Book, Reflected Exposition of Human and Citizen Rights 2/15[LS]

Despite the break of centuries, the French Revolution is still the subject of broad reflections in the most varied fields of human knowledge. And it could not be different. After all, it put an end to monarchical absolutism and introduced profound changes in the relationships maintained between those in power and the human person. The essence of these changes was incorporated into the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789, published at the height of the revolutionary events. This Declaration, which was greatly influenced by the Bill of Rights adopted by the States that would later form the North American Federation, greatly contributed to the dissemination of rights that, until then, were seen as mere concessions from the sovereign. During this period, the contribution of Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, better known as Abbot Sieyès, cleric, political scientist, revolutionary and public figure, was of great importance. In January 1789, he published the famous Qu?est-ce que le Tiers-état?, a pamphlet that established the foundation for the theory of constituent power and gave it well-deserved notoriety. On July 22, 1789, he presented the document entitled Préliminaire de La Constitution before the Constitution Committee. Reconnaissance et Exposition Raisonée des Droits de l?Homme et du Citoyen, now offered to the Portuguese-speaking reader under the title Reflected Exposition on the Rights of Man and the Citizen. This booklet is written beyond its time. It established the essential contours of classical liberalism and also defended the existence of performance duties on the part of the State, a conception that only reached common sense at the dawn of the Welfare State. Sieyès' reflections, condensed in the maxims that form his draft Declaration, stand out for their conciseness of ideas and argumentative density, greatly contributing to the understanding of a topic of indisputable relevance today. The work deserves to be the subject of reading and reflection by anyone and everyone, whether or not they are versed in legal literature. After all, only by knowing the past can we understand the present and idealize the future. As if that were not enough, the introductory study presents an interesting approach to the content and potential of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, ending up facilitating the understanding of institutes that, even today, generate fierce dogmatic debates. Additional reading for the subjects General Theory of Law, Constitutional Law