The binding force of contracts in Brazil: a contemporary vision applied in the light of superior court of law’s justice in view of social principles of contracts

Abstract

This paper seeks to establish a dialogue between the classical contractual principle of pacta sunt servanda and social principles of the modern theory of contracts. Aims to answer to how the contract can bind the parties and to what extent and scope it can be understood as mandatory before a contract principles or social values such as human dignity, the social function of the contract and good faith. As the search criteria, it employed the jurisprudence of the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ), including to demonstrate how the Court responds to this dialogue and if one can extract a uniform line of jurisprudence.