Brazil · Overview
The legal system of Brazil
A civil-law federation with an extraordinarily detailed constitution, a Supreme Federal Tribunal that acts as both constitutional court and final appellate court, and separate federal branches for labour and electoral matters.
Legal tradition
Brazil belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law federation with an extraordinarily detailed constitution, a Supreme Federal Tribunal that acts as both constitutional court and final appellate court, and separate federal branches for labour and electoral matters.
How power is divided
Presidentialism with a bicameral Congress and an assertive judiciary; the STF hears direct actions of unconstitutionality brought by defined institutional applicants.
Where law comes from
- Federal Constitution
- Supreme; state constitutions must conform.
- Complementary and ordinary laws
- Complementary laws need an absolute majority.
- Codes
- Civil Code 2002, Penal Code, CLT labour code, CPC 2015.
- Provisional measures
- Presidential medidas provisórias needing congressional confirmation.
- Binding precedent
- Súmulas vinculantes of the STF bind all courts and administration.
The legal profession
Law graduates must pass the OAB examination; membership of the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil is mandatory to practise.
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