"Formal requirements of appeals to the Supreme and Superior Courts of Brazil: analysis of the relevance requirement of appeal to the Superior Court of Justice".
Appeals to the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil. Formal requirements. Relevance requirement.
This study aims to analyze the formal requirements of appeals to the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil, in order to make predictions about the ‘relevance of the merits’ requirement, which was created by the Constitutional Amendment 125/2022, but has not yet been regulated. In order to do so, the research initially explains the singularities of appeals to the Supreme and Superior Courts of Brazil, focusing on the significant number of cases that these Courts hear each year and the impact this has on their case law and the role they play in the Brazilian legal system. Subsequently, the formal requirements of these appeals are analyzed in a macro perspective to determine what they are and what their purpose is. Then, the study addresses all the existing relevance requirements in place in Brazilian courts, including the Superior Court of Justice, the Superior Labor Court and the Supreme Court. Afterward, the research explains the Superior Court of Justice's ongoing crisis, the measures taken in order to solve it and why no solution has yet been found. Finally, the relevance requirement itself is analyzed, with predictions about how it is to be regulated.