SUMMARY
Reiterated since the 1960s by consecutive yet ideologically different federal administrations, Brazilian resistance to international investor-State dispute resolution has been taken for granted in many arbitral circles, especially due to a perception that the Latin American country has adhered to Calvo and Drago Doctrines. This paper questions those assumptions as it analyzes neglected arbitral awards issued in 1916 and 1918 by famous internationalist Epitácio Pessoa, renowned jurist at the time and President of Brazil from 1919 to 1922, who settled disputes between public entities – the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Federal government, on the one side – and foreign investors, on the other side, on questions derived of tramway and railway concessions. This article unprecedentedly considers the awards as it investigates the legal bases over which Brazil has always had a different instance on arbitration than the other Latin American countries, aiming at contributing to understanding contemporary resistances to investor-State dispute settlement.