A comment on decisions no. 480/2013 and 494/2013 of the constitutional court. The legal dimension of term limitations

Abstract

The 46/2005 Law, dated from the 29th of August, entry into force – which predicted the limitation concerning the Mayors and the Juntas de Freguesia – dictated the end of exercise of many of the current Mayors in functions. This theme has been, from a long time to this period, subject to an intense debate concerning, since the very beginning, the Republican Renovation Principle. Nevertheless, the problematic concerning this Law application has been configured, to a large extent, as considering its interpretation e consequent imposed limitation range effect. What rests on the table is to know if one Mayor that had exercised his duties during three consecutive mandates on a specific autarquia could entail new functions on a different one. Before a difficult legislation and the Assembleia da Republica‘s inertia, the Constitutional Court was called to intervene. These are the decisions which our work will analyze.