O papel do Ministério Público no controle concreto de constitucionalidade no Brasil e em Portugal

Abstract

Although both the Brazilian and the Portuguese Public Prosecution are autonomous and versatile, the former has evolved and lost the representation of the state, while its functions have been extended to include the protection of the constitutional rights of citizens; whereas the Portuguese Public Prosecution has remained a lawyer for the state and acts primarily in the criminal area. The different profiles are reflected in the institution's performance before the constitutional jurisdiction of each country. In the scope of judicial review, the Brazilian Public Prosecution’s main focus is the protection of the social interest identified by the protection of the subjective, diffuse or collective rights in question. In contrast, the role of the Portuguese Public Prosecution is to defend objective law and is linked to mandatory appeals. The objective of the present paper is to ascertain which type of action is more consistent with the role of constitutional jurisdiction today.