The Rule of the Courts

Vasco Pereira da Silva

of the separation of powers, which corresponds to liberal theorisation (and which finds its expression, among others, in the works of LOCKE and MONTESQUIEU 5 )” 6 . The “liberal state therefore emerges as the result of the combination of these two antagonistic visions, these ‘two moments in the history of the state’. Once again resorting to metaphor, one could say that it is the result of the theoretical contributions of authors who, ironically, we can refer to as the ‘four fathers of the state’ 7 , or, ‘better said, ‘two fathers’ (Hobbes and Rousseau, who represent the masculine element of state theory) and ‘two mothers’ (LOCKE and MONTESQUIEU, who represent the feminine element of the conception of the State)” 8 . Thus, “HOBBES and ROUSSEAU contributed to this model of the State with the theorisation of the democratic element”, “the idea of the social contract as the origin of power, which offered an immanent explanation of political power, basing the State on the will of the people who constitute society”; “for their part, LOCKE and MONTESQUIEU theorised the liberal element of the State, the idea of self-limitation of political power as a guarantee of individual freedom.” 9 The “theorisation of the democratic and liberal state thus presented an authoritarian ‘rib’, alongside a liberal ‘rib’, which explains the relationship of continuity between the absolute state and the liberal state, pointed out 5 See JEAN BODIN, Les Six Livres de la République (facsimile edition of the French publication of 1583), Scientia Aalen, Darmstadt, 1961; THOMAS HOBBES, Leviathan, translation, Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, Lisbon, 1995; JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, The Social Contract, translation, Europa-América, 1974; JOHN LOCKE, Two Treatises of Government, Everyman’s Library, London, 1984 (reprint); MONTESQUIEU, De L’ Esprit des Lois, in MONTESQUIEU, Oeuvres Complètes, vol. 2, Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1951. 8 VASCO PEREIRA DA SILVA, Para um Contencioso Administrativo dos Particulares dos – Esboço de uma Teoria Subjetivista do Recurso Direto de Anulação, Almedina, Coimbra, 1989, p. 14. 9 VASCO PEREIRA DA SILVA, ‘Em Busca do A. A. P.’ [In Search of A. A. P.], cit., pp. 15 and 16. 6 VASCO PEREIRA DA SILVA, ‘Em Busca do A. A. P.’, cit., p. 15. 7 VASCO PEREIRA DA SILVA, ‘Em Busca do A. A. P.’, cit., p. 15.

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