Economic Justice in Portugal

The justice sector is constantly at the centre of political and media debate, and few have been criticised as much or seen ineffective. Given its central nature and the impact it has on the life of Portuguese society, and in particular on the country's economy, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, in collaboration with the Lisbon Commercial Association and the National Statistics Institute, conducted a series of in-depth studies on the functioning of "economic justice" in Portugal, i.e. the areas of law and justice that have a direct impact on economic life. They cover:

• the procedural system, starting with an exposition of the fundamental principles of civil procedure and continuing with a description of the processing of declaratory and enforcement actions
• the solutions of the Portuguese legal system and other legal systems studied, in particular the German, English and Italian systems
• the reality (Portuguese and foreign) of alternative means of dispute resolution, namely mediation and arbitration, reflecting on their implementation in different contexts
• the organisation of the judiciary and the legal professions in the selected legal systems, with special emphasis on the careers of magistrates and enforcement agents
• the service of documents in civil proceedings, in Portugal and in the other legal systems studied
• the production of evidence, in Portugal and in the other legal systems studied
• procedural management and oral proceedings, in Portugal and in the other legal systems studied
• the New Portuguese Procedural Model and its comparison to the procedural models in the other legal systems studied
• VAT recovery in the Portuguese legal system and in the other legal systems studied.

As the former Chairman of FFMS, António Barreto, writes in the preface to the first volume of these studies:

In this sense, these studies include:

• an economic analysis of the legal cases consulted
• interviews with companies, lawyers, judges and entities representing the sector
• conclusions drawn from visits to foreign courts
• a series of proposals for reform of the sector and solutions to the problems encountered.

As Justice is one of the most critical sectors in Portuguese collective life and its reforms are as fundamental as they are difficult to carry out, FFMS seeks, through these studies, to contribute to knowledge of the reality of the sector and to propose possible solutions to the problems that have been identified in it, thus contributing to public and political debate on Portuguese Justice.

Nesse sentido, estes estudos incluem:

• uma análise económica da consulta de processos judiciais
• entrevistas a empresas, advogados, juízes e entidades representativas do setor
• conclusões retiradas de visitas realizadas a tribunais estrangeiros
• uma série de propostas de reforma do setor e de solução para os problemas encontrados.

Sendo a Justiça um dos setores mais críticos da vida coletiva portuguesa e as suas reformas tão fundamentais quanto difíceis de realizar, a Fundação procura, com estes estudos, contribuir para o conhecimento da realidade do setor e propor possíveis soluções para os problemas que nele foram identificados, e assim contribuir para o debate público e político sobre a Justiça portuguesa.