Judicial Organisation

Recommended Prerequisites

Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure and Administrative Procedure 

Teaching Methods

Lectures on the subject matters of the syllabus will be accompanied, wherever possible, by «PowerPoint» slideshows. Practical exercises will be performed in the tutorials.

Learning Outcomes

The course aims to provide students with an overview about the specific structure of judicial power and the action carried out by organs whose power is constitutionally and legally acknowledged.

Fundamentally, students are expected to: 1) know which categories or rank of state courts exist in Portugal, what are the courts belonging to each of them (when there’s not only one), the way they are organized and work as well as their competence, and 2) determine which court is competent to assess and judge each one of the different kinds of legal actions. 

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

I. Introduction

II. The Constitutional Court: its autonomous discipline in the Constitution; composition; judges mandate; jurisdiction, seat and operation; fundamental competence and other jurisdictional competences; representation of the Public Prosecution Service.

III. Court of Auditors: definition; composition; organization and operation; jurisdictional competence; representation of the Public Prosecution Service

IV. Judicial courts

Section I – General features

Section II – Judicial courts in particular: Supreme Court of Justice; courts of Appeal; first instance courts

V. Administrative and Tax Courts

Section I – General features

Section II – Special features: Supreme Administrative Court; Administrative Central Courts; Administrative Circuit Courts and Tax Courts (or, Administrative and Tax Courts)

Head Lecturer(s)

António Alberto Vieira Cura

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

CURA, António Alberto Vieira, Organização Judiciária Portuguesa (Coimbra, 2017).