The Supreme Court of Justice (, , STJ) is the highest

court of law A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

. The judges of the STJ are referred to as "counselors" (''conselheiros''). Its president is elected by and from among the judges of the court. The STJ is installed in the buildings of the northern wing of the '' Terreiro do Paço'' square in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Competences

The competences of the Supreme Court of Justice are the following: *To try the

President of Portugal The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic (, ), is the head of state and highest office of Portugal. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister ...

, the President of the Assembly of the Republic and the

Prime Minister of Portugal The prime minister of Portugal (; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, is accountable to Ass ...

for crimes committed during the exercise of their office; *To harmonize rulings by setting uniform

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

; *To hear appeals in matters of law; *To try crimes committed by the members of the Supreme Court, of the Courts of Appeal or Public Prosecutors.

History

The Supreme Court of Justice was created by the Constitution of 1822 and installed eleven years after, in the scope of the separation of the judicial power from the others, dictated by the establishment of the Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy. The STJ replaced the ancient higher courts of the kingdom, namely the Board of Conscience and Orders (''Mesa da Consciência e Ordens'') created in 1532, the ''Desembargo'' of the Palace (''Desembargo do Paço'') regulated in 1533 and the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

(''Conselho de Estado'') regulated in 1562. The judges of the STJ inherited the title of "counselors" until then worn by the members of the Board of Conscience and Orders and of the Council of State.

References

External links

Politics of Portugal Law of Portugal

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Courts and tribunals with year of establishment missing {{Portugal-gov-stub

Competences

History

See also

References

External links