Ruth Garcês (1934–2006) was a Portuguese lawyer, magistrate and judge. She was the first female magistrate and the first female judge in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. She founded the Portuguese Association of Women Judges. Born in

Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

in 1934, Garcês (also written as Garcez and Garcêz) graduated in Law from the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

in 1956. After completing her studies, she returned to Mozambique, practicing there for two decades. After the Independence of Mozambique in 1975 she settled permanently in Portugal and, in 1977, began to work as a magistrate after a competitive exam that, prior to the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

in 1974, had only been open to men. In 1993, she was made a judge at the Lisbon Court of Appeal. A

Fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado ...

singer in her spare time, Garcês retired from the judiciary in 2005 after reaching the age limit of seventy. A year before her retirement she had competed for a position on the

Portuguese Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Justice (, , STJ) is the highest court of law in Portugal without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court. The judges of the STJ are referred to as "counselors" (''conselheiros''). Its president is elected ...

(). She attributed her failure to gain a seat to the practice of giving preference to “judges who served political power”. That year, she published the book ''Eu Juiz Me Confesso'', which developed this theme of the relationship between politics and justice. In 2005 she was awarded the

Order of Liberty The Order of Liberty, or the Order of Freedom (), is a Portuguese honorific civil order that distinguishes relevant services to the cause of democracy and freedom, in the defense of the values of civilization and human dignity. The order was cr ...

() by the President of the Republic,

Jorge Sampaio Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he ...

. She died on 10 June 2006 at her home in

Porto de Mós Porto de Mós () is a town and a municipality of Estremadura province in Leiria District. It is in the Centro Region and the Pinhal Litoral subregion. The population in 2011 was 24,342, in an area of 261.83 km2. There were archeologic findings ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garces, Ruth 1934 births 2005 deaths Portuguese women lawyers 20th-century Portuguese judges 20th-century women lawyers People from Leiria District 21st-century Portuguese judges 21st-century women lawyers