The Business Law professor of São Paulo Law School (DIREITO GV), Mariana Pargendler, has just received the prize Hessel Yntema, established in 1991 by the American Society of Comparative Law as a tribute to the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law. The award acknowledges the best article published in the magazine by authors under 40 years old.The award-winning text, Politics in the Origins: The Making of Corporate Law in Nineteenth-Century Brazil, published in July 2012, aims to contribute to the debate on Law and Development about the factors that determine the evolution of legal institutions. The author analyzed the forces that have shaped the development of Brazilian corporate law during the nineteenth century, revealing that political forces, and not the reproduction of foreign models, explain the original formulation of laws of companies in Brazil.Unlike what people think, legal traditions did not exert such relevant influence in 19th century; Brazilian legislators at that time performed varied and selective relocations, taking into consideration the local political context, explains Mariana.To access the complete article, please click here.