Abstract
We investigate judiciary decision-making patterns regarding property rights conflicts between native Brazilians and rural farmers in the Midwest region of Brazil. Our main contribution is the use of the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method for the evaluation of the issue. We use QCA to examine a unique database composed of cases heard by a regional federal court in Brazil between 1999 and 2013. Our empirical analysis is based on the outcomes of the individual judicial procedures along with the specific laws and jurisprudences evoked by the federal judges in making their decisions. We find evidence that a major case settled by the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2009, celebrated as a landmark in national jurisprudence and expected to bring stability to the conflicts, did not have this effect on lower courts’ judgments. In fact, the 2009 decision triggered a proliferation of different interpretations among judges about how to analyze the land conflicts, thus changing the structure of the judges’ decisions. Based on these findings, we can shed new light on the dynamics of judicial decision-making regarding property rights conflicts of indigenous lands in Brazil.
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Note Binscatter plot with a non-parametric estimation using 20 bins and discontinuity point on the year 2009 (STF decision over Raposa Serra do Sol case). The estimation was performed controlling by jurisprudence, plaintiff and defendant variables
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Notes
de Oliveira and Garoupa (2012) note that stare decisis (as well as certiroari) "[responds] to a long debate in the Brazilian legal community on […] the role of the higher courts in establishing case law” (p. 555).
These data are refuted by the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of Mato Grosso do Sul (Famasul 2013). According to a survey conducted by the State Secretary of Justice and Public Security, there were 27 homicides against Indians in 2011, and in 18 cases Indians committed the murders. Moreover, in the 7 cases the authors could not identify, the reasons were interpersonal disputes among Indians themselves. In any case, data confirm the degree of violence in the region. Considering the suicide rate of indigenous people in Mato Grosso do Sul—50% of the national number of suicides in 2011 (CIMI 2011)—the severity of the social scenario is obvious.
Ordinances nos. 788, 789, 790, 791, 792 and 793 from July, 2008.
As a usual rule, native Brazilians as individuals are not allowed to be an active party in litigation since the law does not recognize them as legally capable. The Federal Union or FUNAI is their usual representative. Only under very special circumstances are native Brazilians allowed to represent themselves in a legal suit.
Our sample included six cases in which a judicial decision appeared as the “defendant” party. These were usually situations where plaintiffs appealed against a particular decision, arguing ambiguity or unclearness from the judge. In Brazilian civil procedure, this kind of appeal is called Embargos de Declaração.
Differently from QCA, which is based on deterministic causality, econometric models such as OLS and Bootstrap OLS are based on a probabilistic causality.
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Acknowledgements
We thank, without implicating, Vincy Fon, the editor and reviewers for their valuable comments. Preliminary versions of this article were presented at the 3rd Economic Analysis of Litigation Workshop (France), XVII Annual Conference of the Latin American and Iberian Law and Economics Association (Brazil) and the VIII Research Workshop on Institutions and Organizations (Brazil).
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Case search methodology
1.1 Database and sample
All cases used for the construction of our sample are real litigation cases effectively judged by the Third Regional Federal Court (TRF-3). This is a second-degree, appellate court that deals with the cases in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The judicial cases are available in digital file format on the TRF-3 website, on the “TRF-3 Jurisprudence” page (in the original: “Jurisprudência/Consultar Jurisprudência”). For our search, we used the following keywords “indigenous people” (in the original: “indígenas”), “lands” (in the original: “terras”) and “MS” (the abbreviation for the state of Mato Grosso do Sul). We further eliminated a few cases that referred to conflicts in the state of São Paulo (the second state covered by TRF-3). We concluded the search for all cases judged until July 20th, 2013. A total of 98 cases fulfilled the above requirements, and from this total, we created a sample of 60 cases for the current study.
1.2 Variables
For each case in our sample, we analyzed the following variables:
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Variable 1: Was the court’s decision in favor of the indigenous people? The results are classified as \(x = 1\) (totally favorable); \(x = 2\) (partially favorable); \(x = 3\) (totally favorable to rural producers and/or totally unfavorable to the indigenous people). In legal terms, \(x = 1\) occurs when the decision of an appeal brought by the indigenous people’s representatives (FUNAI, Federal Prosecution Service, the Federal Union, etc.) is “admitted and deferred”, or when one appeal brought to TRF-3 by rural producers or by their representatives is “denied” and/or “not deferred”. Likewise, \(x = 3\) occurs when a lawsuit brought by indigenous representatives is not admitted and/or not deferred, or when an claim brought by the farmers or their representatives is deferred. The variable will be classified as \(x = 2\) if the decision partially defers the interests of indigenous people, and partly the interests of rural producers.
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Variable 2: Did the judge at TRF-3 amended the lower court decision? (\(y = 1\) for “yes” and \({\text{y}} = 2\) for “no”).
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Variable 3: type of parties involved in the litigation, i.e. who is the plaintiff, and who is the defendant in the case (see description on Sect. 3).
We also incorporate some control variables (not all of them used in the final regression models):
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The Judge-Rapporteur of the case;
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Trial date at the TRF-3;
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The Municipality where the conflict occurred;
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Whether the decision by TRF-3 was unanimous or not;
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Juridical citations by the rapporteurs. As is customary in Brazilian courts, the rapporteur formats his/her decision based on legal norms or previous jurisprudence. For this specific case (indigenous peoples’ land conflicts), citations are mostly related to:
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The Statute of the Indigenous People;
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The 1988 Federal Constitution;
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The Decree N. 1775 of 1996;
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The Raposa Serra do Sol case, ruled by the Federal Supreme Court in 2009.
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Appendix 2: Sample analyzed
TRF-3 Case ID | Judge-Rapporteur | Year of TRF-3 decision | Type of plaintiff (principal) | Type of plaintiff (secondary) | Type of defendant (principal) | Type of plaintiff (secondary) | County of origin (of the lawsuit) | Decision | Was the decision unanimous? | Did the decision reform a previous one? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000.03.00.040816-3 | Mauricio Kato | 2002 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2000.60.00.002532-9 | Suzana Camargo | 2006 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2001.03.99.021064-0 | Marcio Mesquita | 2013 | 3 | 6 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
2001.03.99.021064-0 | Leonel Ferreira | 2012 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 2 |
2001.60.00.003866-3 | Nelton Dos Santos | 2012 | 1 | 3 | 3 | N.A. | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
2001.60.02.001314-3 | Marcio Mesquita | 2007 | 3 | 1 | Dourados | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||
2003.03.00.017161-9 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
2003.03.00.017162-0 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
2003.03.00.054549-0 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
2003.03.00.054550-7 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 1 | 3 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2003.03.00.057024-7 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2003.03.00.057027-7 | Erik Gramstrup | 2004 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2003.60.00.005222-0 | Nelton Dos Santos | 2012 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Aquidauana | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
2003.60.00.011984-2 | Ramza Tartuce | 2013 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Aquidauana | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2003.60.02.002540-3 | Vesna Kolmar | 2012 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Dourados | 1 | 1 | ||
2004.03.00.003087-1 | Ana Pezarini | 2005 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Dourados | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
2004.03.00.003118-8 | Antonio Cedenho | 2012 | 3 | 3 | 6 | Dourados | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2004.03.00.003121-8 | Antonio Cedenho | 2012 | 3 | 3 | 6 | Dourados | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2004.03.00.066491-4 | Ramza Tartuce | 2005 | 3 | 1 | Dourados | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2004.60.00.004489-5 | Ramza Tartuce | 2008 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
2004.60.05.001250-6 | Valdeci Dos Santos | 2009 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Navirai | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
2005.03.00.002956-3 | Suzana Camargo | 2005 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
2005.03.00.006042-9 | Suzana Camargo | 2006 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
2005.03.00.031889-5 | Cecilia Mello | 2011 | 3 | 6 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2005.03.00.063274-7 | Suzana Camargo | 2005 | 3 | 1 | Navirai | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
2005.03.00.064533-0 | Henrique Herkenhoff | 2009 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Dourados | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
2005.03.00.075141-4 | Ramza Tartuce | 2009 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
2006.03.00.003784-9 | Antonio Cedenho | 2013 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2006.03.00.089251-8 | Valdeci Dos Santos | 2009 | 3 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2006.03.00.089688-3 | Valdeci Dos Santos | 2009 | 3 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2006.03.00.105849-6 | Valdeci Dos Santos | 2009 | 3 | 3 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2006.03.00.107230-4 | Henrique Herkenhoff | 2008 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
2007.03.00.032225-1 | Henrique Herkenhoff | 2008 | 3 | 1 | Navirai | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
2007.03.00.056925-6 | Márcio Mesquita | 2008 | 3 | 1 | Navirai | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
2007.03.00.095897-2 | Johonsom Di Salvo | 2008 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2007.03.99.046388-0 | Vesna Kolmar | 2009 | 1 | 5 | 3 | Maracaju | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2008.03.00.007690-6 | André Nekatschalow | 2013 | 2 | 3 | Navirai | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
2008.03.00.044546-8 | Antonio Cedenho | 2013 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Campo Grande | 2 | 1 | 1 |
2008.60.00.007863-1 | Henrique Herkenhoff | 2010 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 2 |
2008.60.00.012813-0 | Ricardo China | 2009 | 2 | 3 | N.A. | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
2008.60.05.001990-7 | José Lunardelli | 2013 | 5 | 3 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
2008.60.05.001990-7 | José Lunardelli | 2013 | 5 | 3 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
2008.60.06.001056-1 | Johonsom Di Salvo | 2012 | 5 | 3 | 3 | Navirai | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2009.03.00.003297-0 | Baptista Ferreira | 2009 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Campo Grande | 3 | 2 | 1 |
2009.03.00.003617-2 | José Lunardelli | 2011 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Campo Grande | 3 | 2 | 2 |
2009.60.00.002638-6 | Antonio Cedenho | 2013 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Campo Grande | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
2010.03.00.035201-1 | Desembargador Federal Presidente | 2013 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
2010.60.05.000156-9 | Raquel Perrini | 2012 | 3 | 5 | Ponta Pora | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
2012.03.00.000072-3 | Desembargador Federal Presidente | 2013 | 3 | 6 | 1 | Navirai | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
2012.03.00.002512-4 | Vesna Kolmar | 2013 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Dourados | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
2012.03.00.010076-6 | Paulo Domingues | 2012 | 3 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2012.03.00.010911-3 | Paulo Domingues | 2012 | 3 | 1 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
2013.03.00.003543-2 | André Nekatschalow | 2013 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Ponta Pora | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
90.03.044950-3 | Suzana Camargo | 2002 | 1 | 3 | Porto-Murtinho | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
92.03.038856-7 | Andre Nabarrete | 2002 | 1 | 3 | Porto-Murtinho | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
92.03.039146-0 | David Diniz | 2001 | 1 | 3 | Porto-Murtinho | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
92.03.079229-5 | Andre Nabarrete | 2002 | 1 | 3 | Porto-Murtinho | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
93.03.039001-6 | Theotonio Costa | 1999 | 1 | 3 | N.A. | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
93.03.074503-5 | Luiz Stefanini | 2007 | 3 | 1 | Campo Grande | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
95.03.022717-8 | Marcelo Duarte | 2009 | 1 | 3 | Campo Grande | 2 | 1 | 1 |
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Monteiro, G.F.A., Yeung, L.LT., Caleman, S.M.Q. et al. Indigenous land demarcation conflicts in Brazil: Has the Supreme Court’s decision brought (in)stability?. Eur J Law Econ 48, 267–290 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-019-09628-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-019-09628-3