The Constitution of 1988 defines desembargadores as the judges of the Courts of Justice, which are appellate courts of the state court system.
A son of Pedro Mamede Mouzinho de Albuquerque and second wife Maria Micaela Tavares de Mesquita, he was baptized at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, on June 4, 1736, his godfather being Dom Diogo de Noronha, 3rd Marquess of Marialva and 5th Count of Cantanhede by marriage, represented by his son Dom Rodrigo António de Noronha e Meneses and having officiated the Desembargador Rev. Dr. Sebastião Pereira de Castro, and born on that same Parish.