Conciliation: The Analysis of the Preliminary Hearing as an Instrument of Swiftness and Effectiveness of the Jurisdictional Procedure.

Abstract

The present chapter brings in its core a discussion about the changes in Laws No 8.952/94 and 10.444/02, which introduced several alterations to the Civil Code Practice. It focuses on the creation of a preliminary hearing, before the pre-trial review, which searches for the conciliation between the parties, putting an end to litigation, and making sure both parties' interests are safeguarded. By doing so, the weariness suffered by the litigants throughout the course of the legal proceedings may be avoided. After a historical analysis of the evolution of the institution of the conciliation in the Brazilian juridical system, the next step is to study the purposes and aims of the preliminary hearing, as well as to demonstrate the thinking of several doctrinarians in relation to the institution the of preliminary hearing as an effective instrument of swiftness and effectiveness when there's a jurisdictional procedure. Also, the reasons why the hearing, anticipated in chapter 331, hasn't always reached the reform legislator's primordial purpose: a simplification of the procedure and a quick response to social anxiety will be studied. Moreover, other ways of amicable settlement of litigations (other than the judicial one) that might be obtained through mediation and arbitration, will be presented.