Judicial courts Judiciary of Portugal

the palace of justice of oporto, seat of relação , of court of justice of comarca of oporto.

the judicial order (ordem judicial) first category of common courts (excluding constitutional court), forming proper hierarchical structure has supreme court of justice (supremo tribunal de justiça) in lisbon superior body. order includes 5 intermediate level courts called relação (guimarães, oporto, coimbra, lisbon , Évora) , judicial courts of first instance. judicial courts of first instance can courts of generic competence or courts of specific competence.

for purpose of judicial order, until 2014, portugal divided in 231 uneven comarcas, constituting territorial areas of jurisdiction of courts of first instance. depending on size of population, each comarca have single court of general jurisdiction single judge complex structure of diverse courts of special jurisdiction (civil, criminal, criminal procedure, labour, family, etc.), each of which, itself, include several specialized sections , judgeships. comarcas grouped in 57 judicial circles (círculos judiciais) , these in 4 judicial districts (distritos judiciais).

following judiciary organization reform of 2014, country divided in 23 larger comarcas, of them having, each one, single judicial court of first instance, general jurisdiction. each judicial court divided in judgeships (juízos), following types existing: central civil, local civil, central criminal, local criminal, local minor crimes, criminal procedure, labor, family , juvenile, commercial, execution, general jurisdiction , proximity.

the comarca courts typically installed in monumental courthouses, called palácios da justiça (palaces of justice), many of them built between 1940s , 1960s. before reduction of number of comarcas due 2014 reform, each palace of justice seat of court, of them seats of judgeships of larger courts.

besides 23 generic competence judicial courts of each comarca, there subject-matter jurisdiction courts of first instance have territorial jurisdiction on several comarcas. these include penal supervisory courts of porto, coimbra, lisbon , Évora, maritime court @ lisbon, intellectual property court @ lisbon, concurrency, regulation , supervision court @ santarém , central criminal procedure court @ lisbon.

the judges of supreme court of justice have title of conselheiros (counselors), of relações have title of desembargadores , of courts of first instance have title of juízes de direito (judges of law).

as justice of first instance, there judges of peace , arbitral tribunals. judges of peace have competence appreciate , judge small actions regarding values not exceed ceiling below not possible appeal court of first instance.