Victor Nunes Leal (1914-1985)
This genial professor and high judicial figure was already a celebrated author when I arrived in Brazil. His classic volume, Coronelismo, enxada e voto (freely translated Rural Bossism, the Hoe and the Vote).
Leal was a true liberal who struggled against the authoritarian forces that have periodically sprung up throughout Brazilian history.
When he came to see me in my Rio hotel I was very flattered. He presented me with his classic book, which I cherished when working back in the States.
Victor was a mentor to a younger generation of political scientists who went on to apply his insights to the complex web of relationships in rural Brazil.
Further Readings
Leal, Victor Nunes. Tres ensaios de administrac̜ão. Rio de Janeiro: Departmento Administrativo do Servico Público e Instituto Brasileiro de Ciencias Administrativas, 1958.
Leal, Victor Nunes. Coronelismo: The Municipality and Representative Government in Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Sobrinho, Manoel de Oliveira. Estudos de direito público. 2a. ed. Brasília: Ministério da Justiça, Secretaria Geral, Secretaria de Documentação e Informática, 1977.
Victor Nunes Leal was born in Carangola, Minas Gerais. In 1936, he graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s School of Law. Three years later, he helped draft the Code of Civil Procedure, which regulated the judicial process. In 1948, Leal published Coronelismo, enxada e voto, an influential book that contributed to the study of modern political science in Brazil. After working as Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Leal served as Minister of the Federal Supreme Court from 1960 to 1969. In August 1969, President Costa e Silva grew gravely ill and armed forces, backed by the military elite, seized control of the government and passed Institutional Act No. 12, which established a Military Junta. The same year, Leal was removed from the Federal Supreme Court due to Institutional Act No. 5, which introduced a recess of Congress and other Legislative Assemblies.