O sistema de precedentes e sua aplicação no recurso especial repetitivo: uma resposta à litigiosidade em massa?

Abstract

The significant growth of mass litigation in the country has sparked debates about the capacity of the Judiciary to manage the constant increase in the volume of cases. Data from the National Council of Justice (CNJ) show that the number of new and pending cases continues to grow, highlighting the limitations of traditional judgment methods. In this scenario, case law has been gaining an increasingly significant space in the Brazilian legal system, valuing the material content of judicial decisions and, alongside other institutes, giving concreteness to the system of judicial precedents in Brazil. The 2015 Code of Civil Procedure, in turn, aimed to improve institutes, create new mechanisms and strengthen judicial efficiency by standardizing case law and consolidating precedents of mandatory observance. In this context, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has come to play a fundamental role in the systematization of the judgment of repetitive controversies, with the repetitive special appeal being a relevant instrument to ensure predictability and coherence in the interpretation of federal legislation. The objective of this study is to analyze this instrument in the context of mass litigation, assessing the need for technical rigor in its construction and application, with special attention to the adversarial system and the selection of representative appeals of the controversy, taking into account the particularities of the multiplicity of demands. This monograph adopts a qualitative approach, based on a bibliographic review of works and scientific articles related to the subject, in addition to the documentary analysis of legislation, doctrines and jurisprudential understandings. Reports from the National Council of Justice (CNJ) were also examined, through a quantitative analysis to support the study of mass litigation.