Técnica de ampliação da colegialidade: uma análise empírica da aplicação do instituto no julgamento de apelação cível no âmbito do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analyse some practical consequences of increasing collegiality approach application - as provided by the heading of Article 942, Civil Procedure Code - to the non-unanimous decisions ruled by judges within the Civil Chamber of State of Minas Gerais Appellate Court. The work aims to quantify the temporal effects arising from the proceedings of the trial decided by the panel, and then to determine their frequency. In addition, facing the arguments that justified the institute creation, we observed whether and to what extent the increasing collegiality approach acts as a tool for promoting qualitative widening of the debate on the point of divergence that attracted it, both from the interplay of the judges and their viewpoint, and from the angle of the parties, their interaction with the former, and bearing in mind the right to the adversary system. In regard to methodology and method, this investigation relies on empirical and quantitative analysis of its object, using data collected directly from the archives of the Court. It could be argued that within the limits of the observed sample, the increasing collegiality approach, when applied, did not hinder the proceedings, or not in a way that, considering the parameters previously established and compared, could be characterized as inadequate. Respecting to the extent to which the approach reinforced the prevailing understanding of the panel, it has shown meaningful results in regard to reversing a partial majority decision rendered in the first phase of the non-unanimous judgment. However, the institute was not likely to promote the widening of qualitative aspects of the debate.