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17/91 AI generated

Constitutional court dismisses public prosecutor's request for new appointed lawyer due to client's new private counsel.

Case Number 17/91
Court / Authority
Jurisdiction Portugal (PT)
Outcome Dismissed
Open official source Machine-readable Markdown (.md)

Legislator summary

AI generated

The Constitutional Court declined to examine the Public Prosecutor's request for a new official defender because the represented party had submitted a power of attorney appointing a private lawyer. The court ruled that this procedural change rendered the appointment of an official defender unnecessary and superfluous. Consequently, the case files were returned to their original course without further intervention by the Constitutional Tribunal.

Legislator headnote

AI generated

Art. 24.º da Constituição da República Portuguesa; When a represented party appoints a private counsel, the request for an official defender becomes unnecessary and must be dismissed.

Keywords

AI generated
official defender appointment private counsel appointment procedural utility superfluous request constitutional court jurisdiction power of attorney legal representation
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Full text

ACÓRDÃO N

ACÓRDÃO N.º 369/91

Processo n.º 17/91

1ª Secção

Relator: Conselheiro Assunção Esteves

Acordam, em secção, no Tribunal Constitucional:

O Ministério Público requereu, a fls. 311, que os autos fossem submetidos à conferência a fim de se decidir no sentido da nomeação de novo defensor oficioso à arguida A., em virtude de o anteriormente nomeado haver falecido.

Entretanto, a arguida veio juntar aos autos procuração, constituindo mandatário forense o que, desde logo, retira utilidade à eventual nomeação de defensor oficioso.

Nestes termos, e por inutilidade superveniente, decide-se não tomar conhecimento do requerimento do Ministério Público, devendo os autos prosseguir os seus termos.

Lisboa, 24 de Setembro de 1991

Maria da Assunção Esteves

Armindo Ribeiro Mendes

Antero Alves Monteiro Diniz

Vítor Nunes de Almeida

António Vitorino

Alberto Tavares da Costa

José Manuel Cardoso da Costa