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Waiting for the Rule of Law in Brazil: A Meta-legal Analysis of the Insufficient Realization of the Rule of Law in Brazil

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The Legal Doctrines of the Rule of Law and the Legal State (Rechtsstaat)

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 38))

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Abstract

This chapter provides a broad account of the manifold deficiencies in the implementation of the rule of law in Brazil, offering both legal and extra-legal explanations for this. In doing so, it is contended that it is impossible to properly comprehend and appreciate the obstacles facing the realization of the rule of law in Brazil if confined simply to the observation of legal phenomena. Rather, a proper understanding can be achieved if a more ambitious interdisciplinary analysis is undertaken, addressing the legal, institutional, political and cultural issues of Brazilian society.

“Para os amigos tudo, para os indiferentes nada, e para os inimigos a lei!”

(“For my friends, everything; for strangers, nothing; for my enemies – the law!”) – traditional Brazilian saying

I would like to thank Frank Gashumba for his comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.

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Notes

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  2. 2.

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  3. 3.

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    Id.

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  34. 34.

    Keith Rosenn comments: “The Brazilian legal culture is highly legalistic; that is, the society places great emphasis upon seeing that all social relations are regulated by comprehensive legislation. There is a strong feeling that new institutions or practices ought not to be adopted without a prior law authorizing them. As has been said with reference to German legalism, there is a ‘horror of a legal vacuum’. Brazil has reams of laws and decrees regulating with great specificity seemingly every aspect of Brazilian life, as well as some aspects of life not found in Brazil. It often appears that if something is not prohibited by law, it must be obligatory”. Keith S. Rosenn, “The Jeito, Brazil’s Institutional Bypass of the Formal Legal System and Its Developmental Implications”, 19 American Journal of Comparative Law (1971) 528.

  35. 35.

    Rosenn, Keith, O Jeito na Cultura Jurídica Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro/RJ: Renovar, 1998) at 54.

  36. 36.

    The Portuguese law was codified, or rather compiled, first in the Ordenações Afonsinas (1446–1457), revised in 1521 as the Ordenações Manuelinas, and finally in the Ordenações Filipinas (1603), also known as the Código Filipino.

  37. 37.

    Rosenn, supra note 35. At 35–36.

  38. 38.

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  40. 40.

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  41. 41.

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  42. 42.

    Id., at 531.

  43. 43.

    Rodrigues, José Honório, The Brazilians: Their Character and Aspirations (Austin/TX: University of Texas Press, 1967) at 57.

  44. 44.

    Id., at 63.

  45. 45.

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  46. 46.

    See Zimmermann, Augusto, “Constitutions without Constitutionalism: The Failure of Constitutionalism in Brazil” in Mortimer Sellers and Tadeusz Tomaszewski (eds.), The Rule of Law in Comparative Perspective (Springer, 2010), at 101–145; see also Augusto Zimmermann, “Constitutional Rights in Brazil: A Legal Fiction?” 14(2) Murdoch University Law Review (2007) 28–55.

  47. 47.

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  48. 48.

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  49. 49.

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  50. 50.

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  51. 51.

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  52. 52.

    Rodrigues, supra note. At 57.

  53. 53.

    DaMatta, supra note 51. At 319.

  54. 54.

    Miller, Charlotte I., ‘The Function of Middle-Class Extended Family Networks in Brazilian Urban Society’, in M.L. Margolis and W.E. Carter (eds.), Brazil: Anthropological Perspectives: Essays in Honor of Charles Wagley (New York/NY: Columbia University Press, 1979) at 136.

  55. 55.

    Rosenn, supra note 34. At 523.

  56. 56.

    C.R. Boxer, “The Bay of All Saints”, in History of Latin American Civilization – Vol. 2., L. Hanke ed. (1967) at 164.

  57. 57.

    Freire, Gilberto, ‘The Patriarchal Basis of Brazilian Society’. in J. Maier and R. W. Weatherhead (eds.), Politics of Change in Latin America (New York/NY: Praeger, 1964) at 164.

  58. 58.

    Márcio M. Valença, “Patron-Client Relations and Politics in Brazil: An Historical Overview”, Paper presented at the London School of Economics and Political Science, January 2000, at 8, available at: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/geographyAndEnvironment/research/Researchpapers/rp58.pdf

  59. 59.

    Robert M. Levine, Jeitinho Land. Brazzil Magazine, January 1998, available at: http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/8072/75/

  60. 60.

    Chevigny, Paul, Edge of the Knife: Police Violence in the Americas (New York/NY: New Press, 1995) at 151.

  61. 61.

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  62. 62.

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  63. 63.

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  64. 64.

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  65. 65.

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  66. 66.

    Claphan, Christopher; Clientelism and the State, in C. Claphan (ed.), Private Patronage and Public Power (London/UK: Francis Pinter, 1982) at 25.

  67. 67.

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  68. 68.

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  69. 69.

    Prado, Ney, Razões das Virtudes e Vícios da Constituição de 1988 (São Paulo/SP: Inconfidentes, 1994) at 59. For the purposes of this chapter, statism is defined as an ideology which provides a preferential role for the state in society, placing the state as the main agent of social action and transformation.

  70. 70.

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  71. 71.

    Clapham, supra note 65. At 5.

  72. 72.

    Emilio E. Dellasoppa, Corruption in Brazilian Society: An Overview (2001) at 2.

  73. 73.

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  74. 74.

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  75. 75.

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  76. 76.

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  77. 77.

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  78. 78.

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  79. 79.

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  80. 80.

    Prillaman, supra note 47. At. 9.

  81. 81.

    The etymological root of the word corruption comes from the Latin corruptus, which literally means the act of breaking an object. Conceptually, it describes any situation of abuse of power for private gains by means of fraud, bribery, extortion (payment for favourable government decisions) and embezzlement (theft of state funds).

  82. 82.

    Montaner, Carlos Alberto, Culture and the Behaviour of Elites in Latin America, From: L.E. Harrison and S. Huntington (eds.); ‘Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress’ (New York: Basic Books, 2000) at 58.

  83. 83.

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  84. 84.

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  85. 85.

    Id., at 144.

  86. 86.

    Id., at 324.

  87. 87.

    Maria Dundas Graham (Lady Maria Calcott), Journal of a Voyage to Brazil and Residence There. During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823 (1969) at 30.

  88. 88.

    Diffie, Bailey W. and Winius, George D.; Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415–1580 (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1977) at 419.

  89. 89.

    Id.

  90. 90.

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  91. 91.

    Alana Gutierrez, “Bush Should Use Brazil’s Corruption to Show Real Friendship”, Brazzil Magazine, September 14, 2005, available at: http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9399/76/

  92. 92.

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  93. 93.

    According to sociology professor James Petras, “every sector of President Lula’s Workers’ Party [was] implicated in bribery, fraud, vote buying, theft of public funds, failure to report illicit campaign financing, and a host of other felonious behaviour … All of Lula’s closest and most important advisers, congressional leaders and party bosses [were involved in] illegal large-scale transfers of funds into electoral campaigns, private enrichment, and financing full time functionaries” – James Petras, “Lula’s Workers Regime Plummets in Stew of Corruption”, Counterpunch, July 30–31, 2005, available at: http://www.counterpunch.org/petras08012005.html

  94. 94.

    Carvalho, José Murilo de, The Struggle for Democracy in Brazil: Possible Lessons for Nigeria, (Port Harcourt: SEPHIS/University of Port Harcourt, 2000) at 11.

  95. 95.

    Id.

  96. 96.

    Krygier, supra note 21. At 13404.

  97. 97.

    Krygier, supra note 22. At 52.

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  1. School of Law, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia

    Augusto Zimmermann

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  1. Sullivan & Worcester LLP, New York, New York, USA

    James R. Silkenat

  2. Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA

    James E. Hickey Jr.

  3. Asnis and partners, Moscow, Russia

    Peter D. Barenboim

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Zimmermann, A. (2014). Waiting for the Rule of Law in Brazil: A Meta-legal Analysis of the Insufficient Realization of the Rule of Law in Brazil. In: Silkenat, J., Hickey Jr., J., Barenboim, P. (eds) The Legal Doctrines of the Rule of Law and the Legal State (Rechtsstaat). Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05585-5_20

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