Theoretically, the extent to which the eighteenth-century Portuguese legal system was able to enforce loan contracts should be evident from the duration of the court proceedings and the execution of the collateral that secured the loans. Yet, data from a newly assembled data set that includes the contracts established by the Lisbon Misericórdia—the major lay brotherhood in Portugal and a leading creditor in the city—as well as 990 lawsuits from its private court of law (exclusive jurisdiction) have a different story to tell about the complex mechanisms behind the lending activities of the institution. Notwithstanding the reasonably rapid resolution of its cases and its routinely successful execution of collateral, the Misericórdia’s law court was powerless to solve the problem of default or to safeguard lenders’ property rights. The membership of creditors and debtors in the Misericórdia tended to undermine cooperation rather than enhance it, challenging the assumption that cohesive groups hold high levels of social capital.

中文翻译：

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债务诉讼与18世纪葡萄牙的法院绩效

从理论上讲，从法院诉讼期间和执行担保贷款抵押品的过程中，可以清楚地看出十八世纪葡萄牙法律体系能够执行贷款合同的程度。但是，新汇编的数据集中的数据包括里斯本Misericórdia（葡萄牙的主要非专业兄弟组织和该市的主要债权人）建立的合同以及来自其私法法院的990项诉讼（专属管辖权）讲述机构贷款活动背后的复杂机制的不同故事。尽管梅塞里科迪亚法院以合理迅速的方式解决了案件并成功地成功执行了抵押品，但它无力解决违约问题或维护贷方的财产权。