Maria dos Prazeres Beleza

Maria dos Prazeres Beleza (born 1956) is a Portuguese judge and professor of law who served as vice-president of the Supreme Court of Justice between 2018 and 2023, the first woman to hold this position.

Early life and education Beleza was born in Coimbra in 1956. Both of her parents were lawyers and her father taught at the University of Coimbra. Her family moved to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, when she was three. She is the sister of Leonor Beleza, president of the Champalimaud Foundation, and Teresa Pizarro Beleza, the first woman to head the Faculty of Law at NOVA University Lisbon.

Beleza studied law at the University of Lisbon from 1973 and, while at university, presented a television programme for children called Janela Grande (Big Window). Her education was disrupted by the Carnation Revolution that overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship in April 1974 and she subsequently retook some of the courses at the Catholic University of Portugal before returning to the University of Lisbon to graduate. In 2021 she was one of three candidates for the position of the president of the court but came second to Henrique Luís de Brito Araújo in the ballot.

Recognition Beleza was made alumnus of the year by the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University in 2015.

Personal life Beleza married at the age of 23. She has five children, none of whom is a lawyer.