Each Russian city has a district court, and often not just one. What are the powers of these authorities, what do they do? What is the structure of the district court? All this will be discussed in the article.
General characteristic of the district court
Due to legal reform, which is moving around Russia at a fairly fast pace, the topic of this article is extremely relevant and in demand. Court decisions are always a priority, and often even crucial.
The Russian District Court is a federal body that is part of the judicial branch. In addition, he is part of the courts of general jurisdiction. The action of the district court extends to a specific district unit, which, as a rule, coincides with the administrative-territorial element. The court in question is in charge of both pre-trial and post-trial proceedings. All the functions performed by the district court testify to this instance as the organ of the main link. It is also worth noting that the creation and abolition of the authorities in question is possible only due to the adoption of some federal laws that are relevant to the topic.
The first group of powers
What does the district court do? The structure and powers of this authority will be described later.
Among the main functions and duties of a district court, it is worth highlighting, in particular, the following main points:
- The implementation of effective justice (trial of the first instance of appeal) of criminal, administrative or civil cases in the field of legal proceedings. It should be noted that the entire process of the consideration of cases as the first step should be carried out individually or collegially. Moreover, the consideration of cases on appeal always takes place by one judge, that is, individually.
- Consideration of cases of a civil type (an exception is cases related to the competence of military courts, or some other specialized instances, for example, mid-level courts or the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation).
What other functions should be considered by the courts in question will be described below.
The second group of powers
In addition to all of the above, the following points belong to the jurisdiction of district courts:
- Criminal cases. However, the court cannot consider some of these cases. So, the exception is, again, cases where the case can be considered either by a justice of the peace or middle courts.
- Control over the performance of their duties by bodies that are engaged in the search and disclosure of offenses and crimes.
- Timely appeal to already made decisions on certain cases that have entered into legal force.
These are all the basic duties that any district court must carry out in a quality manner.
About the composition of the court
What structure does the district court have? The structure of the district court is enshrined in Section 33 of the Law "On Courts of General Jurisdiction".
According to this provision, the instance in question should be composed of the following persons:
- chairman of the body;
- vice-chairman;
- judges of the district court.
About the judges, it is worth noting the fact that they are appointed to the post by presidential decree, and also only in the amount that will be sufficient to carry out effective legal proceedings in a particular territorial unit. In addition, the structure of the district court would be incomplete without a special auxiliary apparatus, which also includes certain persons and specialists. Each of the court employees presented above will be described in detail below.
Judges Status
The judge is the main person after the chairmen, who contains the structure of the district court. This profession is probably the most difficult and demanding position in the country. Judges are presented with a wide variety of claims, criteria and requirements.
All of them are enshrined in the Law on the Status of Judges. What specific requirements can be identified here?
- the judge must be over 25 years old;
- obliged to have a higher education, necessarily legal;
- minimum work experience of five years is required;
- all required qualification exams must be well passed;
- A special recommendation should be received from the panel of judges ;
- a judge must have an excellent reputation, without discrediting his actions, offenses, crimes, etc.
Judgment always depends on the judge. Consequently, the main function of this employee is the exercise of fair justice. This is a really important figure, the decision of which depends only on the current legislation. The judge must be honest and fair: both with others and with himself.
About the court apparatus
The structure of the district court of the Russian Federation includes a special auxiliary apparatus. Its composition and functions are enshrined in Article 38 of the Federal Law on the Courts of General Jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
So, the auxiliary apparatus includes:
- assistant to the head (chairman) of the court;
- judicial assistants (provide necessary assistance to judges in the performance of their duties);
- administrator;
- Secretary (performs his duties, as a rule, during a court session);
- criminal office;
- civil affairs office;
- court reception;
- HR department;
- archivist.
Oddly enough, but the district courts operate, practically, only at the expense of the auxiliary apparatus. It is he who exercises such functions as work with judicial practice (its generalization, analysis and collection of court statistics), work on the systematization of legislation, recruitment of specialists, etc. The head of the auxiliary apparatus is directly supervised by the chairman of the court, and if he is absent, his deputy.
Business principles
Before continuing the story of what constitutes the structure of a district court of general jurisdiction and its individual units, it is necessary to pay attention to the basic principles and elements of competence of this body.
So, the federal law on courts of general jurisdiction enshrines the following basic principles of activity of the authorities in question:
- unity of the whole structure;
- complete independence of court employees;
- the binding nature of all decisions made by a court;
- equality of Russian citizens, both before the court and before the law;
- principles of publicity and openness;
- principle of irremovability of judges;
- principle of immunity of judges;
- full availability of all rights and guarantees for these workers.
Thus, all principles of activity are fixed legally and are prescribed both in the Constitution and in various kinds of federal laws. And what about the competence of district courts?
About competency
According to the aforementioned federal laws, the district court of the Russian Federation is an instance that occupies a middle position in the judicial system of power. What principles of competence of this body can be distinguished? What is characterized by the composition, structure of district courts? According to the law, the jurisdiction of the regional authorities include:
- criminal cases;
- civil affairs;
- administrative matters;
- appeals for justices of the peace;
- consideration and review of cases on newly discovered details and circumstances (including decisions already entered into force);
- study, synthesis and registration of court practice and statistics.
Thus, all cases within the competence of district courts are clearly and clearly enshrined in the relevant federal laws and articles.
First Chair Group
The chairman of the district court has quite broad and voluminous powers. As the head of the entire judicial body, the chairman also has personal assistants who provide him with all the necessary documents and certificates.
And, nevertheless, the head of the court in question, without which the structure of the federal district court is impossible, is obliged to fulfill a rather large number of functions and comply with many legal requirements. In particular, the chairman should:
- independently manage all meetings;
- Appoint individual judges as persons who should preside over meetings;
- to distribute and consolidate duties and functions between court employees;
- conduct an independent reception of citizens;
- to organize the quality functioning of the court, namely, timely consideration of incoming complaints and applications.
The second group of duties of the chairman
In addition to the functions mentioned above, the chairman of the court in question, who represents the entire organizational structure of the district court, should deal with the following main cases:
- high-quality study, design and synthesis of all necessary judicial practice and judicial statistics;
- make documentation in the appropriate state. bodies, public and political organizations, individual officials in the case of the causes of offenses, the fight against crime, etc .;
- supervise the work of the auxiliary judicial apparatus;
- organize continuing education courses for judicial officers;
- organize the promotion of legal and legal knowledge;
- to perform other functions, if provided by law.
Thus, the chairman of the district court is obliged to fulfill a rather large number of functions and duties (even if using an auxiliary apparatus).
Vice-chairman
As mentioned above, the structure of the district court includes judges, the chairman and his deputy. What can be said about the deputy of the instance in question? What powers does he have?
If the chairman of the district court is absent, then all his functions are taken by the deputy for a certain time; in the event that the chairman has no deputies, one of the judges shall assume authority. The same applies to cases where the chairman of the instance in question terminates or suspends his authority. Also, if no one can assume the duties of the chairman - neither the deputy, nor the judges, a judge from the nearest district authority is invited to perform the respective duties.
It is also worth noting that all the while the chairman of the court independently performs his duties, the deputy is engaged mainly in auxiliary activities in the administrative apparatus.