Bruno Rodrigues de Lima

Bruno Rodrigues de Lima is a distinguished legal historian currently holding a research position at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt am Main and serving as a visiting professor at FGV Sao Paulo Law School since 2024. His groundbreaking work focuses on recovering the legal contributions of Luiz Gama, a formerly enslaved Brazilian abolitionist who liberated hundreds of enslaved people through innovative legal arguments in 19th century Brazil.

Lima received his Law degree from the State University of Bahia in 2014, practiced law before the Brazilian Supreme Court, earned an LL.M. from the University of Brasilia, and completed his Ph.D. in Legal History summa cum laude from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in 2022. His doctoral research on Luiz Gama's legal knowledge has been recognized with the Walter Kolb Prize, the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society, and the prestigious Jabuti Prize for Book of the Year in law (2024).

His research spans global history, micro-history, legal theory, and the sociology of law, with a particular focus on slavery and freedom in the Age of Revolutions. Lima's multidisciplinary approach combines legal history methods with private law theory to reconstruct how legal knowledge was produced and translated in 19th century Brazil. His work demonstrates how Luiz Gama creatively interpreted legal norms to challenge slavery through the courts, developing what Lima terms 'pragmatic normative literature' that bridged legal theory and practice.

Lima's extensive publication record includes the landmark monograph 'Luiz Gama contra o Império' (2024) and multiple volumes of 'Luiz Gama: Obras completas,' which has brought to light over 1,100 texts, 90% of which were previously unpublished. His work shows a clear trajectory from examining Gama's legal strategies to exploring broader themes of legal translation, normativity production, and the relationship between media technology and law.

• Walter Kolb Prize (2022) - Most prestigious dissertation prize from Goethe University and Frankfurt City Hall
• Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society (2023) - Recognizing outstanding scientific contributions to Brazilian legal history and abolition studies
• Jabuti Prize (2024) - Brazil's most prestigious literary award for 'Book of the Year' in law

Lima has presented his research at leading institutions worldwide including Humboldt University Berlin, UC Berkeley, Stanford Law School, and Princeton University. He has also developed the 'Complete Works of Luiz Gama' project, the 'Complete Works of Tobias Barreto' project, and the 'Files: Media Technology and Law' seminar, establishing himself as a leading voice in reconstructing marginalized legal histories and connecting historical legal thought to contemporary debates.