The judiciary before land conflicts of quilombolas communities

Abstract

The article analyses the responses that the Brazilian Judiciary gives to claims involving territorial rights of the quilombolas communities. Based on a survey of the lawsuits related to that matter, the analysis focu- ses on the universe of the decisions found between 1993 and 2009. Considering three types of decisions that happen during a litigation – temporary restrai- ning orders, sentences and appeal courts’ judge- ments –, the paper examines quantitatively the pro- portion of decisions that favored quilombolas and those that favored their adversaries. Based on that data, it is possible to verify that decisions that re- present victories to quilombolas are more numerous than those that benefit their adversaries.

Keywords

• comunidades quilombolas
• direitos territoriais
• Poder Judiciário