A defensoria pública e o acesso coletivo à justiça

Abstract

The present study set out to understand the concept of collective access to the judicial system, starting from the verification of what this means in practice, how it is effected, and what mechanisms exist in the prevailing legal system that allow needy social groups to access the judicial system, as well as the legitimacy of the Public Legal Aid Service in defending diffuse, collective and homogeneous individual interests. In view of the current increase in the number of collective disputes involving the rights of consumers, protection of the environment, public health, among other demands with social repercussions, there arose a concern for the defence of the collective interests of those who, besides not having the financial means to pay the costs of a legal action, are lacking in knowledge not only of their rights, but also of the appropriate instruments for demanding these rights. Much has been spoken on access to the judicial system, but the understanding of its meaning remains unclear, particularly with regard to collective access to the system. As a result, it was decided to focus on this issue with the aim of formulating a concept capable of disclosing the true role of the state in providing a judicial service, taking as starting point a study of the legitimacy of the Public Legal Aid Service and its role as an essential organ of the judicial system, in accordance with the provisions of the Brazilian constitution of 1988, evaluating the performance of the service in collective legal actions, in both the cognitive and executory phases of the sentence. The meaning of terms such as lide (dispute), litígio (litigation), necessidade (need), interesse (interest), pretensão (claim), conflitos coletivos (collective conflicts), legitimidade (legitimacy), representação (representation) and interesses coletivos, difusos e individuais homogêneos (diffuse, collective and homogeneous individual interests), all of which contributed data for the investigation, was addressed. An assessment was made of the innovation introduced by Act nº 11,448, of 15 January 2007, which extended the number of legal entities legitimated to initiate a Public Civic Action, including the Public Legal Aid Service, and of the criticisms of those opposed to the abovementioned legitimacy and of those members of the Public Prosecution Service who initiated a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality, all of these criticisms being refuted on the basis of a hermeneutic analysis of legal texts, an understanding of legal doctrine and the predominant stances adopted by judges. This paper sought to endorse the legitimacy of the Public Legal Aid Service in its defence of homogeneous individual and collective interests, and, above all, the diffuse interests of the less privileged social classes, bearing in mind the community s basic right to legal assistance from the state, the successful provision of which depends on the effective actions of the Public Legal Aid Service, an indispensable condition for collective access to the judicial system