Chief Editor's Note on Supreme Courts in the Brics Countries

• Author: D. Maleshin
• Position: Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)
• Pages: 4-6

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 1

CHIEF EDIToR’S noTE on SuPREME CouRTS

In THE BRICS CounTRIES

DMITRY MALESHIN,

Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2017-4-1-4-6

Recommended citation: Dmitry Maleshin, Chief Editor’s Note on Supreme Courts in

the BRICS Countries, 4(1) BRICS Law Journal 4–6 (2017).

The BRICS countries have dierent judicial systems, but all of them have supreme

courts as the highest court for all the national courts.

The highest court in Brazil is the Federal Supreme Court. Its history begins in

1808, in colonial times, when the House of Appeals was founded. Today it consists

of eleven justices, all of whom are approved by the Federal Senate and appointed

by the President of Brazil.

The Supreme Court acts as the constitutional court as well as an appellate court.

It has the power of judicial review of the unconstitutionality of federal and state

laws. In the area of appellate procedure, it has ordinary appeal jurisdiction as well

as extraordinary appeal jurisdiction.

Brazil also has the Superior Court of Justice, which consists of thirty-three judges.

The Superior Court has jurisdiction over non-constitutional questions of federal law,

for which it is the nal instance in such cases.

In Russia, the Supreme Court was established in 1923 as the Supreme Court of the

USSR, and in 1992 it began to function as the highest court of the Russian Federation.

Depending on the case, the Supreme Court may handle appeal, cassation and

supervisory cases, as well as act as a court of rst instance. One of the tasks of the

Supreme Court is the harmonization of judicial practice. In carrying out this task

it reviews and analyzes court practice, and as a result of this activity it may issue

clarications and interpretations of the law.

The Court consists of 170 judges, including the Chief Justice and chairmen of six

chambers. The six chambers are: an Appeal chamber, a Judicial chamber for penal

cases, a Judicial chamber for civil cases, a Judicial chamber for economic cases,

a Judicial chamber for administrative cases and a Military chamber.