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Publications
Among the main books published by Professor Judith Martins-Costa are:
Responsabilidade Civil: Estudos e casos
This book emerges from the author's practical and academic experience with the challenges of civil liability. The collected texts explore crucial issues surrounding damage reparation and the pursuit of legal balance in the face of wrongdoing. Blending theory and practice, the work offers profound yet accessible reflections on an institution that remains central to contemporary legal debates, weaving together diverse experiences and approaches to the inter-patrimonial allocation of losses.
Um Novo Código Civil? Análise crítica do Projeto de Lei 4/2025
Co-organized with Rafael Branco Xavier, Fabio Floriano Melo Martins and Mariana Conti Craveiro.
“When it comes to a Civil Code, no precaution is too great.” With this premise, the book brings together critical studies that highlight serious and numerous flaws in PL 4/2025, rendering it, under rigorous technical analysis, positively unviable. Originally published in the IDiP-IEC Bulletin and other specialized outlets, the selected texts are concise and focused on specific aspects of the proposed reform. Gathered under the auspices of the esteemed Editora Processo, they take shape as a direct contribution to the legal community. This is a timely call for reflection, committed to preserving normative quality and reaffirming the jurist’s role in the face of potential legislative transformations.
A Boa-Fé no Direito Privado: Critérios para a sua aplicação
(Saraiva, 2024 - 3ª edição)
Since the last edition in 2018, the principle of good faith has undergone intense testing — social, legislative, and theoretical. The Covid-19 pandemic placed pressure on legal institutions related to contractual obligations, while the Economic Freedom Act (Law No. 13.874/2019) introduced significant changes to the Civil Code, reinforcing a more subjective interpretation of good faith. This third edition emerges from the dialogue between practice and doctrine, shaped by reflections that led the author to revisit and question her own thinking. It is a revised, critical work deeply attuned to contemporary legal challenges.
Augusto Teixeira de Freitas: Humanismo, dogmática e sistema
(Processo, 2024)
Co-organized with Pietro Webber, Márcia Santana Fernandes and Luca Giannotti.
Continuing the project launched with the seminar “Augusto Teixeira de Freitas: Humanism, Society, and System,” this book revisits Teixeira de Freitas’s dogmatic contribution to Brazilian private law. Beyond his celebrated classics — such as "Consolidação das Leis Civis" and "O Esboço" — the studies gathered here examine, institution by institution, the author’s deep and still underexplored influence on the Civil Codes that followed. A critical and timely tribute to the innovative force of one of the most prominent figures in Brazil’s legal culture.
Direito Privado na Lei da Liberdade Econômica: Comentários
(Almedina, 2022)
Co-organized with Guilherme Nitschke
The book offers an in-depth analysis of the enactment of the Economic Freedom Act (Law No. 13.874/2019). Filling the gap left by a strictly technical approach, the authors examine the legislative impacts on core institutions of civil and business law, in light of consolidated judicial practice and the tensions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic — an event that directly challenged the ideology of minimal State intervention. Structured around six major themes, the book explores the principles of the Act, economic freedom rights, legal entities, contract law, corporate law, and investment funds, presenting a critical and timely assessment of the effects of this legislative milestone.
Crise e Perturbações no Cumprimento da Prestação
(Quartier Latin, 2020)
Co-authored with Paula Costa e Silva
Focusing on the post-pandemic contractual landscape, this book examines three emblematic scenarios in which obligations are affected by external events: what could not be performed within the expected timeframe, what can only be performed with excessive effort, and what can no longer be performed at all. From these situations, the study advances toward a rigorous delimitation of the concept of performance and proposes solutions for addressing the transformation of the contractual basis. Prioritizing the substantiality of the change over its unpredictability, the analysis navigates the normative pathways available in both Portuguese and Brazilian legal systems, culminating in a reflection on future alternatives.
Modelos de Direito Privado
(Marcial Pons, 2014)
This work offers a profound reflection on the role of legal doctrine — especially within civil law — in shaping and developing dogmatic models. Preceded by an introductory study on the authority and utility of doctrine, the texts gathered in this volume present new reflections by the co-authors on themes that originally served as the foundation for dissertations and theses, whose published versions were prefaced by Professor Judith Martins-Costa. The book revisits what doctrine once was, questions what it is today, and investigates whether it still fulfills its essential function: to articulate, examine, and renew the legal models that underpin the legal system. It is an invitation to reclaim doctrine as both a jurist’s craft and a living instrument of interpretation.
Estudos de Direito Privado e Processual Civil: Em homenagem a Clóvis do Couto e Silva
Co-organized with Véra Maria Jacob de Fradera
This book pays tribute to Clóvis do Couto e Silva, a jurist in the fullest sense — one who links the cultivation of Law to culture and critical thought. Bringing together texts that reflect the influence of his work across various fields of law, the collection seeks to illuminate striking facets of his intellectual production and the lasting impact he had on colleagues, disciples, and the generations they shaped. More than a synthesis, it is a tribute to the enduring and inspiring force of a living legal legacy.
Código: Dimensão Histórica e Desafio Contemporâneo: Estudos em homenagem ao Professor Paolo Grossi.
(Sérgio Antonio Fabris Editor, 2013)
Co-organized with Laura Beck Varela
This book brings together the contributions presented during the study sessions held in honor of Professor Paolo Grossi in June 2009, on the occasion of his honorary doctorate awarded by the Faculty of Law at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Celebrating Paolo Grossi’s extensive and prolific body of work, as well as the academic ties he maintained for decades with the faculty and students of the Law School, these sessions brought together Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian scholars around one of the central themes for jurists.
Tratado de Direito Privado Tomo I
(Revista dos Tribunais, 2012)
Updated and co-authored with Jorge Cesa Ferreira da Silva and Gustavo Haical
More than half a century after its publication, Volume I of Pontes de Miranda’s Treatise on Private Law reveals a striking relevance. Despite profound transformations in positive law, its intellectual framework remains vigorous and valuable. The update of this volume was guided by the principle of preserving the integrity of Pontes de Miranda’s thought, avoiding doctrinal insertions that might compromise its coherence. Interventions were carefully calibrated, maintaining a clear distinction between the original text and the editors’ contributions, who consistently sought dialogue with authors aligned with the master’s concepts and categories. This work reaffirms Pontes de Miranda’s enduring status as a foundational reference in Brazilian legal thought.
Narração e Normatividade: Ensaios de direito e literatura
(Editora GZ, 2013)
This book explores the relationship between Law and Literature, examining whether literary texts can help us understand legal doctrine as an expression of collective mentality and as a formative element of the Nomos — the normative universe in which we live. Drawing on classical works, the authors seek to uncover what lies behind the major concepts that shape law and doctrine: guilt and family, contract and time, risk and market, debt and credit, property and personality — anchors that ground both literary and legal narratives. For the normative universe is also a narrative one: to regulate is inseparable from narrating. These writings are, to a large extent, the result of reflections developed within the Graduate Program of the Faculty of Law at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
(Gen-Forense, 2009)
Co-organized with Leticia Ludwig
This book addresses urgent dilemmas at the intersection of Bioethics and Law. The studies offer reflections that bridge theory and practice, aiming to support judges, lawyers, and public prosecutors in making decisions that directly affect patients, individuals with disabilities, and children. The essays gathered here propose legally sound and ethically sensitive solutions, contributing to a more conscious and humanized approach within the legal profession.
Comentários ao Novo Código Civil: Do inadimplemento das obrigações. Vol. V. Tomo II
(Forense, 2009 - 2ª edição)
Balancing exegetical rigor with theoretical sensitivity, this work offers commentary on the Law of Obligations that goes beyond the mere reproduction of legal formulas. Without aiming to be a treatise or monograph, the book seeks to serve those who wish to understand legal institutions in their full complexity, avoiding technical simplifications or ready-made models. The author proposes a critical and accessible reading, aimed at shaping legal professionals who think, question, and interpret — rather than simply repeat. Preceded by an introductory study on the Law of Obligations, the book provides commentary on Articles 389 to 420 of the Civil Code, addressing breach of obligations and its consequences.
Balancing exegetical rigor with theoretical sensitivity, this work offers commentary on the Law of Obligations that goes beyond the mere reproduction of legal formulas. Without aspiring to be a treatise or monograph, the book is intended for those who seek to understand legal institutions in their full complexity, without resorting to technical simplifications or ready-made models. The author proposes a critical and accessible reading, aimed at shaping legal professionals who think, question, and interpre t— rather than simply repeat. Preceded by an introductory study on the Law of Obligations, the book provides commentary on Articles 304 to 388 of the Civil Code, concerning the performance and extinction of obligations.
A Reconstrução do Direito Privado
This book proposes an integrated reading of Private Law, beginning with its historical and civilizational roots and advancing toward the methodological foundations of the contemporary legal system. Centered on the human person as the core value of the legal order, the study explores themes such as dignity, family, same-sex unions, child protection, and the impacts of biotechnology.
Diretrizes Teóricas do Novo Código Civil Brasileiro
(Saraiva, 2002)
Co-organized with Gerson Luiz Carlos Branco
This work offers readers an interpretive key to understanding the set of guiding ideas behind the 2002 Civil Code, proposing a refined and up-to-date theoretical reading capable of illuminating the paths of practical application and doctrinal reflection.