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About IRN

Our history

Register procedures in Portugal go back to the 19th century, when in 1801 the kingdom’s cosmographers were awarded the task of organising registries and ownership general ledgers.

Nonetheless, only from 1863 onwards, with the publication of the first Mortgages Act, did land register take effect.

On 22 December 1945, the Directorate-General for Registries and Notary was established by the Ministry of Justice to oversee civil, land, commercial and vehicle property registries and notarial services. Since then, register activities have undergone many changes in order to respond to citizen needs.

IRN, as it exists today, was created in 2007 under indirect State administration, operating under the name of Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado, I.P.

Find out more about our history in this infography