Constitution of the United States of Brazil (1946)/Title 2

by the Constituent Assembly of Brazil

Article 124

The States shall organize their justice with observance of Articles 95 to 97 and also the following principles:

I.

The judiciary division and organization shall be inalterable during five years from the date of the law establishing them, except for well-grounded proposal put forward by the Tribunal of Justice;

II.

Courts of jurisdiction inferior to the Tribunals of Justice may be created;

III.

Entry into life-tenure magistracy shall be dependent upon competitive examinations, organized by the Tribunal of Justice with collaboration of the Sectional Council of the Order of Attorneys of Brazil, and indication of the candidates shall be made whenever possible in a triplicate list;

IV.

The promotion of judges shall be made from one classification to another by length of service and by merit, alternately, and, in the second case, shall be dependent upon a triplicate list organized by the Tribunal of Justice. An equal proportion shall be observed in accession to this Tribunal, except as provided in Item B on this article. For this purpose, in cases of merit, the triplicate list shall be composed of names selected among judges of any classification. In cases of length of service, which shall be ascertained in the last classification, the Tribunal shall decide first whether the judge with the longest service is to be indicated; and if this one is refused by three-quarters of the judges, the voting shall be repeated with respect to the next in line, and so on successively, until the selection is fixed. Only after two years of effective service in their respective classification may the judge be promoted.

V.

In the composition of any court, a fifth of the places shall be filled by attorneys and members of the public ministry, of renowned merit and spotless reputation, with at least ten years of forensic practice. For each vacancy, the Tribunal shall vote upon a triplicate list, in secret session and with secret ballot. If a member of the Public Ministry is selected, the resulting vacancy shall be filled by an attorney;

VI.

The remuneration of the judges shall be fixed an amount not inferior to that received, in any form, by the secretaries of State; and the other life-tenure judges, with a difference not to exceed thirty percent between one classification and another, and attributing to those of highest classification not less than two-thirds of the renumeration of the chief judges;

VII.

In case of transfer of the seat of the court. the judge is authorized to move to the new seat or to a district or equal classification or to request placement on an available list with full renumeration;

VIII.

Only by proposal of the Tribunal of Justice may the number of its members or of the members of any other court be altered;

IX.

The Tribunal of Justice shall have exclusive power to prosecute and judge inferior judges in ordinary crimes and in those of their responsibility;

X.

A temporary justice of the peace may be instituted, with the judicial attributes of substitution, except for judgement of final or appellate cases, and with powers for the licensing and celebration of marriages and other acts which the law may determine.

XI.

Magistrates may be created with investiture in office limited to a certain time and powers to judge cases of small value. These judges may substitute for life-tenure judges;

XII.

State military justice, organized with observance of the general precepts of federal law (Art. 5, No. 5(f)), shall have as organs of first instance the councils of justice and as organs of second instance a special court or the Tribunal of Justice.