Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization

Bruno Makowiecky Salles; Paulo Márcio Cruz

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization

Bruno Makowiecky Salles, Paulo Márcio Cruz

Published in International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 3, Issue 3)

Received: 5 February 2020 Accepted: 30 April 2020 Published: 4 August 2020

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Abstract

What should be understood, at the same time, by Access to Justice? The present theme in Brazil has been shown to be relevant and pertinent, considering also the normative approaches and guidelines of our Civil Procedural Code that assimilates principles and guidelines, above all for the efficiency of the Judiciary and the need for a good jurisdictional provision. This article therefore addresses the challenge of answering that question by describing the main elements that portray the stage of development of the theme in Legal Science. The analysis of key concepts together with the exposure of the themes in order to clarify to the reader their pertinence in the legal scope is present in this approach. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, we seek to situate Access to Justice in the contemporary scenario and present the approaches commonly attributed to it, providing the methodological and terminological clarifications necessary for an adequate understanding of the theme, with an emphasis on demonstrating that the improvement of Justice needs above all to privilege legal institutions essential to Democracy, using above all the consolidated procedural bases. In this context, perspectives classified as legal-procedural and democratic-institutional are considered, as well as the concepts of access to the judiciary and access to rights, effective access, with visible and accounted results, both included in the universe of access to justice (lato sensu).

Published in	International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 3, Issue 3) This article belongs to the Special Issue Access to Justice, Law and Development
DOI	10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15
Page(s)	106-113
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Access do Justice, Characterization, Legal Concept

References

[1]	For those interested, there are important historical rescues in Parosky (2008) e Carneiro (1999).
[2]	Oliveira, P. M. de. (2010). Concepções sobre acesso à justiça. Revista Dialética de Direito Processual – RDDP, 82, P. 43-53.
[3]	Código de Hamurabi. (2011). Código de Manu (livros oitavo e nono) - Lei das XII tábuas. São Paulo: Edipro. P. 39-40.
[4]	Lima, G. M. (1999). O Direito fundamental à ação: o direito de ação, o acesso à justiça e a inafastabilidade do controle jurisdicional à luz de uma adequada e atualizada teoria constitucional dos direitos fundamentais. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 from http://georgemlima.xpg.uol.com.br/odfa.pdf.
[5]	Retrieved from https://biblehub.com/kjv/deuteronomy/16.htm.
[6]	On the categorization of Access as a human right, see Câmara (2002, p. 3).
[7]	Cichocki Neto, J. (2009). Limitações ao acesso à justiça. Curitiba: Juruá. P. 87-95.
[8]	Miranda, F. C. P. de. (1987). Comentários à constituição de 1967: com a emenda n. 1 de 1969. Tomo V. Rio de Janeiro: Forense. P. 104.
[9]	Pustrono, P. (2009). Accesso alla giustizia e protezione diplomatica. In F. Francioni, M. Gestri, N. Ronzitti, & T. Scovazzi (Eds.), Acesso alla giustizia dell’individuo nel diritto Internazionale e dell’unione europea (pp. 69-78). Milano: Giuffré. P. 69.
[10]	Mullen, T. Access to justice in administrative law and administrative justice. In E. Palmer, T. Conford, A. Guinchard, & Y. Marique (Eds.), Access to justice: beyond the policies and politics of austerity (pp. 60-104). Oxford: Hart Publishing. P. 69.
[11]	Conford, T. (2016). The meaning of access to justice. In E. Palmer, T. Conford, A. Guinchard, & Y. Marique (Eds.), Access to justice: beyond the policies and politics of austerity. Oxford: Hart Publishing. P. 29.
[12]	Principles and rules are both species of the legal norms. The discussions about the elements that set them apart are rich, but they don’t fit in this article. For the purposes of this work, we adopt the current according to which the distinction between norms-rules and norms-principles lies mainly in their degrees of abstraction and generality, with reflexes in the mechanisms of application. While rule norms are often circumscribed in factual assumptions that trigger predetermined legal consequences, principles, understood as the core commandments of the legal system, have open content and are noted for greater flexibility. The logic of application of the rules, because of this structural rigidity, is based on the premise of “all or nothing”: either the rule applies to a particular case or does not apply, because it consecrates definitive and exclusive rights, and does not boast flexible working mechanics. The impact of the principles, on the other hand, admits consideration. Given the open structure, the principles define prima facie rights, prescribing, as commandments of optimization, that these rights be realized to the greatest extent possible within the existing factual and legal possibilities. In case of collision between principles, therefore, weighting is allowed, also marked by numerous parameters that do not fit this topic. On the subject, see Alexy (2008, p. 86) and Dworkin (2011, p. 39-42).
[13]	Osti, A. (2016). Teoria e prassi dell’access to justice: un raffronto tra ordinamento nazionale e ordinamenti esteri. Milano: Giuffrè Editore. P. 11-12.
[14]	Caplen, A. (2016). Access to justice: the view from the law society. In E. Palmer, T. Conford, A. Guinchard, & Y. Marique (Eds.), Access to justice: beyond the policies and politics of austerity (pp. 13-26). Oxford: Hart Publishing. P. 18.
[15]	Abreu, P. M. (2011). Processo e democracia: o processo jurisdicional como um locus da democracia participativa e da cidadania inclusiva no estado democrático de direito. (v. 3). São Paulo: Conceito Editorial.
[16]	Raposo, M. (1984). Nota sumária sobre o art. 20° da Constituição. Revista da Ordem dos Advogados, III (4), 523-543.
[17]	In this regard, it is worth remembering the notable contribution of Konrad Hesse. According to the author, although the Constitution is conditioned by the historical reality (‘being’), it does not only configure the reproduction of this reality that conditions it, but it rather presents a normative force also able to conform and ordain the political and social order (‘must be’), with the weakest part not always being reputed when faced with real factors of power (Hesse, 1991).
[18]	Mendonça, J. J. F. dos S. (2016). Acesso equitativo ao direito e à justiça. São Paulo: Almedina. P. 16.
[19]	Rice, T. H. S., & Reisman, B. L. (2009). Access to justice for tort claims against a sovereign in the courts of the united states of America. In F. Francioni, M. Gestri, N. Ronzitti, & T. Scovazzi (Eds.), Acesso alla giustizia dell’individuo nel diritto Internazionale e dell’unione europea (pp. 257-304). Milano: Giuffré. P. 257.
[20]	Free translation: “Several concepts have close links to the idea of access to judge”.
[21]	Donier, V., Lapérou-Schneider, B., Gerbay, N., Hourquebie, F., & Icard, P. (2003). Propos introductifs. In V. Donier, & B. Lapérou-Schneider, Béatrice (Eds.), L’accès au juge: reserche sur l’effectivité d’un droit (pp. 21-50). Bruxelles: Bruylant. P. 33.
[22]	Johnson Jr., E. (1979). Thinking about access: a preliminary typology of possible strategies. In M. Cappelletti, & B. Garth (Eds.), Access to justice: emerging issues and perspectives (v. 3, p. 7-8), Milano: Giuffrè; Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff & Noordhoff. P. 7-8.
[23]	Dworkin, R. (2007). O Império do direito. São Paulo: Martins Fontes. P. 122.
[24]	Dogmatic analysis traditionally seeks to give evidence to basic concepts built on the logic of legal positivism. Regarding this topic, see Ferrari (2014, p. 775).
[25]	Abreu, P. M. (2008). Acesso à justiça e juizados especiais: o desafio histórico da consolidação de uma justiça cidadã no Brasil. Florianópolis: Conceito Editorial. P. 31.
[26]	Magnon, X. (2016). L’accès a la justice dans la théorie generale du droit. In J. Bétaille (Ed.), Le droit d’accès à la justice em matière d’environnement (pp. 27-48). Toulouse: Pressses de L’université Toulouse. P. 27.
[27]	Cappelletti, M., & Garth, B. (1988). Acesso à justiça. Porto Alegre: Sérgio Antônio Fabris. P. 08.
[28]	Folleville, C. de. (2013). L’accès au droit et à la justice. Paris: ESF Éditeur. P. 21.
[29]	Benjamin, A. H. V. e. (2016). A insurreição da aldeia global contra o processo civil clássico: apontamentos sobre a opressão e a libertação judiciais do meio ambiente e do consumidor. BDJur, p. 6-7. Retrieved on November 15, 2016, from http://bdjur.stj.jus.br//dspace/handle/2011/8688.
[30]	Free translation: “refers only to access to judicial protection, that is, to the composition of disputes through the courts. It fits and operates, in principle, in the universe of the process. In a broader sense, though insufficient, it means access to the protection of rights or interests violated through various legal mechanisms, judicial or otherwise. In either case, instruments of access to justice may be of preventive, repressive or reparative nature”.
[31]	Andriantsimbazovina, J. (2016). L’accès a la justice au sein des droits de l”homme. In J. Bétaille (Ed.), Le droit d’accès à la justice em matière d’environnement. (pp. 49-62). Toulouse: Presses de L’université Toulouse. P. 51.
[32]	Free translation: “first of the procedural rights”.
[33]	Miniussi, D. (2014). Acesso Alla giustizia in matéria ambientale e costo del processo: un difficile equilibrio. DPCE online (S. 1), 18 (2), 1-15.
[34]	Pacini, M. (2008). Il diritto di accesso al giudici (commento a corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo, sez. 5, 27 luglio 2007, ricorso n. 18806/02). Giornale di diritto amministrativo. v. 14, n. 7, pp. 725-731.
[35]	Cançado Trindade, A. A. (2011). The access of individuals to internacional justice. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 71.
[36]	Santos, B. de S. (1999). Pela mão de Alice: o social e o político na pós-modernidade. Porto: Edições Afrontamento. P. 146.
[37]	Lenzerini, F., & Mori, R. (2009). Accesso alla giustizia per i migranti a rischio di violazione dei diritti fondamentali. In F. Francioni, M. Gestri, N. Ronzitti, & T. Scovazzi (Eds.), Acesso alla giustizia dell’individuo nel diritto Internazionale e dell’unione europea (pp. 149-174). Milano: Giuffré. P. 155.
[38]	Free translation: “the enforceability of a law constitutes an unavoidable condition to guarantee its effectiveness. In other words, the right of access to justice (...) is functional to the realization and effective enjoyment of the ‘primary rights’ recognized”.
[39]	Sadek, M. T. (2001). Introdução: experiências de Acesso à Justiça. In M. T. Sadek (Ed.), Acesso à justiça (pp. 7-10). São Paulo: Fundação Konrad Adenauer.
[40]	Free translation: “rights are dead letters in the absence of instances that guarantee their fulfillment. The Judiciary, from this point of view, has a central role. It is up to it to apply the law and, consequently, to guarantee the realization of individual and collective rights. Hence it is legitimate to say that the Judiciary is the main guardian of freedoms and citizenship”.
[41]	Bobbio, N. (1992). A era dos direitos. Rio de Janeiro: Campus.
[42]	Given the complementary nature of fundamental rights, the use of the word dimensions of fundamental rights has prevailed, primarily in relation to the designative generations of fundamental rights, precisely because the terminology generations, according to the doctrine, gives the impression that the series of rights conceived in the subsequent period it succeeds and exceeds the rights previously recognized, concealing the complementarity and coexistence between rights.
[43]	Salles, B. M. (2014). Controle jurisdicional de políticas públicas em matéria de direitos fundamentais (Master’s thesis). University of Vale do Itajaí – UNIVALI, Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil. P. 40-41.
[44]	Woolf, L. (1996). Access to justice: final report. By the right honourable the Lord Woolf, Master of the rolls. London: HMSO. P. 02.
[45]	Sunstein, C. R., & Vermeule, A. (2002). Interpretation and institutions. John M. Olin Program In Law and Economics, 156, 1-55.
[46]	Santos, B. de S., Pedroso, J., Trincão, C., & Dias, J. P. (2002). O acesso ao direito e à justiça: um direito fundamental em questão. Coimbra: Observatório Permanente da Justiça Portuguesa (OJP). P. 11.
[47]	Troisi, C. (2013). Forme e Modelli di ADR. Profili sostanziali. In G. Autorino, D. Noviello, & C. Troisi (Eds.), Mediazione e conciliazione nelle controversie civili e comerciali (2nd ed., pp. 37-78). Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli Editore. P. 75-76.
[48]	Francioni, F. (2009). Il diritto di acesso alla giustizia nel diritto internazionale generale. In F. Francioni, M. Gestri, N. Ronzitti, & T. Scovazzi (Eds.), Acesso alla giustizia dell’individuo nel diritto Internazionale e dell’unione europea (pp. 3-44). Milano: Giuffré.

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles, Paulo Márcio Cruz. (2020). Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. International Journal of Law and Society, 3(3), 106-113. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles; Paulo Márcio Cruz. Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. Int. J. Law Soc. 2020, 3(3), 106-113. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles, Paulo Márcio Cruz. Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. Int J Law Soc. 2020;3(3):106-113. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15,
  author = {Bruno Makowiecky Salles and Paulo Márcio Cruz},
  title = {Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {106-113},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20200303.15},
  abstract = {What should be understood, at the same time, by Access to Justice? The present theme in Brazil has been shown to be relevant and pertinent, considering also the normative approaches and guidelines of our Civil Procedural Code that assimilates principles and guidelines, above all for the efficiency of the Judiciary and the need for a good jurisdictional provision. This article therefore addresses the challenge of answering that question by describing the main elements that portray the stage of development of the theme in Legal Science. The analysis of key concepts together with the exposure of the themes in order to clarify to the reader their pertinence in the legal scope is present in this approach. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, we seek to situate Access to Justice in the contemporary scenario and present the approaches commonly attributed to it, providing the methodological and terminological clarifications necessary for an adequate understanding of the theme, with an emphasis on demonstrating that the improvement of Justice needs above all to privilege legal institutions essential to Democracy, using above all the consolidated procedural bases. In this context, perspectives classified as legal-procedural and democratic-institutional are considered, as well as the concepts of access to the judiciary and access to rights, effective access, with visible and accounted results, both included in the universe of access to justice (lato sensu).},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization
AU  - Bruno Makowiecky Salles
AU  - Paulo Márcio Cruz
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PY  - 2020
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DO  - 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15
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AB  - What should be understood, at the same time, by Access to Justice? The present theme in Brazil has been shown to be relevant and pertinent, considering also the normative approaches and guidelines of our Civil Procedural Code that assimilates principles and guidelines, above all for the efficiency of the Judiciary and the need for a good jurisdictional provision. This article therefore addresses the challenge of answering that question by describing the main elements that portray the stage of development of the theme in Legal Science. The analysis of key concepts together with the exposure of the themes in order to clarify to the reader their pertinence in the legal scope is present in this approach. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, we seek to situate Access to Justice in the contemporary scenario and present the approaches commonly attributed to it, providing the methodological and terminological clarifications necessary for an adequate understanding of the theme, with an emphasis on demonstrating that the improvement of Justice needs above all to privilege legal institutions essential to Democracy, using above all the consolidated procedural bases. In this context, perspectives classified as legal-procedural and democratic-institutional are considered, as well as the concepts of access to the judiciary and access to rights, effective access, with visible and accounted results, both included in the universe of access to justice (lato sensu).
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Bruno Makowiecky Salles

Program in Legal Science (Stricto Sensu) – PPCJ, University of Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI), Itajaí, Brazil
Paulo Márcio Cruz

Program in Legal Science (Stricto Sensu) – PPCJ, University of Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI), Itajaí, Brazil

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles, Paulo Márcio Cruz. (2020). Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. International Journal of Law and Society, 3(3), 106-113. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles; Paulo Márcio Cruz. Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. Int. J. Law Soc. 2020, 3(3), 106-113. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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Bruno Makowiecky Salles, Paulo Márcio Cruz. Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization. Int J Law Soc. 2020;3(3):106-113. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15,
  author = {Bruno Makowiecky Salles and Paulo Márcio Cruz},
  title = {Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {106-113},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20200303.15},
  abstract = {What should be understood, at the same time, by Access to Justice? The present theme in Brazil has been shown to be relevant and pertinent, considering also the normative approaches and guidelines of our Civil Procedural Code that assimilates principles and guidelines, above all for the efficiency of the Judiciary and the need for a good jurisdictional provision. This article therefore addresses the challenge of answering that question by describing the main elements that portray the stage of development of the theme in Legal Science. The analysis of key concepts together with the exposure of the themes in order to clarify to the reader their pertinence in the legal scope is present in this approach. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, we seek to situate Access to Justice in the contemporary scenario and present the approaches commonly attributed to it, providing the methodological and terminological clarifications necessary for an adequate understanding of the theme, with an emphasis on demonstrating that the improvement of Justice needs above all to privilege legal institutions essential to Democracy, using above all the consolidated procedural bases. In this context, perspectives classified as legal-procedural and democratic-institutional are considered, as well as the concepts of access to the judiciary and access to rights, effective access, with visible and accounted results, both included in the universe of access to justice (lato sensu).},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Access to Justice: Legal Concept and Characterization
AU  - Bruno Makowiecky Salles
AU  - Paulo Márcio Cruz
Y1  - 2020/08/04
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15
T2  - International Journal of Law and Society
JF  - International Journal of Law and Society
JO  - International Journal of Law and Society
SP  - 106
EP  - 113
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2640-1908
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20200303.15
AB  - What should be understood, at the same time, by Access to Justice? The present theme in Brazil has been shown to be relevant and pertinent, considering also the normative approaches and guidelines of our Civil Procedural Code that assimilates principles and guidelines, above all for the efficiency of the Judiciary and the need for a good jurisdictional provision. This article therefore addresses the challenge of answering that question by describing the main elements that portray the stage of development of the theme in Legal Science. The analysis of key concepts together with the exposure of the themes in order to clarify to the reader their pertinence in the legal scope is present in this approach. Without pretending to exhaust the subject, we seek to situate Access to Justice in the contemporary scenario and present the approaches commonly attributed to it, providing the methodological and terminological clarifications necessary for an adequate understanding of the theme, with an emphasis on demonstrating that the improvement of Justice needs above all to privilege legal institutions essential to Democracy, using above all the consolidated procedural bases. In this context, perspectives classified as legal-procedural and democratic-institutional are considered, as well as the concepts of access to the judiciary and access to rights, effective access, with visible and accounted results, both included in the universe of access to justice (lato sensu).
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download