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🇧🇷 Brazil /Crime & Justice

Reducing court cases can boost legal security, experts say

From Folha de S.Paulo · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Specialists convened at a Folha seminar to discuss reducing judicialization and its impact on legal security.
  • They argued that minimizing court cases requires changes involving the judiciary, state, companies, and alternative dispute resolution methods.
  • Experts highlighted issues like lengthy processes and unpredictable decisions as key obstacles to efficiency.

Reducing the volume of cases entering the judicial system could enhance legal security, but achieving this requires broad changes across the judiciary, government, and private sector, along with the adoption of alternative conflict resolution methods. This was the consensus among specialists gathered for a Folha seminar.

The seminar, titled "The Judiciary in Debate: Integrity, Efficiency, and Access to Justice," featured discussions on the judiciary's role in the business environment. Sérgio Renault, former secretary of Judicial Reform at the Ministry of Justice, emphasized that modernizing the judicial system is an ongoing process. He pointed to lengthy case processing times and the unpredictability of judicial decisions as major impediments.

We need to reduce the economic utility of delay. When the Judiciary functions poorly, it increases the cost of transactions, disrupts expectations, and allows more sophisticated economic agents to transform procedural time into financial assets.

— Sérgio RenaultExplaining the economic consequences of a slow and inefficient judicial system.

Renault advocated for increased use of conciliation, mediation, and out-of-court settlements, as well as greater reliance on binding precedents to alleviate the burden on courts. "We need to reduce the economic utility of delay," Renault stated, explaining that a poorly functioning judiciary increases transaction costs and allows sophisticated economic actors to exploit procedural time for financial gain.

Jorge Messias, the Attorney General of the Union, acknowledged that the overload of cases stems from multiple causes, including the complexity of tax laws and sector regulations. He stressed that the state must lead by example, citing the AGU's efforts in facilitating 1.7 million agreements for social security disputes and waiving appeals in 3.8 million cases at the Superior Court of Justice. Messias also supported the "de-judicialization" of tax enforcement, urging both the state and private sector to embrace negotiated solutions, referencing past successful agreements related to pension fund reimbursements and environmental damage reparations.

The de-judicialization of life is something that needs to be practiced.

— Jorge MessiasAdvocating for the shift of legal processes away from the courts.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Folha de S.Paulo in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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