 30, 2021, organized by the Institute of Labour Law;
  • Luso-Spanish Webinar: Labour Challenges Post Covid;
  • Seminar: The Post Covid Law, November 17, 2021, organized by the Institute of Labour Law;
  • Webinar: The New Working Framework: Teleworking and Right to Disconnection, April 20, 2022, organized by the Institute of Labour Law;
  • International Seminar: Improving The Working Conditions in Platform Work, (scheduled for June 22, 2022).

 

COURSES

In the school years 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, several courses were held, including:

 

  • Postgraduate Courses in Labour Law and Social Security (organized by the Institute of Labour Law);
  • Postgraduate Courses in Business and Entrepreneurial Law;
  • Postgraduate Courses in Equality Law.
     

discussion forums with students

  • Teams integrated by students and coached by CIDP researchers  have participated in several editions of the European Moot Court in Labour Law - Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court, in different European cities;
  • Organization of the Moot Court of Labor Law - Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court, by CIDP in partnership with the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and the VdA – Law Firm (scheduled for 20-21 June 2022), which has the presence, in our School, of 12 teams from different countries and their coaches, as well as a body of judges, that integrate known international experts in Labour Law.
The Modernisation of Corporate Law
Coordination Pedro de Albuquerque

PRESENTATION

 The years ahead will be see a deep-reaching reform of Company Law.

Internally, Portugal is putting the final touches to transposition of the Shareholder Rights Directive and starting a new regime with MiFID II. At European level, new legislation is foreseen on the use of online tools in the life of companies, transnational mobility for companies and standardisation of the law governing disputes. From a more economic standpoint, implementation of Programa Capitalizar and Compete 2020, as part of Portugal 2020, also presuppose changes to the rules of Company Law.

In addition to the scientific research required, in particular to provide the scientific framework for the new concepts enshrined in future legislation, there is also a need to collaborate with the legislative process and to disseminate the solutions designed.

 

The various issues demanding attention in this field include:

  • Will the Shareholder Rights Directive be able to achieve its aim of involving shareholders in corporate governance?
  • Will the duties imposed by MiFID II on financial intermediaries constitute an obstacle to their business activities?
  • Will these reforms ensure that SMEs have access to the capital markets, reducing their indebtedness and, in particular, their dependence on bank borrowing?

 

 

 

 

COURSES OF ACTION

Within this research line, CIDP chooses the following courses of action:

 

Publications

Articles will be published in peer-reviewed journals that address the subject of the Modernisation of Corporate Law: among these, it is worth highlighting The Emperor's New Clothes: the Dawn of the Age of Transparency for Public and Listed Companies in European Union Law, as well as The suitability rule in financial intermediation according to MiFID II.

 

Conferences

Among others, the international conference The Future of European Company Law will be held (2nd semester of 2020).

 

Courses

In the academic year 2018/2019, several courses will be held within this research line:

RESEARCH GRANTS

The scholarships awarded by CIDP aim to promote research in the scientific areas defined as the object of the Center's Thematic Lines.

 

The CIDP Scholarship Award Rules can be consulted here.

 

The Scholarship Application Declaration model is available here.