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Law of Brazil

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Civil law is a legal system originating in Italy and France that has been adopted in large parts of the world. Modern civil law stems mainly from the Napoleonic Code of the early 19th century, and it is a continuation of ancient Roman law . Its core principles are codified into a referable system, which serves as the primary source of law.

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74-772: Recent elections The law of Brazil is based on statutes and, partly and more recently, a mechanism called súmulas vinculantes . It derives mainly from the European civil law systems, particularly the Portuguese , the Napoleonic French and the German (especially the German Civil Code ). There are many codified statutes in force in Brazil. The current Federal Constitution , created on October 5, 1988,

148-597: A law school . Upon completing their studies, they need to pass an exam held by the Bar Association of Brazil ( Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil in Portuguese). The overall median income of the Brazilian lawyer was R$ 36,120 per year in 2007. The starting median income was R$ 20,040, and the top median was R$ 3,000,000. The Brazilian judge had an overall median income of R$ 170,000. The starting median income

222-405: A statute and a code. The most pronounced features of civil systems are their legal codes , with concise and broadly applicable texts that typically avoid factually specific scenarios. The short articles in a civil law code deal in generalities and stand in contrast with ordinary statutes, which are often very long and very detailed. The civil law system is the most widespread system of law in

296-465: A broad sense as jus commune . It draws heavily from Roman law, arguably the most intricate known legal system before the modern era. In civil law legal systems where codes exist, the primary source of law is the law code , a systematic collection of interrelated articles, arranged by subject matter in some pre-specified order. Codes explain the principles of law, rights and entitlements, and how basic legal mechanisms work. The purpose of codification

370-511: A certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Republic of Brazil . There are 26 states ( estados ) and one federal district ( distrito federal ). The states are generally based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time. The states are divided into municipalities , while

444-585: A civil code whose interpretations rely on both the civil and common law systems. Because Puerto Rico 's Civil Code is based on the Spanish Civil Code of 1889, available jurisprudence has tended to rely on common law innovations due to the code's age and in many cases, obsolete nature. Several Islamic countries have civil law systems that contain elements of Islamic law . As an example, the Egyptian Civil Code of 1810 that developed in

518-601: A given portfolio) and the state attorney-general. The state legislative branch is the legislative assembly, a unicameral body composed of deputies elected by the citizens of the state. The judiciary in each of the states is composed of judges of law, who constitute the courts of first instance , and a Court of Justice , which is the court of second instance of the state and is composed of judges called desembargadores . Judges qualify through exams or are appointed. The states are divided into municipalities , which have different competences and are considered autonomous from

592-579: A mixture of French and German civil law in the 19th century. After the reunification of Poland in 1918, five legal systems (French Napoleonic Code from the Duchy of Warsaw , German BGB from Western Poland, Austrian ABGB from Southern Poland, Russian law from Eastern Poland, and Hungarian law from Spisz and Orawa ) were merged into one. Similarly, Dutch law , while originally codified in the Napoleonic tradition, has been heavily altered under influence from

666-612: A recent constitutional reform (Amendment to the Constitution 45, passed in 2004) has introduced a mechanism similar to the stare decisis , called súmula vinculante. Nevertheless, according to article 103-A of the Brazilian Constitution , only the Supreme Court is allowed to publish binding rules. Inferior judges and courts, and the public administration, are hence obliged to obey the interpretations of

740-729: Is based heavily on the French and Spanish codes, as opposed to English common law . In Louisiana, private law was codified into the Louisiana Civil Code . Current Louisiana law has converged considerably with American law, especially in its public law , judicial system, and adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code (except for Article 2) and certain legal devices of American common law. In fact, any innovation, whether private or public, has been decidedly common law in origin. In theory, codes conceptualized in

814-638: Is considered mainly influenced by the German civil code and partly influenced by the French civil code. The civil code of the Republic of Turkey is a slightly modified version of the Swiss code, adopted in 1926 during Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 's presidency as part of the government's progressive reforms and secularization. Some systems of civil law do not fit neatly into this typology, however. Polish law developed as

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888-447: Is creeping into civil law jurisprudence , and is generally seen in many nations' highest courts. Some authors consider civil law the foundation for socialist law used in communist countries, which in this view would basically be civil law with the addition of Marxist-Leninist ideals. Even if this is so, civil law was generally the legal system in place before the rise of socialist law, and some Eastern European countries reverted to

962-539: Is no statutory requirement that any case be reported or published in a law report , except for the councils of state and constitutional courts. Except for the highest courts, all publication of legal opinions is unofficial or commercial. Civil law systems can be divided into: A prominent example of a civil law code is the Napoleonic Code (1804), named after French emperor Napoleon . The Napoleonic code comprises three components: Another prominent civil code

1036-700: Is often contrasted with the common law system, which originated in medieval England . Whereas the civil law takes the form of legal codes, the common law comes from uncodified case law that arises as a result of judicial decisions, recognising prior court decisions as legally binding precedent . Historically, a civil law is the group of legal ideas and systems ultimately derived from the Corpus Juris Civilis , but heavily overlain by Napoleonic , Germanic , canonical , feudal, and local practices, as well as doctrinal strains such as natural law , codification, and legal positivism . The Napoleonic Code

1110-446: Is one Court of Justice ( Tribunal de Justiça in Portuguese). Courts of Justice are courts of appeal, meaning they can review any decisions taken by the trial courts, and have the final word on decisions at state level, though their decisions may be overturned by the federal courts. Some states, such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais , used to have a Court of Appeals ( Tribunal de Alçada in Portuguese) which had different jurisdiction. But

1184-547: Is short, concise and devoid of explanation or justification, in Germanic Europe , the supreme courts can and do tend to write more verbose opinions, supported by legal reasoning. A line of similar case decisions, while not precedent per se , constitute jurisprudence constante . While civil law jurisdictions place little reliance on court decisions, they tend to generate a phenomenal number of reported legal opinions . However, this tends to be uncontrolled, since there

1258-462: Is the German Civil Code ( Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch or BGB), which went into effect in the German empire in 1900. The German Civil Code is highly influential, inspiring the civil codes in countries such as Japan, South Korea and Switzerland (1907). It is divided into five parts: Civil law takes as its major inspiration classical Roman law ( c . AD 1–250), and in particular Justinian law (6th century AD), and further expanded and developed in

1332-464: Is the comprehensive codification of received Roman law, i.e., its inclusion in civil codes. The earliest codification known is the Code of Hammurabi , written in ancient Babylon during the 18th century BC. However, this, and many of the codes that followed, were mainly lists of civil and criminal wrongs and their punishments. The codification typical of modern civilian systems did not first appear until

1406-444: Is the most widespread system of law in the world, in force in various forms in about 120 countries. Conceptually, civil law proceeds from abstractions, formulates general principles, and distinguishes substantive rules from procedural rules . It holds case law secondary and subordinate to statutory law . Civil law is often paired with the inquisitorial system , but the terms are not synonymous. There are key differences between

1480-883: Is the supreme law of the country. This Constitution has been amended many times. Other important federal law documents in the country include the Civil Code , the Penal Code , the Commercial Code, the National Tax Code, the Consolidation of Labor Laws , the Customer Defense Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Code of Criminal Procedure. Brazil's laws are run by the executive, judiciary and legislative branches. In these branches,

1554-409: Is to provide all citizens with manners and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. Law codes are laws enacted by a legislature , even if they are in general much longer than other laws. Rather than a compendium of statutes or catalog of case law , the code sets out general principles as rules of law. While the typical French-speaking supreme court decision

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1628-556: The Bordeaux trade. Consequently, neither of the two waves of Roman influence completely dominated in Europe. Roman law was ultimately a secondary source that was applied only when local customs and laws were found lacking on a certain subject. However, after a time, even local law came to be interpreted and evaluated primarily on the basis of Roman law, since it was a common European legal tradition of sorts, and thereby in turn influenced

1702-554: The Brazilian Constitution ). The STJ is the Brazilian highest court in non-constitutional issues and grants a Special Appeal ( Recurso Especial in Portuguese) when a judgement of a court of second instance offends a federal statute disposition or when two or more second instance courts make different rulings on the same federal statute. There are parallel courts for labor law , electoral law and military law . The STF grants Extraordinary Appeals ( Recurso Extraordinário in Portuguese) when judgements of second instance courts violate

1776-485: The Federal District assumes the competences of both a state and a municipality. Recent elections The government of each state of Brazil is divided into executive , legislative and judiciary branches. The state executive branch is headed by a state governor and includes a vice governor, both elected by the citizens of the state. The governor appoints several secretaries of state (each one in charge of

1850-564: The Napoleonic Code expressly forbade French judges to pronounce general principles of law. There is no doctrine of stare decisis in the French civil law tradition. There are regular, good quality law reports in France, but it is not a consistent practice in many of the existing civil law jurisdictions. In French-speaking colonial Africa there were no law reports and what little is known of those historical cases comes from publication in journals. Civil law codes must be changed constantly because

1924-473: The Netherlands (1838), Serbia (1844), Italy and Romania (1865), Portugal (1867) and Spain (1888). Germany (1900), and Switzerland (1912) adopted their own codifications. These codifications were in turn imported into colonies at one time or another by most of these countries. The Swiss version was adopted in Brazil (1916) and Turkey (1926). Louisiana is the only U.S. state whose private civil law

1998-734: The President of Brazil is in charge of the executive branch. The judiciary branch is made up of the Superior Court of Justice and the Supreme Federal Court . Brazil's legislative branch encompasses the National Congress of Brazil . Brazilian law is largely derived from Portuguese civil law and is related to the Roman - Germanic legal tradition. This means that the legal system is based on statutes, although

2072-562: The State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and the State of Maranhão and Piauí , which had been split from the State of Maranhão, were reincorporated into the State of Brazil in 1775, under a single governor-general. This centralization later helped to keep Brazil as a unified nation-state, avoiding fragmentation similar to that of the Spanish domains. The captaincies became provinces in 1821, during

2146-531: The Vargas regime detached six strategic territories from the borders of the country to administer them directly: the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (from Pernambuco), Amapá (from Pará), Rio Branco (from Amazonas), Guaporé (from Mato Grosso and Amazonas), Ponta Porã (from Mato Grosso) and Iguaçu (from Paraná and Santa Catarina ). Shortly after the war, the Brazilian constitution of 1946 returned Ponta Porã and Iguaçu to their original states. Guaporé

2220-640: The captaincies established by Portugal following the Treaty of Tordesillas which divided the World between Portugal and Spain. The first administrative divisions of Brazil were the hereditary captaincies ( capitanias hereditárias ), stretches of land granted by the Portuguese Crown to noblemen or merchants with a charter to colonize the land. The first such captaincy was the island of São João , granted in 1504 to Fernão de Loronha . The continental land

2294-752: The legal system of Japan , beginning in the Meiji Era , European legal systems—especially the civil law of Germany and France—were the primary models for emulation. In China, the German Civil Code was introduced in the later years of the Qing dynasty , emulating Japan. In addition, it formed the basis of the law of the Republic of China , which remains in force in Taiwan. Furthermore, Taiwan and Korea, former Japanese colonies, have been strongly influenced by

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2368-644: 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. These Courts are divided into civil chambers, which judge civil cases, and criminal chambers. Judges of the Courts of Justice overview one another. A Court can expel any judge who has displayed unethical behavior. The five regional Federal Courts have jurisdiction over circuits of several states and tend to be headquartered in

2442-567: The Courts. In 2007, there were 1,024 Law school programs in Brazil, with 197,664 law students . Law schools are present in each of the States of Brazil . In 2010, the total of lawyers in Brazil were 621,885. The State of São Paulo had the largest number, 222,807 lawyers, one third of all working lawyers in the country. The State of Rio de Janeiro had 112,515 lawyers, and the State of Minas Gerais had 63,978 lawyers. Students studying law in Brazil take five years to complete their education at

2516-581: The Crown, becoming royal captaincies. The government of the Marquis of Pombal (1750–1777) significantly centralized the administration of the Portuguese colonies. By 1759, all captaincies had been returned to the Crown, with captains becoming appointed rather than recognized by inheritance. Some captaincies were designated as captaincies-general , to which other captaincies were subordinated. In addition,

2590-454: The Dutch native tradition of Roman-Dutch law (still in effect in its former colonies). Scotland 's civil law tradition borrowed heavily from Roman-Dutch law. Swiss law is categorized as Germanistic, but it has been heavily influenced by the Napoleonic tradition, with some indigenous elements added in as well. Quebec law, whose private law is also of French civil origin, has developed along

2664-464: The German civil code, roughly 30% from the French civil code, 8% from Japanese customary law, and 2% from English law . Regarding the latter, the code borrows the doctrine of ultra vires and the precedent of Hadley v Baxendale from English common law system. Some countries where civil law is practiced include: States of Brazil The federative units of Brazil ( Portuguese : unidades federativas do Brasil ) are subnational entities with

2738-655: The Japanese legal system. Civil law is primarily contrasted with the English common law that influenced the legal traditions of the English-speaking countries. The primary contrast between the two systems is the role of written decisions and precedent as a source of law (one of the defining features of common law legal systems). While common law systems place great weight on precedent, civil law judges tend to give less weight to judicial precedent. For example,

2812-568: The Justinian Code. Germanic codes appeared over the 6th and 7th centuries to clearly delineate the law in force for Germanic privileged classes versus their Roman subjects and regulate those laws according to folk-right . Under feudal law, a number of private custumals were compiled, first under the Norman empire ( Très ancien coutumier , 1200–1245), then elsewhere, to record the manorial —and later regional—customs, court decisions, and

2886-534: The Supreme Court. In more recent times, according to the judiciary structure framed in the Brazilian Constitution, judicial power is divided between the judicial branches of the states and the Federal judicial branch, and they have different jurisdictions . The prerogatives and duties of judges are the same, however, and the differences lie only in the competencies, structures and compositions of

2960-483: The United States, U.S. states began codification with New York's 1850 Field Code (laying down civil procedure rules and inspired by European and Louisiana codes). Other examples include California's codes (1872), and the federal revised statutes (1874) and the current United States Code (1926), which are closer to compilations of statute than to systematic expositions of law akin to civil law codes. For

3034-644: The West. It was first received in the Holy Roman Empire partly because it was considered imperial law , and it spread in Europe mainly because its students were the only trained lawyers. It became the basis of Scots law , though partly rivaled by received feudal Norman law . In England, it was taught academically at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge , but underlay only probate and matrimonial law insofar as both were inherited from canon law, and maritime law , adapted from lex mercatoria through

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3108-441: The capital of each state and have jurisdiction only over their State territories. The Federal District only presents the federal-level judicial branch. Each comarca has at least one trial court, a court of first instance . Each court of first instance has a law judge and a substitute judge. The judge decides alone in all civil cases and in most criminal cases. Only intentional crimes against life are judged by jury . The judges of

3182-443: The city of Rio de Janeiro. In 1977, the southern part of Mato Grosso became the state of Mato Grosso do Sul . In 1981, Rondônia became a state. The Brazilian constitution of 1988 created the state of Tocantins from the northern portion of Goiás, established Amapá and Roraima as states, and returned the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha to Pernambuco. The constitution thus ended all remaining territories, although it maintained

3256-592: The civil law system should go beyond the compilation of discrete statutes, and instead state the law in a coherent, and comprehensive piece of legislation, sometimes introducing major reforms or starting anew. In this regard, civil law codes are more similar to the Restatements of the Law , the Uniform Commercial Code (which drew from European inspirations), and the Model Penal Code in the United States. In

3330-467: The codification of Continental European private laws moved forward. Codifications were completed by Denmark (1687), Sweden (1734), Prussia (1794), France (1804), and Austria (1811). The French codes were imported into areas conquered by Napoleon and later adopted with modifications in Poland ( Duchy of Warsaw / Congress Poland ; Kodeks cywilny 1806/1825), Louisiana (1807), Canton of Vaud (Switzerland; 1819),

3404-493: The constitution. The STF is the last instance for the writ of habeas corpus and for reviews of judgments from the STJ. The superior courts do not analyze any factual questions in their judgments , but only the application of the law and the constitution. Facts and evidences are judged by the courts of second instance, except in specific cases such as writs of habeas corpus . Civil law (legal system) The civil law system

3478-420: The courts are nominated after a selection process. There are specialized courts of first instance for family litigation or bankruptcy in some comarcas . Judgments from these district courts can be the subject of judicial review following appeals to the courts of second instance. The highest court of a state judicial system is its court of second instance, the Courts of Justice. In each Brazilian state there

3552-599: The early 19th century—which remains in force in Egypt is the basis for the civil law in many countries of the Arab world where the civil law is used— is based on the Napoleonic Code, but its primary author Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri attempted to integrate principles and features of Islamic law in deference to the unique circumstances of Egyptian society. Japanese Civil Code is considered a mixture drawing roughly 60% from

3626-619: The final years of the Kingdom of Brazil ( united with Portugal ), and maintained that designation after independence in 1822 under the Empire of Brazil . Most internal boundaries were kept unchanged from the end of the colonial period, generally following natural features such as rivers and mountain ridges. Some changes were made to suit domestic politics (transferring the Triângulo Mineiro from Goiás to Minas Gerais , transferring

3700-564: The first governor-general of the vast Portuguese dominion in South America, known as the State of Brazil ( Estado do Brasil ). In 1621, the northern part of the dominion was detached, becoming a separate entity known as the State of Maranhão . However, captaincies continued existing under both states as regional administrations. During the Iberian Union (1580–1640), which allowed Portuguese settlers to enter Spanish domains,

3774-490: The government of the Federal District, which exercises constitutional and legal powers that are equivalent to those of the states , as well as those of the municipalities, thus simultaneously assuming all the obligations arising from them. Fernando de Noronha is not a municipality, but a state district of Pernambuco (the only state district in the country). It is governed by an administrator-general, appointed by

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3848-475: The governor of Pernambuco, and a council whose members are elected by the citizens of the district. All states and the Federal District are represented in the national congress , each with three senators and between eight and 70 deputies , depending on their population. The citizens of all states and the Federal District vote for these national representatives and for president and vice president . The present states of Brazil trace their history directly to

3922-577: The judiciary was not empowered to adjudicate under the established principles of the common law of contracts - they could only apply the code as written. Codification , however, is by no means a defining characteristic of a civil law system. For example, the statutes that govern the civil law systems of Sweden and other Nordic countries and the Roman-Dutch countries are not grouped into larger, expansive codes like those in French and German law. In actual practice, an increasing degree of precedent

3996-616: The land for their realms, as when Charles VII of France in 1454 commissioned an official custumal of Crown law. Two prominent examples include the Coutume de Paris (written 1510; revised 1580), which served as the basis for the Napoleonic Code, and the Sachsenspiegel (c. 1220) of the bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt which was used in northern Germany, Poland, and the Low Countries . The concept of codification

4070-433: The largest city of their territory. The regional courts are: There are two national superior courts making up the Supreme Court, which grant writs of certiorari in civil and criminal cases: the Superior Court of Justice ( Superior Tribunal de Justiça in Portuguese) or STJ and the Supreme Federal Court ( Supremo Tribunal Federal in Portuguese) or STF, the highest Brazilian court (decides issues concerning offences to

4144-401: The late Middle Ages under the influence of canon law . The Justinian Code's doctrines provided a sophisticated model for contracts , rules of procedure, family law , wills, and a strong monarchical constitutional system. Roman law was received differently in different countries. In some it went into force wholesale by legislative act, i.e., it became positive law , whereas in others it

4218-400: The legal principles underpinning them. Custumals were commissioned by lords who presided as lay judges over manorial courts in order to inform themselves about the court process. The use of custumals from influential towns soon became commonplace over large areas. In keeping with this, certain monarchs consolidated their kingdoms by attempting to compile custumals that would serve as the law of

4292-508: The main source of law. Eventually, the work of civilian glossators and commentators led to the development of a common body of law and writing about law, a common legal language, and a common method of teaching and scholarship, all termed the jus commune , or law common to Europe, which consolidated canon law and Roman law, and to some extent, feudal law . An important common characteristic of civil law, aside from its origins in Roman law,

4366-407: The notion of a nation-state implied recorded law that would be applicable to that state. There was also a reaction to law codification. The proponents of codification regarded it as conducive to certainty, unity and systematic recording of the law; whereas its opponents claimed that codification would result in the ossification of the law. In the end, despite whatever resistance to codification,

4440-557: The original one of 1865, introducing German elements as a result of its World War II Axis alliance. This approach has been imitated by other countries, including Portugal (1966), the Netherlands (1992), Brazil (2002) and Argentina (2014). Most of them have innovations introduced by the Italian legislation, including the unification of the civil and commercial codes . Germanistic to Napoleonic influence : The Swiss civil code

4514-460: The possibility of creating others in the future. On 11 December 2011, a consultative referendum was held in the state of Pará about creating two new states from parts of it ( Tapajós and Carajás , with the rest of the state remaining as Pará). Both proposals were rejected by about 66% of statewide voters, but reflecting a strong geographic split with over 90% approval by voters in the proposed breakaway regions and over 90% disapproval by those in

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4588-683: The pre-socialist civil law following the fall of socialism, while others continued using a socialist legal systems. The term civil law comes from English legal scholarship and is used in English-speaking countries to lump together all legal systems of the jus commune tradition. However, legal comparativists and economists promoting the legal origins theory prefer to subdivide civil law jurisdictions into distinct groups: However, some of these legal systems are often and more correctly said to be of hybrid nature: Napoleonic to Germanistic influence : The Italian civil code of 1942 replaced

4662-538: The precedent of courts is not binding and because courts lack authority to act if there is no statute. In some civil law jurisdictions the judiciary does not have the authority to invalidate legislative provisions . For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union , the Armenian Parliament , with substantial support from USAID , adopted new legal codes. Some of the codes introduced problems which

4736-539: The same lines, adapting in the same way as Louisiana to the public law and judicial system of Canadian common law . By contrast, Quebec private law has innovated mainly from civil sources. To a lesser extent, other states formerly part of the Spanish Empire, such as Texas and California, have also retained aspects of Spanish civil law into their legal system, for example community property . The legal system of Puerto Rico exhibits similarities to that of Louisiana:

4810-474: The south bank of the São Francisco River from Pernambuco to Minas Gerais and later to Bahia , separating the capital city of Rio de Janeiro as a Neutral Municipality outside any province, splitting Amazonas from Pará , and splitting Paraná from São Paulo ), as well as international border adjustments resulting from diplomatic settlement of territorial disputes. The Cisplatine Province

4884-426: The states. Municipalities have a mayor, vice mayor and a chamber of aldermen, all elected by the citizens of the municipality, but do not have a separate judiciary. The Federal District has the same executive, legislative and judiciary organization as a state, but it cannot be divided into municipalities, which is why its territory is composed of several administrative regions . These regions are directly managed by

4958-417: The territory of Portuguese colonial domains in South America was more than doubled, with both states of Brazil and Maranhão greatly expanding westward. After the union ended, Portugal asserted its territorial claims, which Spain eventually accepted with the Treaty of Madrid in 1750. Several captaincies were created or merged during this period, in both the original and western domains, and some were returned to

5032-504: The world, in force in various forms in about 150 countries. Civil law is sometimes referred to as neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law or Continental law. The expression "civil law" is a translation of Latin jus civile , or "citizens' law", which was the late imperial term for its legal system, as opposed to the laws governing conquered peoples ( jus gentium ); hence, the Justinian Code's title Corpus Juris Civilis . Civil law practitioners, however, traditionally refer to their system in

5106-522: Was R$ 150,500, and the top median was R$ 310,500. The Brazilian prosecutors had an overall median income of R$ 150,000. The starting median income was R$ 140,000, and the top median was R$ 270,000 per year. Nowadays, Brazilian judges and prosecutors, in almost all states, earn the same, and, in some states, prosecutors have a higher income. Each state territory is divided into judicial districts named comarcas , which are composed of one or more municipalities . The 27 Courts of Justice have their headquarters in

5180-496: Was annexed into Brazil in 1821, declared independence as Uruguay in 1825, and was recognized by the Treaty of Montevideo in 1828. When Brazil became a republic in 1889, all provinces became states, and the Neutral Municipality became the Federal District. In 1903, Brazil acquired the territory of Acre from Bolivia with the Treaty of Petrópolis . In 1942–1943, with the entrance of Brazil into World War II ,

5254-408: Was diffused into society by increasingly influential legal experts and scholars. Roman law continued without interruption in the Eastern Roman Empire until its final fall in the 15th century. However, given the empire's influence on the continent in Late Antiquity and then multiple incursions and occupations by Western European powers in the late medieval period, its laws became widely implemented in

5328-412: Was divided into captaincies in 1534, generally following lines of latitude, although some followed meridians or diagonal lines. Each of the holders of these captaincies was referred to as a captain donatary ( capitão donatário ). The captaincies were to be inherited by the holders' descendants, but the Crown retained the power to reacquire them. In 1549, the Portuguese Crown appointed Tomé de Sousa as

5402-478: Was further developed during the 17th and 18th centuries AD, as an expression of both natural law and the ideas of the Enlightenment . The political ideals of that era was expressed by the concepts of democracy , protection of property and the rule of law . Those ideals required certainty of law; recorded, uniform law. So, the mix of Roman law and customary and local law gave way to law codification. Also,

5476-461: Was renamed Rondônia in 1956, and Rio Branco was renamed Roraima in 1962, while remaining territories along with Amapá and Fernando de Noronha. Acre became a state in 1962. In 1960, the rectangular-shaped Distrito Federal was carved out of Goiás to contain the new capital, Brasília . The previous federal district became the state of Guanabara , but in 1975 it was reincorporated into its original state of Rio de Janeiro , becoming its capital as

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