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Brazilian law derives from Portuguese, French, Italian and German Civil law and is based on statutes and, partly and more recently, ''súmula vinculante'' (stare decisis). The Federal Constitution, in force since October 21st, 1988, is the supreme law of the country and is characterized by its rigid written form. The Constitution organizes the country as a Federative Republic, formed by the indissoluble union of the states and municipalities and of the Federal District. The 26 federate states have powers to adopt their own Constitutions and laws. Their autonomy, however, is limited by the principles established in the Federal Constitution. Municipalities also enjoy restricted autonomy as their legislation must follow the dictates of the Constitution of the state to which they belong, and consequently to those of the Federal Constitution itself. As for the Federal District, it blends functions of federate states and of municipalities, and its equivalent to a constitution, named Organic Law, must also obey the terms of the Federal Constitution. The powers of the Union, as defined within the Constitution, are the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary, which are independent and harmonious amongst themselves. The head of the Executive is the President of the Republic, which is both the Chief of State and the Head of Government and is directly elected by the citizens. The Legislative, embedded in the form of National Congress and consists of two houses: The Chamber of Deputies (lower house) and the Federal Senate (upper house), both constituted by representatives who are elected by the citizens. The Judicial powers are vested upon the Federal Supreme Court, the Superior Court of Justice, the Regional Federal Courts and Federal Judges. There are also specialized courts to deal with electoral, labor and military disputes. The Judiciary is organized into federal and state branches. Municipalities do not have their own justice systems, and must, therefore, resort to state or federal justice systems, depending on the nature of the case. The judicial system consists of several courts. The apex is the Federal Supreme Court and is the guardian of the Constitution. Among other duties, it has exclusive jurisdiction to: (i) declare federal or state laws unconstitutional; (ii) order extradition requests from foreign States; and (iii) rule over cases decided in sole instance courts, where the challenged decision may violate the Constitution. The Superior Court of Justice is responsible for upholding federal legislation and treaties. The five Regional Federal Courts, have constitutional jurisdiction on cases involving appeals towards the decision ruled by federal judges, and are also responsible for cases of national interest and crimes foreseen in international pacts, among other duties. The jurisdiction of the Federal Judges include: being responsible for hearing most disputes in which one of the parties is the Union (State); ruling on lawsuits between a foreign State or international organization and a municipality or a person residing in Brazil; and judging cases based on treaties or international agreements of the Union against a foreign State or international body. State-level justice in Brazil consists of state courts and judges. The States of Brazil organize their own judicial systems, with court jurisdiction defined in each state constitution, observing that their legal scope is limited by those that do not concern the federal judicial ordainment. The legislative process begins, in broad terms, with a bill of law in one of the Congress Houses, either the Chamber of Deputies or the Federal Senate, thus called the Originating House. Once the bill is voted, it can either be rejected or forwarded to the other house, which is then called Reviewing House. There the bill can be rejected, approved or amended to be then returned to the Originating House. Depending on the object of the bill, it is forwarded for the presidential sanction or veto, as a whole or in part. If the bill is vetoed, the members of the National Congress of Brazil can override such veto.〔(Legal system of Brazil )〕 == Constitution and law == For centuries, as a Portuguese colony, the Law in Brazil was Law of Portugal. Famous alumni of Brazilian colonial era, among them many revolutionaries, were formed in the important Portuguese University of Coimbra, located in Central Portugal. With the Independence of Brazil and the rise of the Empire, it was necessary to create an independent judiciary and also to train its staff of legal education in the country. In 1827, the first law schools in Brazil, the Academies of Law and Social Sciences in São Paulo and Olinda.〔(History - Law in 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 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Brazil_2014?lang=en )〕 Inferior judges and courts, and the public administration, are hence obliged to obey the interpretations of the Supreme Court. In more recent times, according to the Judiciary Structure framed in the Brazilian Constitution, judicial power is divided between the State judicial branch and the Federal judicial branch, and they have different jurisdictions. The prerogatives and duties of judges are the same, the differences being only in the competences, structure and composition of the Courts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Law of Brazil」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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