Nível fluente > Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal 1

Housed in a modernist palace in Brasília, Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal has long been something of a joke. It is the most overburdened court in the world, thanks to a plethora of rights and privileges entrenched in the country's 1988 constitution. These include an almost limitless right to appeal against any court ruling until the case reaches the 11 wise men and women in the Supreme Court. Every justice writes his own opinion in a case and till recently the tribunal's decisions did not bind lower courts. The result was a court that is overstretched to the point of mutiny. The Supreme Court received 100,781 cases last year. Last month one of its members accused the court's president, Gilmar Mendes, of destroying justice, in a televised session (which promptly ended).

Joaquim Barbosa, who made the accusation, seems to have been in tune with public opinion. In a poll conducted by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a research institute, in February 69% of respondents said that judges in Brazil lack impartiality. Justice is also appallingly slow, particularly in São Paulo state, which accounts for some 45% of the cases in the country, according to Maria Thereza Sadek of the University of São Paulo. This encourages time-wasting lawsuits as a ploy to stave off penalties from broken contracts or other infringements. Brazil has more lawsuits per person than any Latin American country except Costa Rica, says Ms Sadek.

Adapted from: Economist.com