Tag Archive for: Brazil

Brazil’s Superior Court Invokes Forum Non Conveniens: Is that Really What They Mean?

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This post was written by Luana Matoso, the Head of the Centre of Expertise on Latin America at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg.

On September 1, 2026, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice invoked the doctrine of forum non conveniens in declining jurisdiction to hear a dispute. It is the first time this court has done so in a transnational case. Does the judgment represent the reception of forum non conveniens into Brazilian law? The answer is less straightforward than the terminology used by the court might suggest.

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Brazilian Ruling Recognises US Name Change

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Written by Prof Dr João Costa-Neto, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Brasília
and Dr Pedro Pagano Payne, Academic Assistant, Faculty of Law, University of Brasília

 

In April 2025, the highest chamber (Corte Especial) of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ), under Justice Maria Isabel Gallotti as rapporteur, ruled on ‘Recognition of a Foreign Judgment’ (HDE) no. 7.091/EX. The case concerned the recognition of a United States ruling changing the last name of a Brazilian national who had acquired US nationality. The Plaintiff sought recognition of (i) his US naturalisation and (ii) a ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which changed his name from ‘Ariosto Mateus de Menezes’ to ‘Matthew Windsor’. Read more

Draft General Law on Private International Law aims to bring Brazil from the 19th into the 21st century

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Guest post by Gustavo Ferraz de Campos Monaco, Full Professor of Private Internacional Law – University of São Paulo

In Brazilian law, the regulation of conflicts of laws is still based on a legislation from 1942, during a dictatorial regime, which explains its inspiration from the Italian fascist regime. The values prevailing in Brazilian society back then were quite different from those we hold today, especially in matters concerning family relationships. At that time, the family unit was viewed as having a single domicile, and questions related to the definition of parenthood were unthinkable outside traditional presumptions.

On at least two occasions over the past 83 years, attempts to draft new regulations were undertaken by leading figures in the field – Haroldo Valladão, Jacob Dolinger, and João Grandino Rodas – but both initiatives failed during the process, without the Plenary of the Legislative Houses having expressed an opinion on the merits of the projects. Read more

Brazil’s New Law on Forum Selection Clauses: Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater?

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This post was written by Luana Matoso, a PhD candidate and research associate at Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany.

Brazil has changed its law on international forum selection clauses. In June this year, a new statutory provision came into force, adding, unexpectedly, new requirements for their enforceability. In this attempt to redistribute domestic litigation, the Brazilian legislator may well have thrown out the baby, international forum selection clauses, with the bathwater.

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