Judiciary of Brazil


The Judiciary of Brazil is the group of public entities in which the Brazilian constitutional attribution of jurisdictional function occurs. It consists of five entities, namely: Supreme Federal Court, Superior Court of Justice, federal regional courts and federal judges, military courts and judges, and courts and judges of states, the federal district and territories. The STF as well as the higher courts - as well as the Superior Labor Court, the Superior Electoral Court and the Superior Military Court - are based in Brasilia, the Brazil's capital, and have jurisdiction throughout Brazil. Eleven ministers compose the Supreme Federal Court, whose main competence is to keep the constitution. 33 ministers form at least the STJ.

Overview

The system is divided primarily into ordinary courts and specialized courts.
The specialized courts are federal and are divided into three areas of practice: military courts, labor courts and electoral courts.
The ordinary courts are divided between federal and state judiciaries. The judiciary of the Brazilian Federal District has the same subject-matter jurisdiction as other ordinary state-level judiciaries over its territory, but is kept and organized by the federal government.
Municipalities hold no judicial powers.
The system also includes two special central courts that are separate from the other divisions: The Supreme Federal Court and the Superior Court of Justice. Both have headquarters in Brasília.

Supreme Federal Court

The Supreme Federal Court is the highest Brazilian Judiciary. Its main responsibility is to serve as the ultimate guardian of the Brazilian Constitution, with the roles of a constitutional court.
The most common tool of that Court is the Extraordinary Appeal, granted when judgements of second instance courts violate the Constitution.
The Supreme court also holds the power to analyze the constitutionality of a federal or state law or statute, and thus making it invalid, through the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality.
Other original jurisdiction includes the decision over extradition.
Members are appointed by president and are approved by the federal senate.

National Justice Council

Together with the Supreme Federal Court functions the National Justice Council. Created in 2004 by the 45th Constitutional Amendment, with headquarters in Brasília, and national range actuation, have the objective to exercise administrative control over the Judiciary, planning and coordinating joint actions between the courts. It also has some disciplinary powers over judges, but cannot remove them from office, which can only be performed by their own Courts or by final decision on a judicial procedure.

Superior Court of Justice

The Superior Court of Justice is the highest Brazilian court for non-constitutional issues concerning both states and Federal ordinary courts. It grants a Special Appeal 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. Other roles include deciding most jurisdiction conflicts and granting the exequatur to foreign judicial decisions.

Federal Regional Courts

There are five Federal Regional Courts, each covering several Brazilian states. They are established by articles 107 and 108 of the Constitution. Together with the Federal judges, the Federal Regional Courts make up the, which is part of the Judiciary branch.
Each Federal Regional Court has seven judges of the second instance, named by the President, and holds court around the region of their jurisdiction.

Specialized courts

Military courts

They are the courts-martial of the Brazilian Armed Forces. It is headed by the Superior Military Court. The courts are integrated by both civilian and military members.

Labor courts

They have jurisdiction over labor law issues, including collective. They have no jurisdiction over civil servants, except some at municipal level and employees of government enterprises of a private nature, such as Petrobras and the Correios.
First instance courts in major cities deal with workers' individual complaints, administrative matters concerning labour law and all issues that are not attributed to higher courts.
The second instance courts are the Regional Labor Courts, that deal with appeals. They also have direct jurisdiction over some matters of collective labour 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 issues of labor law.

Electoral courts

The Electoral court system of Brazil was created in 1932, in the intention to moralize the Brazilian electoral system. It was dissolved in 1937 then created again in 1945, and since then has been in continuous operation.
The existence of that court system is predicted in the Constitution, but the structure and roles defined in the Brazilian Electoral Code of 1964. Its typical judicial roles include judging electoral matters, both administrative and criminal, and also issues concerning political rights.
But the peculiarity of that system is 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 controls the system, and has special responsibilities in defining rules and interpretations for the electoral procedure, and also 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 local level there are the electoral judges and electoral councils. The electoral judges are appointed among state judges and, apart from some individual roles, presides the local electoral council, which is composed by other four appointed citizens.
The electoral courts have no magistrate career of its own. All judges are designated to serve for a two year term, and can be from magistrate careers from ordinary courts systems, or, in the case of Regional and Superior courts,

Ordinary courts

State-level judiciary

Trial courts

Each state territory is divided into judicial districts, which are composed of one or more municipalities. Each judicial district has at least one trial court, that function 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 of the criminal cases, except that a jury has jurisdiction over willful crimes against life.

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. 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 with different jurisdiction. But the 45th Constitutional Amendment to the Brazilian Constitution, in its article four, decreed their extinction in order to simplify the second instance structure.
Second instance judgments are usually made 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 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.

Federal courts

The jurisdiction of the federal court system is defined in articles 108 and 109 of the Brazilian Constitution:
As in the states, there are first instance trial courts, located in major cities, with jurisdiction divided in judicial districts.
The second instance courts, Regional Federal Courts, actually number five, and have jurisdiction over circuits of the several states.