Judiciary of Brazil: Difference between revisions

The Judiciary of Brazil is the group of public entities designated by the Brazilian constitution to carry out the country's judicial functions.

Brazil's 1988 constitution has adopted a tripartite separation of powers, with a Legislative power, a Executive power, and a Judiciary power. Aside from those, the country also has the Public Ministry which acts autonomously and has in the past been referred to as the country's fourth branch.

In terms of jurisdiction, the main division is between Common Justice (Template:Lang-pt) and Specialized Justice (Template:Lang-pt). Common Justice, composed of Federal and State Justices (and the Federal District's own Justice), handles most civil and criminal cases. Specialized Justice, composed of Electoral, Military and Labor Justices, handles more specialized cases which also have their own specific procedures.

The Constitution divided the Judiciary in nine organizations: the Supreme Federal Court (Template:Lang-pt or "STF"); the National Justice Council (Template:Lang-pt or "CNJ"); the Superior Court of Justice (Template:Lang-pt or "STJ"); the Superior Labour Court (Template:Lang-pt or "TST"); the Regional Federal Courts (Template:Lang-pt or "TRFs") and Federal Judges; the Labor Courts and Judges; the Electoral Courts and Judges, the Military Courts and Judges; and the Courts and Judges of the States, Federal District and Territories. There is no judicial organization on the Municipality level.

Supreme Federal Court

Main article: Supreme Federal Court

Supreme Federal Court of Brazil

The Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) is the highest body of the Brazilian Judiciary. Its main responsibility is to serve as the ultimate guardian of the Brazilian Constitution, with the roles of a constitutional court. It is composed of eleven ministers.

Its ministers are chosen from citizes between 35 and 65 years of age, with a spotless reputation and notable juridical knowledge, initially suggested by the President, with a sabbath through the Comission of Constitution, Justice and Citizenship and then a vote where they must be approved by a Absolute majority of all members of the Brazilian Senate to then be properly named by the President.

The jurisdiction of the Court is defined by the constitution and is divided in two groups: matters of original jurisdiction, and matters of apellate jurisdiction. The difference is whether the lawsuit starts in the Court itself or reaches the court through an appeal.

Matters of original jurisdiction are: Direct Unconstitutionality Lawsuits (Template:Lang-pt); Constitunality Declaration Lawsuits (Template:Lang-pt); cases of Privileged Venue (Template:Lang-pt); lawsuits between a foreign state or international organization and the Brazilain Federal Government, its States, the Federal District and Territories, or just between the internal Federal Units themselves and the Federal Government; Extradition requests; Injunction Mandates against federal entities; and other specific cases related to the Judiciary and the maintenance of the Court's authority.

Its apellate jurisdiction involves: Ordinary Appeals of decisions Superior Courts; Extraordinary Appeals (Template:Lang-pt) of decisions of Apellate Courts which violate the constitution, declare unconstitutional a federal law, or involves conflicts between federal law and the laws of States and Municipalities;

National Justice Council

Main article: National Justice Council

The historical precedent of the council is the National Council of Magistrature (Template:Lang-pt), created in 1975 with correctional powers over members of Brazilain courts, however without truly interfering in the Judiciary's autonomy. Attempts to increase this control resparked during the Constitutional Assembly of 1988, without success, and again in 1992 within the greater push for Judiciary Reform, finally being put into law 12 years later.

Created by Constitutional Amendment nº 45 of 2004, also known as the Judiciary Reform, the National Justice Council (Template:Lang-pt) has the express purpose of controlling the administrative and financial performance of the Judiciary and the fulfillment of the duties of individual judges.

Its constitutional duties are to watch over the Judiciary's autonomy and the maintenance of the Statue of Magistrature, ensure the constitutional principles of legality, impersonality, morality, publicity and efficiency are followed by the public administration, define aspects of the internal administration of the Judiciary, receive complaints against members of the Judiciary and judge disciplinary procedures against them.

Superior Court of Justice

Main article: Superior Court of Justice (Brazil)

The Superior Court of Justice (Template:Lang-pt) is the highest Brazilian court for non-constitutional issues concerning both states and Federal ordinary courts, dealing mainly with matters of Common Justice. Its responsibility is to standardize the interpretation of federal in the country's territory.

To achieve this purpose, the Court has a Special Appeal (Template:Lang-pt) when a judgement rendered by a court of second instance conflicts with a federal statute disposition or when two or more second instance courts rule differently on the same federal statute.

It also serves a function in Brazil's Privileged Venue, as common crimes committed by State Governors, Apellate Court Judges, and some other positions of higher prestige in Brazil's public service are judged exclusively by the Superior Court, which also is responsible for habeas corpus and other appeals filed by these public servants.

It is composed of 33 ministers, chosen by the President of Brazil from three choices named by the Court itself, with prospective ministers also having to do a public Sabbath in the Senate in order to finally be named by the President, ministers must come from a diverse background, with a third from federal apellate courts, a third from state-level apellate courts, and the last third hailing from the Public Ministry.

Superior Labour Court

Main article: Superior Labour Court

The National Council of Work (Template:Lang-pt), was created in 1923 as a subdivision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, as such, it was originally a branch of the Executive Power rather than the Judiciary, it would only be in 1946 that it would be reformed into the Superior Labour Court (Template:Lang-pt).

Headquartered in Brasilia, the Superior Labour Court (Template:Lang-pt) is the highest court for the Labor Justice. Its is composed of 27 ministers, named by the President of Brazil after approval by the Brazilian Senate, a fifth of whom must be lawyers or members of the Public Ministry, with the rest composed of Labor Judges. Its jurisdiction involves appeals from cases already in the Regional Labor Courts and cases regarding its own jurisdiction and the maintenance of its authority.

Regional Federal Courts and Federal Judges

Main article: Regional Federal Courts

There are five Federal Regional Courts (Tribunal Regional Federal - TRF), each covering several Brazilian states. They are established by articles 107 and 108 of the Constitution. Together with the Federal judges (juízes federais), the Federal Regional Courts make up the Federal Courts of Brazil.

Each Federal Regional Court has at least seven judges of the second instance, named by the President, recruited preferably from the region, with at least a fifth of those recrited from lawyers with at least ten years of experience. .

The Regional Court serves mainly as a Apellate Court for cases from the Judges in the region, whose jurisdiction is defined in articles 108 and 109 of the Brazilian Constitution:

• Causes where the federal government, its agencies or enterprises have an interest, with the exception of bankruptcy and industrial injury, which are in states' jurisdiction, and also respecting the specific jurisdiction of the labor and electoral courts, which prevails over federal ordinary courts jurisdiction;
• Causes involving foreign governments or recognized international public organization;
• Political crimes;
• Crimes against the labor organization, including slavery (as decided in 2006 by the STF);
• Crimes committed aboard ships or aircraft;
• Foreigners and nationality rights;
• Indigenous peoples' rights.

As a matter of internal organization, while the Regional Courts involve several States, they are internally divided between the States, with each State having its own Section, headquartered in the Capital, with Subsections defined by law spread over the cities of the State.

Labor Courts and Judges

Labor courts have jurisdiction over labor law issues, including collective. They have no jurisdiction over civil servants, except in specific cases at the municipal level and employees of nationalised companies, such as Petrobras and the Correios. First instance courts (varas do trabalho) in major cities deal with workers' individual complaints, administrative matters concerning labor law, and all issues that are not in the competence of higher courts. The second instance courts are the Regional Labor Courts (Tribunais Regionais do Trabalho) that deal with appeals. They also have direct jurisdiction over some matters of collective labor law, including solution of conflicts between trade unions and employers and the right to strike. The system is headed by the Superior Labor Court, which functions as the highest appeal court for matters of labor law.

Electoral Courts and Judges

The electoral court system of Brazil was created in 1932 with the intention to moralize the Brazilian electoral system. It was dissolved in 1937 then reinstated in 1945 and has been in continuous operation since. The Constitution provides for the existence of the court system. However, its structure and roles are defined in the Brazilian Electoral Code of 1964. Its typical judicial roles include judging electoral matters, both administrative and criminal, and also matters concerning political rights (not "political crimes" or "responsibility crimes"). The peculiarity of this system resides in some extra judiciary roles. It includes organizing, executing and controlling all official political elections, and the proclamation of its result.

The system headed by the Superior Electoral Court, which has special responsibilities in defining rules and interpretations for the electoral procedure and judging appeals from Regional Courts. Its headquarters are located in Brasília. Each state has a Regional Electoral Court, based in the capital city. It has special responsibilities over state level elections. At the local level, there are the electoral judges and electoral councils. The electoral judges are appointed among state judges. Aside from some individual roles, they preside over the local electoral council, which include four other appointed citizens. The electoral courts have no magistrate career of its own. All judges are designated to serve for a two-year term and may come from a magistrate career path or from ordinary courts systems, as in the case of Regional and Superior courts.

Military Courts and Judges

Military courts are the courts-martial of the Brazilian Armed Forces. At their head is the Superior Military Court (Superior Tribunal Militar). These courts integrate both civilian and military members.

Courts and Judges of the States, Federal District and Territories

Pernambuco Court of Justice

Trial courts

Each state territory is divided into judicial districts (comarcas), which are composed of one or more municipalities. Each judicial district has at least one trial court (vara) that functions as a court of first instance for most cases. In large judicial districts with two or more trial courts, there usually are specializations of the courts of first instance in terms of the subject, such as crime and family litigation. Judgments from the trial courts can be the subject of judicial review following appeals to the Courts of Justice.

Each court of first instance has a judge and may have a substitute judge. The judge decides alone in civil cases and most criminal cases, except that a jury has jurisdiction over willful crimes against life (murder or attempted murder, infanticide, abortion and suicide instigation or auxiliation).

Courts of Justice

The highest court of a state judicial system is its court of second instance, the courts of justice. Each Brazilian state has only one court of justice (Tribunal de Justiça in Portuguese). They are courts of appeal, meaning they can review any decisions taken by trial courts, and have the final word on decisions of law at the state level. Some states, such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais, used to have parallel Court of Appeals (Tribunal de Alçada) with different jurisdiction. However, Article 4 of the 45th Constitutional Amendment to the Brazilian Constitution decreed their disbandment in order to simplify the second instance structure.

Second instance judgments are usually rendered by three judges, called desembargadores. Large courts are usually divided into civil chambers, which judge civil cases, and criminal chambers.

Other roles of Courts of Justice include the control over the constitutionality of statutes passed by municipalities and the organization of the notary and civil registration services.

Some states also have separate military courts of justice that deal with military crimes and disciplinary matters of the state military police and Military Firefighters Corps.

See also

• Federal courts of Brazil
• Judiciary of Portugal
• Law of Brazil
• Ministry of Justice (Brazil)

External links

• Supremo Tribunal Federal
• Conselho Nacional de Justiça (in Portuguese)
• Superior Tribunal de Justiça (in Portuguese)