# Law No. 6166 of December 9, 1974

> Brazilian law

**Wikidata**: [Q105659965](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105659965)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/law-no-6166-of-december-9-1974

## Summary

Law No. 6166 of December 9, 1974 is a Brazilian federal statute promulgated by President Ernesto Geisel during the military dictatorship period. The law provides authorization for a donation involving land (terreno) in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, located in the former State of Guanabara. It represents a specific legislative act within Brazil's statutory framework, documented through the official LexML identification system and available through the Brazilian government's legislative portal.

## Key Facts

- **Official Title**: Lei nº 6166, de 9 de dezembro de 1974
- **Legal Citation**: Lei nº 6166/1974
- **Publication Date**: December 9, 1974
- **Promulgating Authority**: Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil under President Ernesto Geisel
- **Legal Classification**: Instance of a "statute" — a formal written document that creates law, encompassing acts, executive orders, and by-laws
- **Geographic Scope**: Applies to jurisdiction of Brazil, with specific focus on Rio de Janeiro (Rj) and the former State of Guanabara (Gb)
- **Substantive Focus**: Authorization (Autorização) for a donation (Doação) involving land (Terreno) in a municipality (Municipio)
- **Place of Publication**: Brasília, Brazil's federal capital since 1960
- **Language**: Brazilian Portuguese
- **LexML Brazil ID**: urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1974-12-09;6166
- **Official URL**: https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/1970-1979/l6166.htm
- **Copyright Status**: As a Brazilian statute, it is in the public domain under the edict of government doctrine, ensuring unrestricted public access
- **Historical Context**: Enacted during Brazil's military dictatorship period (1964-1985), specifically in the second year of Ernesto Geisel's presidency

## FAQs

**What is Law No. 6166 of December 9, 1974?**
Law No. 6166 is a Brazilian federal statute from 1974 that authorizes a specific donation involving land in Rio de Janeiro. It was promulgated by President Ernesto Geisel and published in the official records of Brasília, representing a legislative act dealing with municipal property transactions.

**Who approved this law and when?**
The law was approved by the Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil and promulgated by President Ernesto Geisel on December 9, 1974, during the military government period.

**What does the law authorize?**
Based on its main subjects, the law provides authorization (Autorização) for a gift or donation (Doação) related to land (Terreno) in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, which was then part of the former State of Guanabara (Estado Da Guanabara).

**Where can I access the full text of Law No. 6166?**
The complete text is publicly available at the official URL https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/1970-1979/l6166.htm and is indexed in the LexML Brazil system under the identifier urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1974-12-09;6166.

**What language is the law written in?**
The law is written in Brazilian Portuguese, the official language of Brazil and the mandated language for all federal legislation.

**Why is this law considered a "statute"?**
As a formal written document enacted by the legislative process and promulgated by the executive branch, it qualifies as a statute — the concrete manifestation of statutory law in Brazil's legal system, distinct from regulations or judicial decisions.

## Why It Matters

Law No. 6166 of December 9, 1974 matters as a tangible artifact of Brazil's legislative process during a critical period of military rule. Its existence demonstrates how the authoritarian regime continued to operate through formal legal channels, using statutes to manage administrative matters including property transactions and municipal governance. The law's specific focus on Rio de Janeiro and the former State of Guanabara is historically significant because Guanabara existed as a separate state only from 1960 to 1975 before merging with Rio de Janeiro state, making this legislation part of the final legal acts affecting Guanabara's distinct administrative identity. As a statute, it exemplifies the principle that even during periods of limited democracy, Brazil maintained a system of codified, publicly accessible laws rather than ruling through arbitrary decrees alone. The law's inclusion in the LexML digital preservation system and its availability through the Planalto portal ensures that contemporary researchers, legal professionals, and citizens can access and study the specific mechanisms by which the military government handled municipal land matters. Its public domain status reinforces Brazil's commitment to governmental transparency, allowing unrestricted analysis of historical legislation. For scholars of Brazilian administrative law, this statute provides insight into the intersection of federal authorization procedures and local municipal affairs during the 1970s, particularly regarding property donations which often involved public-private partnerships or transfers between governmental entities.

## Notable For

- **Specific Geographic Focus**: Unique legislative attention to the former State of Guanabara, which ceased to exist as a separate entity just one year later in 1975
- **Military Era Documentation**: Represents a concrete example of statutory law from Brazil's military dictatorship period, preserving the legal formalisms maintained by the regime
- **LexML Indexing**: Early inclusion in Brazil's LexML identification system (urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1974-12-09;6166), demonstrating modern digital preservation of historical legislation
- **Presidential Promulgation**: Directly associated with Ernesto Geisel, the fourth president of the military regime, whose term marked a period of gradual political opening (distensão)
- **Municipal Land Governance**: Addresses the intersection of federal legislative authority and municipal property rights, a recurring theme in Brazilian federalism
- **Public Accessibility**: Available through the official Planalto.gov.br portal, ensuring permanent public access to primary legal sources
- **Precise Dating**: Fixed publication date of December 9, 1974, with Brasília as place of publication, following the capital's establishment in 1960
- **Statutory Classification**: Formal classification as a "statute" places it within the highest tier of legislative instruments, distinct from provisional measures or decrees

## Body

### Basic Identification and Legal Nature

Law No. 6166 of December 9, 1974 is formally titled "Lei nº 6166, de 9 de dezembro de 1974" and carries the legal citation "Lei nº 6166/1974". As an instance of a "statute," it belongs to the category of formal written documents that create law within Brazil's legal system. Statutes represent the foundational tier of legislative instruments, encompassing acts passed by legislatures, executive orders, and by-laws. This particular law functions as a manifestation of statutory law, composed of legal norms and serving as an official record of a legal rule enacted by governmental authority. Its creation followed the standard legislative process, being preceded by draft laws and ultimately caused by the legislative act itself.

### Promulgation and Executive Authority

The law was approved by the Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil, with President Ernesto Geisel serving as the promulgating authority on December 9, 1974. Geisel, who governed from 1974 to 1979, was the fourth president of Brazil's military regime that began in 1964. The promulgation date falls within the early phase of his administration, which was characterized by a policy of "distensão" (gradual political opening). The determination method for this approval was formal promulgation, the constitutional mechanism by which bills passed through the legislative process become binding law. This executive action occurred in Brasília, the federal capital since April 22, 1960, which replaced Rio de Janeiro as the seat of federal government.

### Geographic and Jurisdictional Scope

The law applies to the jurisdiction of Brazil as a whole, as all federal statutes do, but its substantive focus narrows to specific geographic and administrative entities. The main subjects identify Rio de Janeiro (Rj) and the former State of Guanabara (Estado Da Guanabara) as the primary locations concerned. Guanabara State existed as a unique political entity from 1960 to 1975, created from the territory of the former Federal District when the capital moved to Brasília. The law references a municipality (Municipio) within this context, indicating its application to local-level administrative divisions. Brazil's federal structure, comprising 26 states plus one Federal District, meant that Guanabara functioned as an anomaly — a state consisting essentially of a single municipality (Rio de Janeiro) before its eventual merger with Rio de Janeiro state in 1975.

### Substantive Content and Purpose

The law's main subjects reveal its purpose: providing authorization (Autorização) for a donation (Doação) involving land (Terreno). This suggests the law created legal authority for transferring property rights, likely from federal or state control to municipal ownership, or possibly authorizing a private donation for public municipal purposes. The specificity of mentioning both Rio de Janeiro and Guanabara indicates the transaction concerned territory within the state that encompassed the city of Rio de Janeiro. Such property-related authorizations were common mechanisms for municipalities to acquire land for public works, urban development, or administrative facilities during Brazil's rapid urbanization period of the 1970s.

### Publication and Documentation

The law was published in Brasília on December 9, 1974, following standard procedures for federal legislation. Its official language is Brazilian Portuguese, which has been Brazil's official language since independence and is spoken by over 213 million people. The law is assigned the LexML Brazil identifier "urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1974-12-09;6166", placing it within Brazil's URN (Uniform Resource Name) system for legal documents. This identifier follows the LexML standard, which structures legal citations as: jurisdiction (br), type of entity (federal), document type (lei), date (1974-12-09), and number (6166). The document is permanently accessible at the URL https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/1970-1979/l6166.htm, hosted on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.

### Historical and Political Context

The law emerged during Brazil's military dictatorship period (1964-1985), a time when the country was governed by a series of military presidents who ruled through institutional acts that modified the constitutional structure. Ernesto Geisel's presidency (1974-1979) represented a transitional phase toward eventual democratization, though political repression remained significant. The law predates Brazil's current Constitution of 1988, which established the modern democratic framework. During the 1970s, Brazil's economy was experiencing rapid growth under the "Brazilian Miracle" period, though this was accompanied by increasing public debt and social inequality. The country's capital had been relocated from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília fourteen years earlier, but Rio remained Brazil's second-most populous city and a major economic center, necessitating ongoing federal legislative attention to its administrative needs.

### Legal System Integration

As a federal statute, Law No. 6166 forms part of Brazil's hierarchical legal system, where federal laws supersede state and municipal legislation in matters of national scope. The law's focus on authorizing a donation demonstrates the federal government's role in facilitating or approving transactions that affect state and municipal assets. Brazil's legal tradition, derived from Portuguese civil law, emphasizes codified statutes as primary sources of law. This law would have been published in the Diário Oficial da União (Official Federal Gazette) and entered into force according to the date specified in its text. Its inclusion in the LexML system ensures that modern legal research tools can locate and cite it accurately, maintaining continuity in Brazil's legal documentation across different political regimes.

### Access and Preservation

The law benefits from Brazil's policy of keeping official legal documents in the public domain, ensuring that citizens, researchers, and legal practitioners can access primary legal sources without copyright restrictions. The Planalto portal provides stable, long-term access to historical legislation, with this law archived under the 1970-1979 collection. The preservation of such specific statutes enables detailed study of Brazil's administrative history, particularly the legal mechanisms used during the military period to manage governmental property and intergovernmental relations. The law's digital availability through a permanent URL and URN identifier exemplifies modern best practices for legal information management, ensuring that even decades-old legislation remains discoverable and citable in contemporary legal and academic work.

## References

1. [Source](https://www.lexml.gov.br/urn/urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1974-12-09;6166)
2. [Source](https://legislacao.presidencia.gov.br/atos?tipo=LEI&numero=6166&ano=1974&data=09/12/1974&ato=7aeQzZq5kenRVTf98)