page_title: Law of Brazil
section_title: Constitution and law
hierarchical_section_title: Law of Brazil / Constitution and law
caption_attribution_description: English: Palácio da Justiça, Brasília, Brazil. Português: Palácio da Justiça, Brasília, Brasil.
context_page_description: The law of Brazil is based on statutes and, partly and more recently, a mechanism called súmulas vinculantes. It derives mainly from the civil law systems of European countries, particularly Portugal, the Napoleonic Code and the Germanic law.
  There are many codified statutes in force in Brazil. The current Federal Constitution, created on October 5, 1988, 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 Tributary Code, the Consolidation of Labor Laws, the Customer Defense Code, the Civil Procedures Code and the Criminal Procedures Code.
  The Constitution organizes the country as a Federative Republic formed by the indissoluble union of the states and municipalities and of the Federal District. Under the principles established in the Federal Constitution, Brazil's 26 federate states have powers to adopt their own Constitutions and laws.
context_section_description: For centuries, as a Portuguese colony, Law  enforced in Brazil was the Law of Portugal. Famous students of Brazilian colonial era, among them many revolutionaries, graduated from 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 give its staff a legal education in the country. In 1827, the first law schools in Brazil were founded: the Academies of Law and Social Sciences in São Paulo and Olinda.
  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. 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 judicial branch of the states  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.
caption: Palace of Justice in Brasília
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