A função judicial na decisão de conflitos fundiários coletivos: o aprofundamento das desigualdades socioespaciais pelo poder judiciário

Abstract

This dissertation critically analyzes how legal institutions in Brazil have contributed to the deepening of socio-spatial inequalities in the resolution of land conflicts. Through a review of the normative trajectory of legislation concerning land and urban space in the country, the study examines the decision-making patterns of the Judiciary in land disputes, drawing on various empirical and jurisprudential studies already conducted. It argues that, despite constitutional and infra-constitutional advances that enshrine the Social Function of Property and the Right to Housing, the prevailing legal culture maintains a patrimonialist approach, prioritizing formal title over social rights and human dignity. This perspective is manifested in the massive granting of preliminary injunctions for repossession, the disregard for the socioeconomic reality of the occupants, and the frequent pejorative labeling of “invaders”, contributing to the criminalization of poverty and territorial segregation. The research reveals the low effectiveness of land regularization instruments in the face of this judicial stance and institutional limitations. Although recent initiatives, such as comissões de soluções fundiárias (land solutions commissions), seek to humanize and mediate these conflicts, their transformative potential is confronted by conservative resistance and the risk of depoliticizing social struggles. It is concluded that the Judiciary acts as an active vector in the reproduction of historical land inequalities by translating complex socio-spatial conflicts into technical-legal disputes that ultimately reinforce the mercantile logic of land and exclusion.