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TC_19970165 AI generated

Portuguese Constitutional Court declares fine limit in traffic law unconstitutional for exceeding statutory maximums.

Case Number TC_19970165
Court / Authority
Jurisdiction Portugal (PT)
Outcome Inadmissible
Open official source Machine-readable Markdown (.md)

Legislator summary

AI generated

The Constitutional Court declared Article 27 of Decree-Law 30/89 unconstitutional insofar as it set a fine limit higher than the framework law's maximum. The Ministry of Public Prosecution challenged the lower court's application of this norm against a private individual. The court ruled that the specific provision violated the constitutional requirement for fines to align with the framework law's ceiling.

Legislator headnote

AI generated

Art. 168(1)(d) of the Constitution; Art. 27 of Decree-Law 30/89: A legislative norm establishing a fine limit exceeding the maximum set in the corresponding framework law violates the constitutional principle of proportionality and must be declared unconstitutional.

Keywords

AI generated
Constitutional Incompatibility Fine Limit Excess Framework Law Violation Proportionality Principle Administrative Penalty Constitutional Review Decree-Law Invalidity

Cited Legislation

AI generated
Art. 168(1)(d) of the Constitution
Art. 27 of Decree-Law 30/89
artigo 168º da Constituição
AI generated
273/97
Portuguese Constitutional Court partially allows appeal regarding fine limits exceeding prior law maximums.
28/97
Constitutional Court corrects prior ruling due to material error regarding the applicable version of the penalty framework law.
15/88
Portuguese Constitutional Court declares labor penalty execution law unconstitutional for violating judicial competence distribution.
TC_19970373
Portuguese Constitutional Court corrects a clerical error regarding the applicable law version in an unconstitutionality ruling.
TC_19970191
Portuguese Constitutional Court declares fine limit in labor law unconstitutional for violating proportionality principle.

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Full text

Acórdão 165/97

ACÓRDÃO Nº 165/97

Procº nº 653/96

2ª Secção

Rel.: Consº Luís Nunes de Almeida

Acordam na 2ª Secção do Tribunal Constitucional:

Nos presentes autos, vindos do Tribunal do Trabalho de Loures, em que é recorrente o Ministério Público e recorrido A., pelas razões constantes dos Acórdãos nº 40/97 e nº 41/97, de que se encontram juntas cópias aos autos, decide-se:

a) julgar inconstitucional - por violação da alínea d) do nº 1 do artigo 168º da Constituição - a norma do artigo 27º do Decreto-Lei nº 30/89, de 24 de Janeiro, enquanto aplicável a pessoas singulares, mas tão-só na parte em que ela, ao cominar a coima da contra-ordenação que define, fixa o respectivo limite máximo em montante superior ao limite máximo estabelecido na respectiva lei-quadro, na versão de 1989;

b) consequentemente, conceder provimento ao recurso, devendo a sentença recorrida ser reformada em conformidade com o antecedente juízo de inconstitucionalidade.

Lisboa, 26 de Fevereiro de 1997

Luís Nunes de Almeida

Bravo Serra

José Sousa e Brito

Guilherme da Fonseca

Messias Bento

Fernando Alves Correia

José Manuel Cardoso da Costa