Judiciary of Brazil


The Judiciary of Brazil is the system of courts and judicial institutions established by the Constitution of Brazil to carry out judicial functions, ensure the rule of law, and protect constitutional guarantees. It operates under a tripartite division of powers alongside the executive and legislative branches, but maintains institutional independence and oversight. Among its key organs are the Supreme Federal Court, which serves as the ultimate constitutional court; the Superior Court of Justice, which handles non-constitutional federal issues; and specialized courts such as the Superior Labor Court, Superior Electoral Court, and Superior Military Court. Oversight and administration are in part managed by the National Council of Justice, which regulates administrative, financial, and disciplinary matters of the judiciary. The system is divided between common justice for most civil and criminal cases, and specialized justice which deals with specific jurisdictional areas.

Constitutional foundation

The Federal government of Brazil is defined by the 1988 constitution which defines a tripartite separation of powers into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. 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 and specialized justice. Common justice, composed of federal and state justices, 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.
Article 92 of the Constitution divides the judiciary into nine organs:
There is no judicial organization at the municipality level.

National Council of Justice

Created by Constitutional Amendment 45 of 2004, also known as the Judicial Reform amendment, the National Council of Justice 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.
The historical antecedent of the council is the National Council of Magistrature, created in 1975 with correctional powers over members of Brazilian courts, however without truly interfering in the Judiciary's autonomy. Attempts to increase this control recurred during the Constitutional Assembly of 1988, without success, and again in 1992 as part of the greater push for judiciary reform. It finally became law twelve years later.

Federal courts

Supreme Federal Court

The Supreme Federal Court 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 citizens between 35 and 65 years of age, with a spotless reputation and notable juridical knowledge, initially suggested by the President, and after vetting and approval by the Senate, through the Commission of Constitution, Justice and Citizenship and then a vote where they must be approved by an 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 appellate 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 ; constitutional declaration lawsuits ; cases of privileged venue ; lawsuits between a foreign state or international organization and the Brazilian Federal Government, its states, the federal district and territories, or just between the internal federative 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 appellate jurisdiction involves: ordinary appeals of superior court decisions; extraordinary appeals of decisions of appellate courts which violate the constitution, declare unconstitutional a federal law, or involve conflicts between federal law and the laws of states and municipalities.

Federal superior courts

There are four federal superior courts, the Superior Court of Justice, the Superior Electoral Court, the Superior Labor Court, and the Superior Military Court.

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, dealing mainly with matters of Common Justice. Its responsibility is to standardize the interpretation of federal law in the country's territory.
To achieve this purpose, the Court has a available for cases where a judgement rendered by a court of second instance conflicts with a or when two or more second instance courts rule differently on the same federal statute.
The Superior Court of Justice also has a role in the adjudication of common crimes committed by certain officials who are accorded the special status of "privileged forum" defined by the law to apply to state governors, appellate court judges, and some other positions of higher prestige in Brazil's public service, who skip the courts of first instance and 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 appellate courts, a third from state-level appellate courts, and the last third hailing from the Public Ministry.

Superior Electoral Court

The Brazilian Electoral system is controlled by the country's Judiciary, specifically the Regional Electoral Courts, the Superior Electoral Court and electoral judges, notably it does not have its own magistrature, being composed for the most part of magistrates from other Courts and the Judiciary.
The Superior Electoral Court is composed of seven members, three chosen from the ministers of Supreme Federal Court, two chosen from ministers of the Superior Court of Justice and two chosen from lawyers indicated by the Supreme Federal Court and named by the President of Brazil. Its jurisdiction involves the registry of Brazilian Policital Parties, the organization of Electoral Zones, the maintenance of its authority and its appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the Regional Courts.

Superior Labor Court

The National Labor Council, was created in 1923 as a subdivision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, as such, it was originally part of the executive branch rather than the judiciary. In 1946 it was reformed into the Superior Labor Court.
Headquartered in Brasília, the Superior Labor Court is the highest court for the Labor Justice. It 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.

Superior Military Court

The military justice system is divided between the federal military justice and the state military justice, the first is in charge of matters concerning the Brazilian Armed Forces.
The first instance of the federal military justice are the Councils of Justice, formed by a military judge and four officers, whose positions and rank depend on the accused, councils are divided between special councils, with jurisdiction over officers and Permanent Councils, with jurisdiction over those of enlisted rank.
The second instance of the federal military justice is the Superior Military Court, which acts as an appellate court for the Councils of Justice and also for specific appeals from the second instance of the state military justice.

Regional courts and judges

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.
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 recruited from lawyers with at least ten years of experience..
The Regional Court serves mainly as an Appellate 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 ;
  • 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.