Legal Notice

We would rather you knew exactly what this is before you buy it than find out afterwards. The pleasure of the thing depends on it being honest, so this page sets out plainly what the product is, and just as plainly what it is not.

It is not a title of nobility

Portugal has been a republic since 5 October 1910. The monarchy ended that day, and noble privilege ended with it; the Constitution of 1911 abolished titles of nobility outright, and no Portuguese constitution since has recognized one. There is no register of Portuguese nobility to be entered in, no authority that grants or confirms a title, and no legal effect attached to one.

The Dom or Dona style on your certificate is an honorific and a keepsake. It carries no rank, no precedence, no privilege and no legal standing. It should never be presented to anyone as though it did, and we will not help anyone present it that way.

It is not land, and it is not a deed

The souvenir plot is an honorific dedication. It transfers no ownership and no other legal interest in real property. It is not a sale of land, it is not a deed, and it is not recorded at the Portuguese land registry, the Registo Predial, or with any other authority, municipal or national.

You will not become the owner of any part of Portugal. You acquire no right to enter, use, occupy, build on, sell, lease or leave to anyone any physical ground at Cascais or elsewhere. The map in your pack marks the place the dedication is named for. It does not mark a parcel that belongs to you, because there is no such parcel.

It confers no legal rights at all

Your certificate has no legal force. It is not identification. It grants no citizenship, residency, visa or right of entry, and it is worth saying plainly that nothing on this site assists with Portuguese citizenship or residency in any way. It changes no official record, and it cannot be used to alter your name on a passport, a license, a bank account, a deed or any public register. It is a decorative keepsake, bought for pleasure and given as a gift.

We make no charitable, conservation or funding claim

A purchase here protects nothing, conserves nothing and funds nothing. There is no conservation project attached to it, no restoration scheme, no partner organization and no third party that receives any part of what you pay. Nothing is planted, nothing is preserved and no ground at Cascais is affected in any way by your order.

Where this site describes the Atlantic coast, the light on the water, the ships that left from the Tagus or the stone the navigators planted, that is written as evocation. It is the romance behind the gift and it is not a claim that your money goes anywhere near any of it. If that ever changes we will say so plainly, at the point of sale, and we will name whoever receives the money.

About the name, and who we are not

A padrão is the carved stone pillar a Portuguese crew planted on a coast no one at home had drawn, cut with the arms of Portugal and a name, and left standing to say that someone had been there. Several are still where they were set, five hundred years later. The name is an ordinary Portuguese word and we chose it because it describes what the certificate imitates.

We are an independent gift company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, connected to or acting for the Portuguese state or any part of it, any Portuguese municipality, any museum, any university, any public institute, or any Portuguese company or brand. Where this site names a real place, a real ship or a real person out of history, it does so descriptively.

The lines quoted from Os Lusíadas are quoted because Luís de Camões died in 1580 and the poem has been in the public domain for centuries. Quoting the poet is not a claim to represent anyone who administers his name today.

In short

Buy it for the story, the certificate and the pleasure of the name. Use the style at dinner and enjoy it thoroughly. Just do not mistake it, and do not let anyone else mistake it, for something with legal weight, because it has none. If any of this is unclear, write to hello@casadopadrao.com before you buy rather than after.