Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

BRAZIL
Republica Federativa do Brasil (Federative Republic of Brazil)
I. COUNTRY PROFILE (Civil Law)
The Federative Republic of Brazil is a federal republic with twenty-six states and a
federal district (Brasilia). The Republic was first established in 1889 and the original
constitution of the Republic – modeled after the U.S. Constitution – was adopted in 1891. New
constitutions were adopted in 1934, 1937, 1946, 1967, and 1988, prompted by regimes ranging
from authoritarian to democratic. The current Federal Constitution, drafted by the National
Constituent Assembly with significant levels of societal participation and adopted on October 5,
1988, is the most democratic constitution in Brazil’s history. It grants significant authority to the
federal legislative bodies to counter the power of the President. The Constitution has been
amended more than twenty-five times since 1988.
The Constitution grants broad powers to the federal government, which is made up of
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It provides for universal suffrage, equal rights of
citizens, and decentralizes power from the federal government to Brazil’s various states and
municipalities. Powers not granted to the federal government or denies to the states are left to
the states.
The executive branch is headed by the President, who holds office for four years with the
right to run for re-election for one additional four-year term. The President functions as both
chief of state and head of government, and appoints a cabinet of ministers to head the respective
ministries.
The legislature consists of a bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional), which is
composed of the Federal Senate (Senado Federal) and the Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos
Deputados). The Federal Senate has eighty-one members. Three members of the majority party
are elected from each state or federal district to serve eight-year terms. Elections are staggered
such that one-third of senators are elected in one four-year period and two-thirds are elected in
the subsequent four-year period. The Chamber of Deputies has 513 members, who are elected
by a proportional system to four-year terms.
The Judiciary is made up of a complex structure of courts of specialized and general
jurisdiction. The Supreme Federal Tribunal, situated in the capital city of Brasilia and consisting
of eleven tenured judges, is the highest federal court in the country and is the court of ultimate
jurisdiction for all constitutional issues rising from both state and federal courts. Regional
federal trial and appeals courts are scattered throughout the country. Although Brazil is a civil
law country, case law plays a very important role, particularly in public law where American
constitutionalism has been influential. The Supreme Federal Tribunal acts as a court of first
instance and may strike laws as unconstitutional. Its Justices are nominated by the President,
must be approved by a majority of the Senate, and may hold office until the age of seventy.
Each of Brazil’s states has its own constitution, governor, state legislature, and
independent judiciary comprised of both superior courts (trial level) and courts of appeal. In
addition to these courts of general jurisdiction, there are specialized state courts with jurisdiction
over cases related to areas such as labor relations, military crimes, and electoral matters. Besides
the Supreme Federal Tribunal (with general jurisdiction over both state and federal issues), the
federal court system adjudicates only those cases where the Federation is named as a party. State
courts have jurisdiction over all other cases.
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