Regional Federal Courts

The Regional Federal Courts (in Portuguese, Tribunais Regionais Federais, commonly called TRFs) are the courts of appeal in the Federal Courts of Brazil, the second instance courts of the Brazilian federal justice system, responsible not only for appeals of trial court decisions, but also for writs of security, habeas corpus, and habeas data against acts by federal judges, motions to set aside judgments, criminal revisions, and conflicts of jurisdiction.

Headquarters of the Regional Federal Court for the Third Region, in São Paulo

Article 108 of the Brazilian Constitution defines the jurisdiction of the Federal Regional Courts.

They have a varied composition, but the number of judges is defined by law. One fifth are chosen by lawyers with 10 years experience or more, as well as by members of the Public Prosecutor's Office, also known as the "Federal Public Ministry" (Ministério Público Federal) with ten years experience or more. The rest of the judges are appointed through the promotion of federal judges with over five years experience, by longest service time and by merit, alternately.

In each tribunal is an Regional Office for Internal Affairs of Federal Justice (Corregedoria Regional da Justiça Federal), responsible for corrections, inspections, and investigations at first instance. The internal affairs offices are also in charge of hiring processes, and instruction towards a uniformization of jurisdictional activity and forensic service. They are each run by a regional director, with a possible vice-director.

Federal Justice Regions

The Brazilian Federal Justice system is divided nationally into six geographically defined regions, each served by an appellate court:

New courts

The geographical jurisdictions of the Brazilian Regional Federal Courts:
  Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region
  Regional Federal Court of the 2nd Region
  Regional Federal Court of the 3d Region
  Regional Federal Court of the 4th Region
  Regional Federal Court of the 5th Region
  Regional Federal Court of the 6th Region

The creation of four new courts was approved by Congress by Constitutional Amendment number 73/2013. However, the National Association of Federal Prosecutors proposed a direct action of unconstitutionality against the creation of new courts; The former president of the Supreme Federal Court, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, suspended the constitutional amendment until the fore-mentioned direct action is judged.

The new tribunals, whose installations have been suspended by the Supreme Federal Court, are planned as:

  • TRF for the 6th Region – headquartered in Curitiba: would entail the jurisdictions of the following states: Santa Catarina and Paraná, currently linked to the TRF for the 4th Region, and Mato Grosso do Sul, previously linked to the TRF for the 3rd Region.
  • TRF for the 7th Region - headquartered in Belo Horizonte: would entail the jurisdiction of Minas Gerais, previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region.
  • TRF for the 8th Region - headquartered in Salvador: would entail the jurisdiction of Bahia, previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region, and Sergipe, previously linked to the TRF for the 5th Region.
  • TRF for the 9th Region - headquartered in Manaus: would entail the jurisdictions of the following states: Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia and Roraima, all previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region.

In relation to other courts

The 92 courts of the Brazilian judiciary
[1][2][3] State Federal
Superior
courts
0 Supreme Federal Court
STF
1
Federal superior courts

STJ TSE TST STM

4
Common
justice
Court of Justice
TJ
27 Regional Federal Courts
TRF1 .. TRF6
6
Specialized
justice
State Military
Justice Courts
3 Electoral Justice Courts
TRE
27
TJME Regional Labor Courts
TRT
24
Total
30 62

See also


  1. "O Brasil tem 91 tribunais - Para Entender Direito" [Brazil has 91 courts - Understand the Law]. Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). 20 October 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2015.
  2. DataSelf (8 January 2021). "Conheça as diferenças e funções dos tribunais brasileiros" [Know the differences and functions of the Brazilian courts] (in Portuguese). DataSelf. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  3. Conselho Nacional de Justiça. "Tribunais - Portal CNJ" [Courts - CNJ Portal]. National Council of Justice (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 June 2023.
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