Are the Haves Getting Even More Ahead Than Ever? Reflections on the Political Choices Concerning Access to Justice in Brazil in the Search of a New Agenda

Abstract

This paper has the intention of rescuing and re-signifying the agenda of access to justice from the perspective of the political choices that motivated important legal frameworks in Brazil, specifically the creation of the small claims courts, class action regulations, the Judiciary Reform and the promulgation of a New Civil Procedural code. The focus of this study is not only to look at who access justice and how they do it, but also to the political choices that have been made concerning access to justice in Brazil in recent years, having as premise that the blanket is short and access for all is an unfeasible goal. The purpose of this article is to analyze normative texts and legislative debates that preceded relevant legal frameworks to extract and reflect upon the (explicit or implicit) political choices that impact access to justice in Brazil. Considering that these political choices greatly impact the relationship and imbalance of powers between RPs and OSs in the litigation game, the paper analyzed the winning and defeated normative discourses behind the legal frameworks related to access to justice.