Luiz Pinto Ferreira was born on 7 October 1918, in Recife, Pernambuco, to Alfredo Pinto Ferreira and Maria Regina Pinto Ferreira.
He completed his primary education at Nobrega College in Recife (1927 and 1928), and attended high school at three institutions: the Arts and Crafts Lyceum, Recife, 1929; Aldridge College in Rio de Janeiro, 1930 and 1931, and the Marist College, Recife from 1931 to 1933.
He graduated in Law and Social Sciences from the Faculty of Law of the then University of Recife, today the Federal University of Pernambuco, in 1938.
He defended his thesis on General Theory of the State in 1944, and his doctorate in Law and Social Sciences in 1950, also from the Recife Faculty of Law.
He was Senator for Pernambuco (1962-1963) and a founder of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), and its president in the 1970s.
Constitutionalist, jurist and sociologist-philosopher, Pinto Ferreira was Professor of Constitutional Law and Sociology at the Federal University of Pernambuco, at the Pernambuco Catholic University, at the Caruaru Faculty of Law and Rector of the University of the Agreste in Caruaru.
Voted unanimously in 1975 to the Pernambuco Academy of Letters, on the recommendation of the Academy itself, he was also a member of the Pernambuco Academy of Legal Letters, of the Pernambuco Academy of Sciences, of the National Academy of Law, in Rio de Janeiro, of the Brazilian Academy of Legal Letters (ABLJ), of the International Academy of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence, as well as of foreign associations: the Society for General Semantics, Chicago, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, the Association of Philosophy and Science, Detroit, the Peruvian Institute of Sociology, Peru, and the Libero American Institute of Constitutional Law, Mexico.
In 1999, he received the title of Professor Emeritus of the Recife Faculty of Law and Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
He is the author of a project on the Pernambuco Constitution, appointed by the State Legislative Assembly, and was a member of the Temporary Commission of Constitutional Studies.
From his vast work (more than two hundred books and hundreds of journal articles) published in Brazil and abroad, in Portuguese, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Russian, including some classics works in the field of law, adopted by Latin-American universities, the following stand out:
Novos rumos do Direito Público, (New Directions in Public Law) 1937;
Teoria científica do conhecimento, (Scientific Theory of Knowledge) 1939;
Sociologia das revoluções, (Sociology of Revolutions) 1939;
Ologênese Ciclo Social, (‘Ologênese’ Social Cycle) 1939;
Teoria do espaço social, (Theory of Social Space) 1939;
Formação, desenvolvimento e fins do Estado (Formation, Development and Purposes of the State), 1945;
Pitirim y el concepto de la Sociologia relacional, México, 1945;
A democracia socialista e o presidencialismo brasileiro (The Socialist Democracy and Brazilian Presidential System), 1946;
The Marxian Socialism, 1947;
Analysis of Mind and Hypnosis, 1948);
The Concept of Nous (1948);
Princípios gerais do Direito Constitucional moderno (General Principles of Modern Constitutional Law), 1948;
Tobias Barreto e a nova escola do Recife (Tobias Barreto and Recife New School), 1950;
Pernambuco e seu destino histórico (Pernambuco and Its Historical Destiny), 1950;
Introdução à Filosofia Científica (Introduction to Scientific Philosophy), 1951;
El problema de la reforma agraria, México, 1954;
Filosofia da história literária (Philosophy of Literary History), 1955;
Notas Críticas sobre a Filosofia Marxista (Critical Notes on the Marxist Philosophy), 1957;
Teoria geral do Estado (General Theory of State), 1957;
A reforma agrária (Agrarian Reform), 1960;
Curso de Direito Constitucional (Course on Constitutional Law), 1964;
As Constituições dos estados no regime federativo (State Constitutions in the Federative System), 1964;
A idéia da universidade e a recente reforma universitária alemã (The Idea of the University and the Recent German University Reform), 1971;
A Filosofia como consciência crescente (Philosophy as Growing Awareness), 1973;
O Hinduísmo Filosófico (Philosophical Hinduism), 1973;
Recordação de Hegel (Hegel Recall), 1974;
Curso de organização social e política brasileira (Course of Brazilian Social and Political Organisation), 1974;
Tratado de Filosofia Dialética (Treaty of Dialectical Philosophy), 1976 (6.v.);
Constituição e processo civil na América Latina (Constitution and Civil Procedure in Latin America), 1976;
História da Faculdade de Direito do Recife (History of the Recife Faculty of Law), 1980;
Tratado das heranças e dos testamentos (Treaty on Will and Estate), 1983;
Educação e Constituinte (Education and Constituency), 1986;
O Ministério Público e a Advocacia do estado (The Public Ministry and the State Law), 1987;
Presidencialismo e parlamentarismo (Presidentialism and Parliamentarism), 1987;
Manual de Sociologia e Pesquisa Social (Sociology and Social Research Handbook), 1989;
A Nova Constituição e a democracia participativa (The New Constitution and Participatory Democracy), 1990;
A concepção das ilusões constitucionais (The Design of Constitutional Illusions), 1992;
O Impeachment (Impeachment), 1993;
A constitucionalização simbólica (The Symbolic ‘Constitutionalisation’), 1995;
A justiça no estado de direito (The Justice in the State of Law), 1995;
Acesso Allá giustizia come programma di riforme e come método di pensiero, 1998;
Curso de Direito Processual Civil (Course of Civil Procedure), 1998;
Vocabulário jurídico das ações e dos recursos (Vocabulary of Legal Actions and Appeals), 1999;
Internet, crimes eletrônicos e criptografia (Internet, Electronic Crimes and Cryptography), 2000;
O meio ambiente, os crimes e os danos ecológicos (The Environment, Crime and Environmental Damage), 2001;
A defesa da Amazônia Legal (The Defence of the Amazon), 2001.
Jurist Luiz Pinto Ferreira died in Recife on 7 April 2009.
Recife, 22 May 2009.
Updated on 4 September 2009.
Translated by Peter Leamy, March 2012.
Updated on 17 october 2017.
sources consulted
BIOGRAFIA: Luiz Pinto Ferreira, Doutor Honoris causa. Disponível em: <http://www.sopece.br/2006/html/pinto_ferreira.htm>. Acesso em: 29 abr. 2009.
LUÍS Pinto Ferreira. Infopédia [Em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003-2009. [Consult.2009-04-08]. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 8 abr. 2009.
O MUNDO jurídico perde o constitucionalista Pinto Ferreira. Disponível em:<http://www.revistaalgomais.com.br/>. Acesso em: 8 abr. 2009.
PERÍODOS Legislativos da Quarta República 1959-1963: Senador Pinto Ferreira. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 29 abr. 2009.
PINTO Ferreira [Foto neste texto]. Disponível em: <http://www.luizpintoferreira.com/>. Acesso em: 17 out. 2017.
PINTO Ferreira: In: CENTENÁRIO da Academia Pernambucana de Letras: os de ontem, os de hoje os de sempre. Recife: A Academia, 2001. v. 1. p. 281-287.
ROMA FILHA, Elias. Pinto Ferreira. Recife: AIP/Cepe, 1998. (Perfis Pernambucanos, 5).