# Law No. 888 of October 24, 1949

> Brazilian law

**Wikidata**: [Q105647698](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105647698)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/law-no-888-of-october-24-1949

## Summary
Law No. 888 of October 24, 1949 is a Brazilian federal statute that granted public utility status to the Instituto de Proteção e Assistência à Infância do Pará "Ofir Loiola," a children's protection and assistance organization based in Belém, Pará. Promulgated by the Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil and published in Rio de Janeiro, this law officially recognized the institute's charitable work at the federal level.

## Key Facts
- **Official Title:** Lei nº 888, de 24 de outubro de 1949
- **Legal Citation:** Lei nº 888/1949
- **Date of Promulgation:** October 24, 1949
- **Place of Publication:** Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- **Jurisdiction:** Federative Republic of Brazil
- **Document Type:** Statute (formal written document that creates law)
- **Language:** Brazilian Portuguese
- **Primary Subject:** Instituto de Proteção e Assistência à Infância do Pará "Ofir Loiola"
- **Legal Effect:** Considers the institute to be of public utility (CONSIDERA DE UTILIDADE PUBLICA)
- **Geographic Focus:** Belém, municipality in the state of Pará
- **LexML Brazil Identifier:** urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1949-10-24;888
- **Approving Authority:** Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil
- **Wikimedia Project:** Included in WikiProject Brazilian Laws focus list
- **Main Subjects:** Belém, public utility, nonprofit organization, Pará, municipality

## FAQs
**What is Law No. 888 of October 24, 1949?**
Law No. 888 is a Brazilian federal statute promulgated on October 24, 1949, that officially granted public utility status to the Instituto de Proteção e Assistência à Infância do Pará "Ofir Loiola," recognizing its role in child protection and assistance in the state of Pará.

**What organization did this law benefit?**
The law specifically benefited the Instituto de Proteção e Assistência à Infância do Pará "Ofir Loiola," a charitable institution focused on child welfare, located in Belém, the capital city of Pará state in northern Brazil.

**What does "public utility" status mean in Brazilian law?**
While the source material does not detail specific benefits, Brazilian law typically grants public utility status to private nonprofit organizations that provide significant social services, which can include tax exemptions, eligibility for public funding, and enhanced legal recognition of their charitable activities.

**Where was this law published and how can it be accessed?**
The law was published in Rio de Janeiro and is cataloged in the LexML Brazil system with the unique identifier urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1949-10-24;888, making it accessible through Brazil's official legal documentation portal.

**Is this law part of any special collection or project?**
Yes, Law No. 888 is included in the WikiProject Brazilian Laws, a Wikimedia initiative focused on documenting and organizing information about Brazilian legislation.

**What type of legal document is a statute in Brazil?**
A statute is a formal written document that creates law, encompassing acts passed by legislatures, executive orders, and by-laws. It serves as the concrete manifestation of statutory law and is considered a subclass of written work, document, and rule in legal classification systems.

## Why It Matters
Law No. 888 of October 24, 1949 represents a significant federal recognition of grassroots child welfare efforts in Brazil's northern region during the mid-20th century. By granting public utility status to the Instituto de Proteção e Assistência à Infância do Pará "Ofir Loiola," the law provided official federal validation for a state-level charitable organization, potentially enabling it to receive public funding, tax benefits, and other forms of government support essential for expanding its services to vulnerable children. This statute exemplifies Brazil's approach to social policy that leverages private nonprofit organizations to deliver critical public services, a model that allows the government to extend its social safety net without directly administering every program. The law's inclusion in the WikiProject Brazilian Laws highlights its role in the broader tapestry of Brazilian social legislation, serving as a documented precedent for how the federal government can empower local charitable institutions. As a piece of the statutory framework from the post-World War II era under President Eurico Gaspar Dutra's administration, it reflects the period's emphasis on institutionalizing social welfare mechanisms and creating legal structures to support humanitarian work. The law also demonstrates the importance of the LexML identification system in preserving and organizing Brazil's legislative history, ensuring that even specialized local statutes remain accessible to researchers, legal professionals, and civil society organizations studying the evolution of Brazilian social policy and child protection laws.

## Notable For
- **Specific Local Impact:** Unlike broad national legislation, this law targeted a single charitable institution in Belém, Pará, demonstrating federal recognition of localized social work
- **Public Utility Designation:** Granted formal public utility status, a specific legal classification that distinguishes charitable organizations providing essential social services
- **Named Institution:** Specifically names the "Ofir Loiola" institute, personalizing the legislation around a recognized child welfare entity
- **Northern Brazil Focus:** Addresses social policy in Pará, a state in Brazil's North region that includes part of the Amazon basin
- **LexML Cataloging:** Bears a unique LexML Brazil identifier, making it traceable in Brazil's standardized legal documentation system
- **Wikimedia Documentation:** Included in WikiProject Brazilian Laws, ensuring its preservation in open knowledge platforms
- **Municipal-Level Application:** References both state (Pará) and municipal (Belém) jurisdictions, showing federal law operating at multiple subnational levels
- **Child Protection Precedent:** Represents early legal recognition of specialized child welfare institutions in Brazil's statutory framework
- **Portuguese Language Original:** Documented in Brazilian Portuguese, reflecting the linguistic context of Brazil's legal system
- **Presidential Promulgation:** Approved directly by the Presidency rather than through congressional action, indicating its administrative nature

## Body

### Legal Classification and Structure
Law No. 888 of October 24, 1949 is formally classified as a statute, which is a formal written document that creates law in Brazil. As a statute, it functions as a manifestation of statutory law and is composed of legal norms that apply to specific jurisdictions. The document follows draft laws and is caused by legislation or legal acts, resulting in statutory law that is generally in the public domain under the edict of government doctrine. This classification places the law within a hierarchical framework where it serves as a concrete, enforceable rule rather than an abstract legal principle. The law is written in Brazilian Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, and was published in Rio de Janeiro, which served as Brazil's capital until 1960. Its legal citation "Lei nº 888/1949" follows Brazilian legislative naming conventions that combine law number with year of promulgation.

### Subject Matter and Scope
The law's digest explicitly states its purpose: "CONSIDERA DE UTILIDADE PUBLICA O INSTITUTO DE PROTEÇÃO E ASSISTENCIA A INFANCIA DO PARA 'OFIR LOIOLA'." This declaration focuses exclusively on recognizing a single nonprofit organization dedicated to child protection and assistance. The institute operates in Belém, the capital and largest municipality of Pará state, located in northern Brazil at the mouth of the Amazon River. By granting public utility status, the federal government extended its official endorsement to a state-level institution, creating a bridge between national policy objectives and local implementation. The law's main subjects include the municipality of Belém, the concept of public utility, the category of nonprofit organization, the state of Pará, and the municipal jurisdiction where the institute operates.

### Publication and Identification Systems
The statute carries a LexML Brazil identifier: urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1949-10-24;888. The LexML (Lex Markup Language) system provides a standardized URN (Uniform Resource Name) scheme for identifying Brazilian legal documents, enabling precise retrieval and citation. This identifier breaks down as: urn:lex (LexML namespace), br (Brazil), federal (federal jurisdiction), lei (law/statute), 1949-10-24 (date), and 888 (law number). The law was published on October 24, 1949, in Rio de Janeiro, which was then the federal capital. This publication location is significant as Rio served as the administrative center of Brazil from 1763 until the inauguration of Brasília in 1960, meaning the law was issued from the heart of federal governance during the post-war period.

### Approving Authority and Process
The law was approved by the Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil through the act of promulgation on October 24, 1949. In Brazil's presidential system, the President serves as both head of state and head of government, holding authority to promulgate laws. The determination method specified as "promulgation" indicates this was an executive action that gave legal force to the statute. This approval process reflects the administrative nature of granting public utility status, which typically involves executive recognition rather than full legislative debate. The law applies to the entire jurisdiction of Brazil, though its effects are concentrated in the state of Pará.

### Wikimedia and Knowledge Organization
Law No. 888 appears on the focus list of WikiProject Brazilian Laws, a collaborative effort within the Wikimedia ecosystem to improve coverage and organization of Brazilian legislation. This inclusion ensures the law is documented within open knowledge platforms, making it accessible to researchers, legal scholars, and the public beyond official government archives. The project likely tracks various metadata about the law, including its citation, subject matter, and legal classification, contributing to the broader goal of structuring legal information for public benefit.

### Geographic and Administrative Context
The law connects to multiple geographic and administrative entities. Brazil, as the country, provides the national jurisdiction and legal framework. The state of Pará, identified in the law digest as "Estado Do Para (Pa)," represents one of Brazil's 26 states, located in the North region and incorporating parts of the Amazon rainforest. Belém, identified as "Belem (Pa)" in the source material, is the municipal location where the Ofir Loiola institute operates. This layering of federal, state, and municipal jurisdictions demonstrates how Brazilian law operates across multiple administrative levels, with federal statutes capable of creating effects within specific subnational territories.

### Historical Period and Governance
The law was enacted during Brazil's period as a federal republic under the 1946 Constitution, which followed the Estado Novo dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas. In 1949, Brazil was governed by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra, who served from 1946 to 1951 and oversaw the country's post-war transition to democratic governance. This era was characterized by efforts to institutionalize social welfare programs and expand government recognition of civil society organizations. The law reflects the period's emphasis on formalizing relationships between the state and charitable institutions, creating legal mechanisms to support organizations addressing social needs such as child welfare.

### Language and Documentation Standards
The law is documented in Brazilian Portuguese, which differs from European Portuguese in vocabulary, pronunciation, and some grammatical structures. As a legal document, it employs formal administrative language typical of Brazilian statutes. The law digest uses uppercase letters, a common practice in official Brazilian legal publications for emphasis and clarity. The document's language of work or name is specified as Brazilian Portuguese, aligning with Brazil's official language status established since independence in 1822.

### Related Legal Concepts
As an instance of a statute, Law No. 888 shares characteristics with other formal written documents that create law, including acts, executive orders, and by-laws. It is part of the broader category of statutory law and is composed of legal norms. The statute follows draft laws and is caused by legislation, representing the final form of a legal rule. In library classification systems, statutes are cataloged under Dewey Decimal numbers 342.057 and 348.02, and this particular law would be classified within the Brazilian legal system as a federal statute addressing social assistance and public utility designations.

### Preservation and Access
The law's preservation in the LexML system and its documentation in WikiProject Brazilian Laws ensures long-term accessibility. The LexML identifier allows for permanent linking and retrieval, while the Wikimedia project provides context and connects the law to broader knowledge networks. This dual preservation—both in official government archives and open knowledge platforms—demonstrates modern approaches to legal information management that balance authoritative source maintenance with public accessibility. The law's public domain status, typical for statutes in Brazil, ensures that citizens and organizations can freely access, cite, and reproduce its text without copyright restrictions.

## References

1. [Source](https://www.lexml.gov.br/urn/urn:lex:br:federal:lei:1949-10-24;888)
2. LexML Brasil