Leite Monteiro (Councillor José)

Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) José Leite Monteiro was not Madeiran, but he felt for the land where he had spent most of his life the touching and tender devotion that the most loving son can feel for the beauties of his native corner of the earth. All his affections, all his aspirations, all the flights of his intellect were concentrated within the narrow bounds of this small island. A mind of eminent superiority, of the widest learning and one of the most distinguished jurists, with varied and remarkable gifts in many branches of public affairs, he could legitimately have aspired in this country to the most enviable positions in politics, at the bar, in letters and in teaching. His natural modesty, his love of seclusion and study and his innate aversion to showy display, however, firmly turned him away from the brilliant and lofty offices that generally so tempt and attract intellectuals. In another setting and under other circumstances, Councillor Leite Monteiro could easily have attained a prominent position and produced some valuable works, which the Madeiran conditions in which he lived did not allow him to produce.

He was born in the city of Porto on 27 September 1841, the son of Dr Caetano José Gomes Monteiro, who was district judge (juiz de direito) of one of the judicial districts of Funchal, where he died, and of Dona Margarida Fernandes Leite Monteiro.

He enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra) in 1859 and graduated in 1864. In 1863 he published a pamphlet entitled O Ultramontanismo na Instrução Pública em Portugal and, in 1864, the book Estudos de Patologia Social. These writings reveal a remarkable and precocious talent, although the doctrines they defended provoked the harshest criticism. In 1895 he began publishing the work Elementos de Direito Civil Português, of which only the 1st fascicle, of 244 pages, appeared.

Dr José Leite contributed extensively to the Funchal periodical press, notably to A Lâmpada, O Oriente do Funchal (‘The Funchal Orient’), A Imprensa Livre and O Direito. Many of his articles became famous for their originality and beauty of form, for the force of their argument and, perhaps even more, for the ardour and vehemence of their language. Had he worked as a journalist in the capital, it can be said without exaggeration that his name would stand alongside those of the great journalists Sampaio, António Enes, Mariano de Carvalho and Emídio Navarro.

As an advocate he produced most remarkable work, and it is a great pity that it has remained buried on the shelves of lawyers’ offices. As far as we know, only two or three short works on legal subjects were published, besides the work already cited.

The competitive examination he sat, by public trial, for the post of philosophy teacher in the lyceums was a brilliant one. Dr Teófilo Braga, an admirer of Dr Leite Monteiro, travelled from Lisbon to Porto to attend it; one of the other candidates was our distinguished fellow Madeiran Dr Manuel Joaquim Teixeira. He obtained the highest mark and in 1867 was appointed teacher at our lyceum (state secondary school). Despite the brilliant showing he made in that examination and his undeniable competence to hold the chair of philosophy, truth obliges us to say that he lacked the qualities of a true teacher, and that on the whole his pupils gained little from their master’s lessons. Among the public offices he held was that of deputy civil governor; on several occasions he actually exercised this post, to which he was appointed by the decrees of 3 February 1902 and 26 March 1906. He was also a member of the District Council (Conselho de Distrito) and president of the District General Council (Junta Geral) and of the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal. In this last office he showed great interest in the development of the public library. Almost all the foreign works on Madeira held there were acquired during his term of office, and he also sought to create a municipal museum.

He belonged to the former Fusionist Party and took part in the Madeiran political struggles of 1868. Later he rendered notable services to the Regenerator Party, chiefly as editor of Direito. He was a member of the International Law Association of Berlin, and it is to him and to the late Canon Alfredo César de Oliveira that we owe the publication of ‘Flowers of Madeira’ (Flores da Madeira), which brought together many valuable works by Madeiran poets. He died on 10 March 1920.