Processo democrático: uma análise do processo como condição de possibilidade para respostas constitucionalmente adequadas a partir da Crítica Hermenêutica do Direito

Abstract

From Lenio Streck’s Hermeneutical Critique of Law and its hermeneutical-philosophical reading of Law, the present study seeks to study the legal process, establishing new theoretical and practical conceptions. In order to do that, this work investigates how the legal process actually works in the Brazilian legal system, especially regarding its possible bindings to private law (instrumental) and its separation into branches, confronting these elements to an idea of unity and fundamental core to legal procedures. This fundamental unity and its content crossed by paradigmatic elements is presented as the starting point from which the legal process must be thought. This way, under philosophical insights from Heidegger and Gadamer, this study aims to show that the process of understanding is a phenomenon that happens in a unique way, starting from the interpreter’s pre-understanding and its pre-judgments (some of them are legitimate and should be considered, while others should not. Connecting Philosophy and Law, this work seeks to establish an adequate conception of legal process as a democratic process, a conception that respects the paradigms that come from the legal and philosophical tradition. These are the paradigms that will support the world in which the interpreter shall adequately understand the process (its rights, guarantees, etc.) in order to reach adequate interpretations and decisions. From this new theoretical conception, the consequent practical aspect is the need for criteria and filters that guide the interpreters and their activity, allowing them to understand their own pre-conceptions and therefore evaluate them as legitimate or illegitimate. In the same way, such criteria/filters allow not only the judge, but all the legal community – the parties and legal scholars, for instance – to evaluate if a sentence is adequate, making it possible for a public “constraint” (Streck) in search of an adequate decision. This study defends that: a) the democratic process should be considered an element of the pre-understanding step, and therefore condition of possibility of every understanding; b) the legal process has a unity – or fundamental core – established by the paradigms of tradition that give significance to the conception of a democratic process. Therefore, considering the paradigmatic role of this thesis, the idea of a democratic process shall be present with all of its content in any legal process approach by the Law interpreter. c) The democratic process, and its paradigmatic content that is uniform to all legal areas, is a legitimate pre-conception and must be considered by the interpreter in order to obtain a decision according to the Constitution. If the judge/interpreter does not consider such pre-conception, or does not accept it, deciding a case without considering it, arbitrariness will taint the legal decision. d) It is necessary to establish criteria and filters that guide the legal interpreters in their activity, allowing them to understand their own pre-conceptions and therefore evaluate them as legitimate or illegitimate, contributing to an adequate interpretation and one right answer in the legal decision.