Evidence inadmissibility, early judgement on the merits and administrative Improbity Action

Abstract

In Brazilian civil and criminal proceedings, the right to produce evidence is considered an essential prerogative of the party under jurisdiction, to the point of speaking of a fundamental right to evidence. Without evidence, the party will not be able to demonstrate its narrative, discharge the burden of proof and obtain the requested benefit. However, like all legal prerogatives, the fundamental right to evidence is not absolute and is subject to limitations arising from the usefulness and/or necessity of the evidentiary element, which may be rejected in consideration of procedural efficiency, economy and speed. However, the scope of these restrictions on evidence may be the subject of controversy, depending on the substantive law sub judice. An action for misconduct is one such hypothesis, due to its special sanctioning nature. This circumstance attracts the legal regime of sanctioning public law, whose guarantee principles protect the defendants' rights of defense, including with regard to the production of evidence. In this context, this paper addresses, in an original way, the issue of the rejection of evidence and early judgment within the scope of the improbity action, obtaining the guidelines (i) for the rejection of the evidence requested by the defense and (ii) for the application of the early judgment on the merits within the scope of the improbity action.