THE USE OF EXISTENTIAL MINIMUM AS A CRITERION OF JUDICIAL ENFORCEABILITY OF FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

Abstract

This study aims to examine, from a critical perspective, the use of the notion of existential minimum as a criterion for defining the judicial enforceability of fundamental economic and social rights. It seeks to clarify the juridical meaning given to the concept, passing by analyzing its origins, nature and legal foundations, normative structure, relation with the fundamental economic and social rights, to demonstrate that the Brazilian doctrine and jurisprudence have been using the existential minimum in different ways and with different purposes. Throughout the study, we present some ways and positions focused on a functional employment of the concept, demonstrating the impossibility of using it as a definitive criterion to delineate the judicial enforceability of fundamental social rights.