Portugal's court system explained: a citizenship test guide

If you followed the news on Portugal's nationality reform, you read that «the Constitutional Court struck it down». That sentence makes the Constitutional Court sound like the top of the court system. It is not. Portugal has three separate orders of courts — ordinary courts, administrative and tax courts, and the Court of Auditors — and the Constitutional Court sits outside all three, with a single job: deciding whether rules respect the Constitution.

Courts are part of the «political organisation of the State», one of the five themes in the 2026 citizenship test guide. The political organisation theme explains why courts count as an organ of sovereignty even though nobody elects them. This page goes one level down, with the details a test question is likely to turn on.

What are the three orders of courts?

The Constitution lists them after a revealing opening: «Besides the Constitutional Court, there are the following categories of courts». Each order has its own supreme body and its own subject matter. The Portuguese names are worth knowing, because that is how they will appear on a test.

If you come from a common-law country, the split between ordinary and administrative courts may be the unfamiliar part. A dispute with your neighbour goes to an ordinary court; a dispute with a public body over an administrative decision goes to a separate administrative court with its own supreme court. The ordinary courts are the default: whatever the law does not send elsewhere, they handle.

The Court of Auditors is the one most people forget. It reviews the legality of public spending and gives an opinion on the State's general accounts, including social security and the accounts of the Azores and Madeira. Its president serves four years and is appointed by the President of the Republic on the Government's proposal.

How does a case move up?

In the ordinary courts, first instance is normally the district court (tribunal de comarca), second instance is a Court of Appeal (tribunal da Relação), and the Supreme Court of Justice sits at the top. The president of the Supreme Court is elected by its own judges, not appointed from outside — the same is true of the Supreme Administrative Court.

One qualification matters for the test: the Constitution makes the Supreme Court the top of the ordinary courts «without prejudice to the Constitutional Court's own jurisdiction». On a constitutional question, the Constitutional Court has the final word.

Who appoints judges?

Not the Government. Judges of the ordinary courts are appointed, posted, transferred, promoted and disciplined by the Conselho Superior da Magistratura (High Council of the Judiciary). Its make-up spreads the power: it is chaired by the president of the Supreme Court, with two members named by the President of the Republic, seven elected by Parliament and seven judges elected by their peers. Administrative and tax judges have their own council.

Once in office, judges cannot be moved, suspended, retired or dismissed outside the cases the law sets out, cannot be held liable for their rulings except as the law provides, and cannot hold any other public or private job — unpaid legal teaching or research is the only exception.

Ordinary people take part too. A jury can sit in trials for serious crimes, particularly when the prosecution or the defence asks for one — but not for terrorism or highly organised crime.

Is the Public Prosecutor a court?

No. The Ministério Público represents the State, brings criminal prosecutions and defends democratic legality. Its magistrates work in a hierarchy, unlike judges. At the top is the Procuradoria-Geral da República, led by the Prosecutor General, who serves six years and is appointed by the President on the Government's proposal. It is a classic multiple-choice trap: four official-sounding names, and only one of them does not judge anything.

It also matters to you directly. In some routes to citizenship, the Public Prosecutor can go to court to oppose the acquisition of nationality — more on that below.

The Constitutional Court: 13 judges, one term each

Ten of the thirteen judges are elected by Parliament by a two-thirds majority of members present, which must also exceed an absolute majority of sitting members. Those ten then co-opt the other three. Six of the thirteen must come from the ranks of judges; the rest can be other lawyers. Each serves nine years, with no second term, and the judges elect their own president.

Neither the Government nor the President of the Republic picks any of them. The two-thirds threshold forces cross-party agreement, and the single long term removes the incentive to please whoever might reappoint you.

Four ways a rule can be reviewed

The headline you remember was the preventive route: in December 2025, at the request of 50 MPs, the Court found four provisions of the first version of the nationality reform unconstitutional, and the text went back to Parliament. The full path from veto to the law in force is in our guide to the President's powers.

A quieter ruling that changed a nationality deadline

A 2025 ruling shows the «three concrete cases» route. When the Court has found the same rule unconstitutional or unlawful in three separate cases, it can declare it so for everyone. That is what happened to a provision of the Government's Nationality Regulation which gave the Public Prosecutor one year to oppose a nationality acquisition by declaration — marriage, for instance — counted from the date of registration. The Nationality Law, as it then stood, counted that year from the underlying fact the acquisition depended on. A Government decree cannot override an organic law of Parliament, so courts refused to apply the regulation, case by case, until in June 2025 the Constitutional Court (Ruling 522/2025, requested by the Public Prosecutor's office at the Court) declared it unlawful across the board.

Note the word: unlawful, not unconstitutional. The flaw was a decree contradicting a statute. Parliament then settled the question at the source — since the 2026 reform, the law itself gives the Public Prosecutor two years from registration. What else changed is covered in our overview of the new nationality law.

If your application is refused, which court?

Not the Constitutional Court, and not the ordinary courts. The Nationality Law sends nationality disputes to the administrative courts, and lets both the people directly concerned and the Public Prosecutor challenge decisions on granting, acquiring or losing nationality. That fits the system: a registry decision is an act of public administration. The practical steps are in what to do if your application is refused.

How to revise this for the test

An example in the style of our question bank (not an official question): «How many judges sit on the Constitutional Court, and how many does Parliament elect?» Thirteen and ten. A wrong answer here usually comes from guessing that the Government appoints them.

Five things to be able to say without notes:

• The three orders of courts, and which court stands apart.
• The ladder: comarca, Relação, Supremo.
• Who appoints ordinary judges, and who sits on that council.
• The Constitutional Court's size, who chooses it and for how long.
• Preventive review versus review of a law already in force.

For a two-minute recap, use the State organisation study cards. Then try the free practice quiz to see how the courts sit alongside the President, Parliament and Government in your head.