The Regional Federal Courts (in Portuguese, ''Tribunais Regionais Federais'', commonly called TRFs) are the courts of appeal in the , the second instance courts of the Brazilian federal justice system, responsible not only for appeals of

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). ...

decisions, but also for writs of security,

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

, and habeas data against acts by federal judges, motions to set aside judgments, criminal revisions, and conflicts of jurisdiction. Article 108 of the Brazilian Constitution defines the jurisdiction of the Federal Regional Courts. They have a varied composition, but the number of judges is defined by law. One fifth are chosen by lawyers with 10 years experience or more, as well as by members of the

Public Prosecutor's Office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft (). This kind of offi ...

, also known as the "Federal Public Ministry" () with ten years experience or more. The rest of the judges are appointed through the promotion of federal judges with over five years experience, by longest service time and by merit, alternately. In each tribunal is a Regional Office for Internal Affairs of Federal Justice (''Corregedoria Regional da Justiça Federal''), responsible for corrections, inspections, and investigations at first instance. The internal affairs offices are also in charge of hiring processes, and instruction towards a uniformization of jurisdictional activity and forensic service. They are each run by a regional director, with a possible vice-director.

Federal Justice Regions

The Brazilian Federal Justice system is divided nationally into six geographically defined regions, each served by an appellate court: * Regional Federal Court for the First Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Primeira Região'' (TRF-1) ** Seated in Brasília, Federal District, this appellate court covers the states of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil. It is in the North Region, Brazil, North Region of Brazil. It is Federative units of Brazil#List, the second-least populous state and the eighteenth-largest state by area ...

, Amazonas,

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

, Piauí, Rondônia,

Roraima Roraima ( ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas t ...

and Tocantins, as well as the Federal District. * Regional Federal Court for the Second Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Segunda Região'' (TRF-2) ** Seated in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, this appellate court covers the states of Espírito Santo and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. * Regional Federal Court for the Third Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Terceira Região'' (TRF-3) ** Seated in São Paulo, São Paulo, this appellate court covers the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. * Regional Federal Court for the Fourth Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Quarta Região'' (TRF-4) ** Seated in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, this appellate court covers the states of Paraná,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

and Santa Catarina. * Regional Federal Court for the Fifth Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Quinta Região'' (TRF-5) ** Seated in Recife, Pernambuco, this appellate court covers the states of Alagoas,

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe. * Regional Federal Court of the Sixth Region — '' Tribunal Regional Federal da Sexta Região'' (TRF-6) ** Seated in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, this appellate court covers exclusively the state of State of Minas Gerais.

New courts

The creation of four new courts was approved by Congress by Constitutional Amendment number 73/2013. However, the National Association of Federal Prosecutors proposed a direct action of unconstitutionality against the creation of new courts; The former president of the Supreme Federal Court, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, suspended the constitutional amendment until the fore-mentioned direct action is judged. The new tribunals, whose installations have been suspended by the Supreme Federal Court, are planned as: * TRF for the 6th Region – headquartered in Curitiba: would entail the jurisdictions of the following states: Santa Catarina and Paraná, currently linked to the TRF for the 4th Region, and Mato Grosso do Sul, previously linked to the TRF for the 3rd Region. ** The Court was "''recreated''" b
Federal Law nº14.226
However, it has jurisdiction only in

. * TRF for the 7th Region - headquartered in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

: would entail the jurisdiction of

, previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region. * TRF for the 8th Region - headquartered in Salvador: would entail the jurisdiction of

, previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region, and Sergipe, previously linked to the TRF for the 5th Region. * TRF for the 9th Region - headquartered in Manaus: would entail the jurisdictions of the following states: Amazonas,

, Rondônia and

, all previously linked to the TRF for the 1st Region.

In relation to other courts

External links

* http://www.trf1.jus.br * http://www.trf2.jus.br * http://www.trf3.jus.br * http://www.trf4.jus.br * http://www.trf5.jus.br
http://www.trf6.jus.br
Judiciary of Brazil {{Brazil-law-stub

Federal Justice Regions

New courts

In relation to other courts

See also

External links