Abstract

SOUZA, Leonardo de; FREITA, Cinthia Obladen de Almendra  and  MEIRA, Deolinda. Virtual general assemblies in Brazil and Portugal in times of pandemics: an approach beyond comparative positivism. Bol. Mex. Der. Comp. [online]. 2022, vol.55, n.163, e17500.  Epub June 15, 2023. ISSN 2448-4873.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iij.24484873e.2022.163.17500.

This article aimed to analyse comparatively, from the perspective of a Brazilian researcher, how the Portuguese and Brazilian legal systems responded to the demands of their cooperative movements to develop the virtual general assemblies of cooperatives in the Covid-19 Pandemic. For this, the comparative study was carried out not only to reach the praesumptio similitudinis of the analyzed legal systems, from the functionalist perspective of Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz. We also sought to understand the legal and cultural reasons that induced each country to adopt different solutions for exactly the same problem. For this specific purpose, the culturalist perspective defended by Pierre Legrand was admitted to contextualize the legal responses of Portugal and Brazil to the Covid-19 Pandemic and also to understand the reasons for the divergence of reactions. In conclusion, both in Portugal and in Brazil, the Pandemic was able to, respectively, ratify and produce efficient laws that currently allow the permanent realization of virtual general assemblies with adherence to the cooperative principle of democratic member control. However, despite this apparent harmony between the results, the culturalist analysis showed that these were achieved distinctly, revealing the juridical-cultural signs of each cooperative movement. With that, we believe to bring an important reflection to collaborate with the understanding of the Cooperative Law of each country in its authenticity.

Keywords : Comparative law; Culturalism; Cooperative Law; Assemblies; Covid-19.