THE JURISDICTIONAL FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: NOTES ON THE POLLUTER-PAYS PRINCIPLE/ A FUNCAO JURISDICIONAL E A PROTECAO DO MEIO AMBIENTE: NOTAS SOBRE O PRINCIPIO DO POLUIDOR-PAGADOR

With the emergence of the Democratic and Constitutional State of Law, replacing the State Law in its version merely legislative, many transformations have occurred. One of the most evident occurs in the jurisdictional activity. If before the Judge was just the manifestation of the legislator's will, today his performance space has changed. He gained in autonomy and freedom of interpretation, but always with the objective of a single direction: the guarantee of fundamental rights. And in this scenario his performance in environmental law emerges. With his protection raised to fundamental law, new instruments were needed to achieve it. Among them, appears the polluter-pays principle, clear and evident expression of intervention in the private space in the name of the defense of collective heritage.