Los orígenes del contrato en el Nuevo Código Civil: una introducción a la función social, al welfarismo y a la solidaridad contractual

Luciano Benetti Timm, Pontificia Universidade Católica - Rio Grande do Sul e Universidade Luterana do Brasil
Maximiliano Marzetti, Università di Bologna

Abstract

The article passes a critical eye over the ideological foundations of Section 421 of the Brazilian Civil Code that deals with the so called ‘social function of contract’ found in the French sociological tradition (notably Durkheim.) Leon Duguit was the main legal scholar representative of this thought and applied this method to what he described as the social function of legal institutions. The main idea was to publicize and socialize private law and its main legal institutions such as property and contracts. Society must prevail when compared to individual interests. Regulation and state interference should override private autonomy and freedom of contract.