Constitution
Who writes the law after it has been written
Reading statutes "in conformity with the Constitution" has become the quietest instrument of constitutional amendment the country knows.
Leonardo Corrêa · 12 min
Ideas that strengthen the rule of law
Lexum promotes the study, dissemination and defense of liberty, the separation of powers and the faithful interpretation of the law and the Constitution.
Institutions matter.
Ideas matter.
Ideas matter.
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What Lexum is
Lexum is a non-profit civil association founded in October 2024 and inspired by the model established by the Federalist Society in the United States. It brings together lawyers, scholars, academics and students around a faithful reading of the text of the law and the Constitution and the defense of individual liberties.
Conservatives, classical liberals, libertarians and anyone who, whatever their ideological line, identifies with the rule of law debate side by side here. Lexum takes an institutional position only on the three fundamental questions that define it, and every member remains free to defend his or her own ideas in his or her own name. The aim is to build an intellectual network reaching every level of the Brazilian legal community.
Why now
A judiciary confined to its proper functions and committed to the separation of powers
is a condition of predictability. Legal uncertainty exacts its price in investment,
planning and long-term growth.
We defend liberty, the separation of powers and the objective application of the law. Lexum works through intellectual production, the training of interpreters and institutional advocacy, resting on three non-negotiable principles.
1
Preservation
The State exists to preserve liberty.
2
Limits
The separation of powers is essential to our Federal Constitution.
3
Objectivity
It is the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it ought to be.
What we do
01
Legal debate
Seminars, conferences, study groups and forums on federalism, constitutional interpretation and the separation of powers.
02
Training
Programs that prepare new generations of lawyers for a technical and objective reading of the legal text.
03
Publications
Studies, research and articles sustaining a legal culture anchored in respect for the text.
04
Advocacy
Institutional work in favor of reforms that strengthen legal certainty and limit judicial activism.
Thematic Groups
Members onlyLexum's intellectual work is organized into five standing groups, reserved for members of the association, where texts and concrete cases are discussed with rigor and continuity.
01
Originalism
Interpretation by the public meaning of the text and the limits of the interpreter.
02
Civil Procedure
Procedural technique, predictability of decisions and effective relief.
03
Legislative Process
How law is made, allocation of powers and the institutional design of Congress.
04
Pontes de Miranda Studies
Systematic reading of the work of Pontes de Miranda and its application today.
05
Business Law
Contracts, corporations and the economic rationality of market rules.
The structural cost of uncertainty
How judicial uncertainty affects Brazil's growth, and how the private sector can lead the building of what comes next.
- Legal uncertainty is not merely a theoretical debate. It is a structural cost.
- It pulls companies away from the business of creating value.
- It bears directly on investment, planning and long-term growth.
Cicero, the eternal sentinel of the Republic
Marcus Tullius Cicero lived through an age of institutional crisis and devoted his life to the defense of the rule of law and of Rome's constitutional order. His legacy reminds us that the State exists to protect liberties and that law is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity. His is the profile Lexum carries in its emblem.
1891 Constitution
Rui Barbosa
An uncompromising defender of civil liberties and of constitutional supremacy, he was central to the shaping of the republican order of 1891.
Codification
Teixeira de Freitas
He argued for a codification able to secure clarity and predictability, the conditions of individual liberty and of a market economy.
Civil Code of 1916
Clóvis Beviláqua
Author of the Civil Code of 1916, he built Brazilian private law around the rationality of rules and the protection of individual rights.
Hermeneutics
Carlos Maximiliano
In Hermenêutica e Aplicação do Direito he set out rigorous methods of interpretation that restrain the subjectivity of the interpreter.
Legal Theory
Pontes de Miranda
He sought to understand law with scientific precision, refusing subjective and volatile readings of the legal text.
Supreme Federal Court
Aliomar Baleeiro
On the Supreme Federal Court he defended objective constitutional interpretation, limits on state power and fiscal balance.
Supreme Federal Court
Moreira Alves
He held that the judiciary's task is to interpret the law, and rejected any undue expansion of the judicial function.
Program · Panels · Speakers
II Fórum Lexum 2026
Liberty, republican democracy and the importance of the legal text as a limit on power.
18 September 2026 · Friday · 8:30 am · Hotel Pestana, São Paulo
8:45
Opening
Helio Beltrão
9:00
Lecture and Panel I
Republican democracy and the importance of the legal text as a limit on power
Humberto Ávila lecture · Leonardo Corrêa, Adriano Soares da Costa and André Marsiglia panelists · Katia Magalhães moderator
11:30
Lecture
The importance of defending economic freedom
Antônio Cabrera and Cristiano Carvalho speakers · Luciana Yeung moderator and speaker
13:00
Lunch
14:15
Lecture
Constitutional adjudication and the separation of powers
Ricardo Alexandre da Silva and Luis Clovis Machado speakers · Saul Ferreira Alves moderator and speaker
15:45
Coffee break
16:45
Panel II
Free speech, republican democracy and the right to criticize institutions
Fernando Schüler, Pedro Moreira and Maristela Basso panelists · Carol Sponza moderator
18:15
Closing
Closing remarks
Leonardo Corrêa, President of Lexum
18:30
Happy hour
Conversation and connections, at the Hotel Pestana
Lexum on YouTube
Debates, lectures and interviews on liberty, the separation of powers and constitutional interpretation. Subscribe to follow along.
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Membership Program
The Lexum Membership Program is for those who wish to contribute actively to the promotion of liberty and to a legal environment anchored in the three principles of the association.
Member benefits
- Quarterly in-person meetings with the leadership of Lexum.
- Access to online academic seminars on relevant legal subjects.
- Access to the five Thematic Groups, reserved for members.
- Special discount for the Lexum Annual Congress.
- A members-only WhatsApp group for networking.
- The opportunity to publish articles in collective works and on the Lexum page.
- Involvement in projects aligned with the founding principles of the association.
Annual dues
General publicR$ 600per year
Master’s and doctoral studentsR$ 300per year
Undergraduate studentsR$ 150per year
Join Lexum
Write to the association and we will reply with the next steps.
I want to joinassociacao@lexum.org.br
Investing in rules means less arbitrary power
Unpredictable judicial decisions are Brazil’s largest invisible tax. Supporting Lexum is a direct investment in lower systemic risk and in the long-term strength of the business environment.
Talk to Lexum