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207/95 AI generated

Portuguese Constitutional Court upheld Article 87 of Road Code as constitutional after reinterpreting penalty levels.

Case Number 207/95
Court / Authority
Jurisdiction Portugal (PT)
Outcome Allowed / Granted
Open official source Machine-readable Markdown (.md)

Legislator summary

AI generated

The Constitutional Court dismissed the preliminary question raised by the Public Prosecutor and upheld the constitutionality of Article 87 of the Road Code. The Court ruled that the article merely reclassified certain offenses from contraventions to infractions without derogating from the fundamental rights protected in the previous decree. Consequently, the Court granted the appeal, reforming the lower decision to apply the new interpretation consistent with the Constitution.

Legislator headnote

AI generated

Art. 87 of the Road Code; Art. 13 of the Constitution: The Court established that reclassifying minor traffic offenses as infractions rather than contraventions does not violate the principle of proportionality or fundamental rights when the penalty remains within constitutional limits.

Keywords

AI generated
Road Code Article 87 Constitutional Proportionality Traffic Offense Classification Public Prosecutor Appeal Constitutional Review

Cited Legislation

AI generated
Art. 87 of the Road Code
Art. 13 of the Constitution
Decreto-Lei nº 114/94
Decreto-Lei nº 124/90
AI generated
604/95
Portuguese Constitutional Court upheld Article 87 of Road Code as constitutional after reclassifying minor traffic violations.
437/95
Constitutional court allows road traffic appeal by interpreting Article 87 of Road Code to align with Constitution.
172/93
Constitutional Court declares administrative penalty laws unconstitutional for blocking more favorable new laws.
TC_19960244
Portuguese Constitutional Court upheld road code article 87 as constitutional and not derogating prior laws.
549/95
Portuguese Constitutional Court upheld road code amendment as constitutional penalty reclassification.

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Full text

Acórdão 145/96

ACÓRDÃO Nº 145/96

Processo nº 207/95

1ª Secção

Relator: Conselheiro Tavares da Costa

Acordam na 1ª Secção do Tribunal Constitucional

Nos presentes autos de recurso, em que é recorrente o Ministério Público e recorrido A., pelos fundamentos dos Acórdãos deste Tribunal nºs 608/95 e 649/95, de 8 e 12 de Novembro último, respectivamente, de que se Juntam cópias, decide-se:

a) desatender a questão prévia suscitada pelo Mi­nistério Público;

b) não julgar inconstitucional a norma do artigo 87º do Código da Estrada, aprovado pelo Decreto-Lei nº 114/94, de 3 de Maio, interpretada no sentido de não ter implicado der­rogação dos artigos 1º, 2º e 4º, nºs l e 2, alínea a), do Decreto-Lei nº 124/90, de 14 de Abril, mas antes no de apenas ter passado a punir como contra-ordenação as infracções que, naquele decreto-lei, constituíam contravenção;

c) conceder provimento ao recurso, revogando a de­cisão recorrida, que deve ser reformulada por forma a nela aplicar o artigo 87° do Código da Estrada, com a interpretação aqui julgada conforme à Constituição.

Lisboa, 7 de Fevereiro de 1996

Alberto Tavares da Costa

Vitor Nunes de Almeida

Armindo Ribeiro Mendes

Antero Monteiro Diniz

Maria Fernanda Palma

Maria Assunção Esteves

José Manuel Cardoso da Costa