The Research Network on Lusophone Law (REDIL) came into being on May 23, 2019, following a protocol signed in Fortaleza on the occasion of the 6th International Congress of Law in the Portuguese-Speaking World.

The following institutions signed it:

🏛 University of Minho, through its Research Centre for Justice and Governance/School of Law
🏛 University of Fortaleza, through its Postgraduate Programme in Law
🏛 Eduardo Mondlane University, through its Faculty of Law
🏛 University of Vale do Itajaí, through its Postgraduate Programme in Legal Sciences
🏛 G. R. Kare College of Law, Margao-Goa, Goa University, through its Faculty of Law
🏛 Higher Institute of Criminal and Police Sciences of Angola
🏛 Higher Institute of Legal and Social Sciences of Cape Verde

Although the Network was founded by these institutions, it enjoyed a first wave of membership growth in May 2024, during the 10th Congress of Law in the Portuguese World, welcoming new members based in Angola and Portugal, namely the:

🏛 Faculty of Law of the Agostinho Neto University, through its Centre for Public Law Studies and Legal and Political Sciences and its Centre for Economic and Social Legal Studies
🏛 Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Angola, through its Centre for Legal Research
🏛 Autonomous University of Lisbon, through its Centre for Research and Development in Legal Sciences "Ratio Legis".

New members from other countries and regions are expected to join REDIL soon.

In REDIL's founding Protocol, the signing parties "undertake to make joint efforts to carry out research projects in Lusophone Law, with a view to promoting the dissemination of legal studies produced in the CPLP countries, to stimulate the development of comparative legal studies with regard to its various legal systems, and to encourage the exchange of researchers, particularly the younger researchers".

This Network represents the pinnacle of a process that kicked off with the 1st International Congress of Law in the Portuguese-Speaking World, which took place between 19 and 22 February 2014 at the School of Law of the University of Minho, one of the events that marked the School's 20th anniversary and which was repeatedly replicated in subsequent editions - in Luanda, Braga, Brasília, Fortaleza, Vale do Itajaí, and Portugal.

Although it originated thanks to this event, REDIL turned out to be the springboard for a fully-integrated, interdisciplinary, networked project of scientific research in the legal sphere, bringing together researchers from various Portuguese-speaking countries and regions.

Several initiatives are now up and running, most notably these:

🔹 the constitution of a permanent observatory of Portuguese-speaking case law, aimed at marshalling, studying, and commenting on key rulings of the higher courts of the various Portuguese-speaking countries and regions;

🔹 the launch of a journal of Portuguese-speaking law;

🔹 the institution of a yearly Award for Portuguese-speaking legal research, chiefly designed to stimulate and raise the profile of studies carried out by young researchers in the field;

🔹 the publication of an anthology on the Principles of Criminal Justice, the first of numerous thematic publications;

🔹 the organisation of the annual Congress of Law in the Portuguese-Speaking World and the publication of the corresponding proceedings.

Besides promoting the collective pursuit of studies on matters of Portuguese-speaking law, a priority which is honoured every year at the Congress of Law in the Portuguese-Speaking World, one of the major concerns of REDIL is to support, by awarding grants, younger researchers who are pursuing academic qualifications (MA or PhD) or those who are taking up more in-depth studies during short-term research stays, in addition to supporting more experienced researchers in their post-doctoral work.

All in all, engaging institutions of recognised international worth, most notably through their respective research Centres, REDIL stands as a platform for researchers from different Portuguese-speaking countries and regions to pool their talents and skills to address issues of Portuguese-speaking law, whilst taking into account relevant related aspects pertaining to the social and human sciences.