THE PUBLIC DEFENDER'S REQUEST POWER AS AN INSTRUMENT TO ENSURE THE MINIMUM EXISTENTIAL AND A DIGNIFIED LIFE FOR THE NEEDY

Abstract

This article analyzes the prerogative of requisitioning power inherent to Public Defenders inserted in Complementary Law nº 80/94 as a self-executing, imperative, legitimate act of immediate application that guarantees access to justice to those in need. It also analyzes the fundamental right of access to justice itself as a tool that makes up the existential minimum and that guarantees and strengthens the dignity of the human person, going through the entire historical process of legal assistance in Brazil. At the end, it presents the arguments that made the Federal Supreme Court decree the constitutionality of the aforementioned prerogative.