Rethinking Due Process of Law in the Administrative Sphere

Abstract

This article discusses the scope of the constitutional due process clause in Brazilian administrative law, based on an analysis of the Brazilian Constitution, the Fifth (1791) and Fourteenth (1868) Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European and Inter-American human rights systems. The author concludes that since the due process clause (Brazilian Constitution Article 5.54, namely, “no one shall be deprived of liberty or property without due process of law”) was inspired by the U.S. Constitution, Brazilian legislators should exercise their powers of discretion in policy-making to adapt the clause to the realities of the Brazilian administrative authorities and to the experience of the quasi-independent authorities that perform the adjudicative function under U.S. administrative law.