Binding effect of decisions of superior courts

Abstract

The text examines the thesis of the binding effect of superior court decisions, presented as a response to the slowness and accumulation of repetitive cases in the Judiciary. It sets out the gaps in the Brazilian system of constitutionality control, evidencing the absence of binding effect of the direct action of unconstitutionality and the practical uselessness of the declaratory action of constitutionality, created merely to serve governmental interests. It criticizes the imitation of foreign models and the rebelliousness of judges, courts and administrative agents against decisions of the Federal Supreme Court. It proposes, as an intermediate solution, the binding precedent, issued by four fifths of the members of the superior courts, restricted to matters of national scope, with revisability and sanctions for abusive appellants.