Even after Goa coming under the regime of Union of India from 19/12/1961 after 451 years of erstwhile Portuguese rule, several legislations of the erstwhile regime were continued for the sake of good administrative order by an Act of Parliament .
One such piece of legislation was the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 and the Civil Procedure Code. The Code of 1867 saw some amendments with the change of Government in Portugal in 1966 but such amendments were not effected in the Code of 1867 as in force in Goa. Thus there were several judicial pronouncements based on varied interpretation by the Bar as most of the Judges were not conversant with the Portuguese language and there was no faithful translation of the Code of 1867 from Portuguese to English. An attempt was made in the late eighties by a Senior counsel to have some of the articles of the Code translated but no further. The Government of Goa introduced the “The Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Bill of 2005” apparently to rid off the colonial yoke but this attempt met with little or no success. However it must be said to the credit of the Bar Associations in Goa that they did burn the midnight oil to whet the Bill of 2005 and made clause by clause even word by word suggestions and objections to have a faithful law repealing the Code. This exercise interestingly also brought dissenting views from some legal luminaries, considering the fact that the matter of Personal laws being in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India would automatically bring Assembly approved legislation in conflict with those personal laws enacted by Parliament and would easily contribute to an avalanche of litigation instead of remedy to the present dilemma with an untranslated version. To add to it the Government was voted out in 2005, as a result the Bill of 2005 lapsed. The present Government instead of atleast taking cognizance of the submissions by the Bar Associations and other well meaning citizens re-introduced the Bill 2005 without any changes and had it referred to the Select Committee in 2008. At one of the sittings of the Select Committee held on 10th January, 2009 the Bar Associations, NGO’s and other well meaning citizens who participated in the same impressed upon the Chairman of the Select Committee that unless a) there was a faithful translation of the Portuguese Civil Code 1867 as well as the amendments made in 1966 in Portugal and b) a re-look at the Civil Code of Macau Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China – 1999 ( 2161 articles ) the latest treatise on the Code, not much could be expected by way of suggestions to the present Bill of 2008. Fortunately at the same time the the Institute for Juridical Co-Operation of the Law School of the University of Lisbon set up in collaboration with the Mahadevrao Salgaocar College of Law, Panaji, Goa, an exchange programme that provides for the joint organization of post-graduate courses in Goa with Portuguese professors, to hold conferences & research projects in Lisbon for Goan scholars & students. As a preliminary exercise of this programme with a view to contribute towards the better knowledge and understanding of the Portuguese legal culture by the Jury, Bar in Goa a project to provide a bi-lingual version of the Civil Code of 1867 in Portuguese and English with a contemporary version – a 21st Century approach has been made available to the State of Goa. Copies of the same titled “Family and Sucession Law in the Portugese Civil Code of 1867 : a 21st century approach were distributed at a seminar held on 24th January, 2009 at the Mahadevrao Salgaocar College of Law, Panaji, Goa by the visiting faculty from Lisbon Portugal. For the Government of Goa this bi-lingual translation is an answer to its long pending intention of having a faithful translation of the Portuguese Civil Code . Indeed this translation will also benefit the Govt of India to enact an Uniform Civil Code for the rest of the country in meeting the endeavour enshrined in the Directive Principles. One would also hope that the Institute for Juridical Co-Operation, of the School of Law, University of Lisbon Portugal would also come out with the bi-lingual translation in Portuguese/English of the Law of Communidades as applicable to Goa amended upto 15/04/1961 as there is till date no faithful translation of the Code available for the Jury the Bar and the Government of Goa. On 23rd January, 2009 Doordarshan, Panaji Goa Kendr recorded a talk show on the topic “Should Goa continue with the Old Civil Code” in which eminent personalities Shri Ramakant D Khalap (Adv) Chairman of Goa Law Commission (constituted on 23/01/2009) Shri Dayanand G Narvekar (Adv) ex Law Minister Govt of Goa, Mr Radharao Gracias (Adv) ex MLA, Mr. C Nadkarni (Adv) ex Advocate General of Goa and Prof Dario Moura Vicente, President of the Institute for Juridical Co-Operation, of the School of Law, University of Lisbon. This show will be telecast on 11th & 12th February, 2009 between 1800 hrs onwards both days. Viewers will get an incite into some of the salient features of the Code which govern issues of marriage, divorce, succession, inventory proceedings et al. There was a similar telecast on the same subject, Civil Laws in Goa, conducted by the local Herald Cable Networks (HCN) Panaji Goa which provided an incite into views from various legal practitioners. For those desirous of obtaining the online version of the bi-lingual translation of the Code of 1867 the same can be downloaded from the website www.fd.ul.pt/ICJ. The Government has also decided to extend the term of the Select Committee for another month until March 2009 and either incorporate the recommendations of the Select Committee or come out with an entirely new legislation on the subject in the light of the above development according to sources that spoke to this writer. GODFREY J. I. GONSALVES, BORDA, MARGAO, 403 602, GOA. (INDIA) +91 98221 58584 (24 HRS) [email protected] Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
