The court of first instance is an institution that examines the case on the merits. He has the duty to clarify all circumstances and determine the rules of law in a particular case, the collection of evidence. In this capacity, various courts act.
Normative regulation
The court is obliged to follow certain rules, regardless of the place it occupies in the judicial system.
Whatever code they take (with the exception of the Code of Criminal Procedure), they highlight the general provisions, the procedure for action proceedings, special types of proceedings, and then the stages of consideration (appeal, appeal and supervision).
The paradox is that the most important stage of the proceedings is the trial court, the fate of the case and the decision depends on the quality of its work - whether it can withstand in higher courts. Judges begin a career in this instance.
Laws on the judicial system (on general courts, on world courts, on military courts, a specialized law is devoted to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) make their share of regulation. They help to figure out which court plays the role of the first instance.
Court system
The following ship system has been built in the Russian Federation:
- general courts (consider disputes between citizens and the state, between citizens and between citizens and organizations);
- arbitration courts (examine disputes between entrepreneurs and commercial organizations and economic disputes involving the state);
- military courts (in their case, the court of first instance is usually a garrison court).
Production stages
With the exception of court systems, the division of courts into competencies has been introduced:
- first instance courts;
- courts of appeal;
- courts of cassation;
- supervisory authority.
I must say that the court of first instance is not always a magistrate or a district court. For example, in relation to a justice of the peace, the district court is the appeals instance . They have a cassation instance.
In a number of cases, the first instance is the courts of the subjects. Some cases are still being considered as first and appeal instances directly by the judges of the Supreme Court (in particular, appealing against normative acts of the government and the president).
Territorial organization
There is the concept of jurisdiction. It includes the desire to distribute things horizontally in the system. For example, almost all claims are filed at the place of residence or location of the defendant. In some cases, exceptions are provided: the plaintiff has the right to choose a court for appeal.
The law provides when an already open case is referred to another court.
So, the case referred by the justice of the peace to the district court will be considered there, even if the transfer was erroneous - disputes over jurisdiction are prohibited.
Organization of the first instance
The civil court of first instance will be the first to see a statement of claim or a statement to open a case of special proceedings.
The judge’s task is to verify the following facts:
- whether the case was previously considered on the same grounds and on the same occasion with the same participants;
- whether it was filed with that court (world or district);
- whether the form of production is respected: confusion between civil and administrative affairs has not yet been resolved;
- whether all requirements for the form of the statement of claim, the number of documents, and their execution have been met.
The judge determines the circumstances important for the case, the amount of evidence, distributes the burden of proof among the participants.
The competitiveness of the process is declared in the Russian Federation: the parties themselves formulate requirements and present evidence. The court only guides the process and provides assistance. In a number of situations, retreat is permitted, and the judge takes the initiative (on his own initiative appoints an examination, seeks documents, performs other actions, etc.).
The result of the first instance
Take some Leninsky district court of Russia. He does all kinds of things. Nevertheless, he makes the following decisions:
- agrees with the claim in full;
- denies the claim in full;
- partially agrees with the claim;
- terminates the proceedings in connection with the rejection of the claim;
- leaves the application without consideration or returns the claim after the opening of the proceedings.
Abandonment and return do not preclude the opening of the case again, provided that the statute of limitations has not expired.
We must not forget that the same Leninsky district court is involved in the adoption and consideration of appeals against decisions of justices of the peace in civil and criminal cases.
Court acts
What is the decision of the trial court in the case? The judicial act describes the arguments of the parties to the process, the facts that took place, in the opinion of the court, the court’s assessment of the arguments and facts and the rules of law applicable to the situation.
The law presents a number of requirements for the content and structure of the decision; their failure to comply entails the abolition of the judicial act. This also shows how confident the judge is in his legality.
Not so long ago, justices of the peace were released from the obligation to draw up a reasoned part of decisions, with the exception of cases when participants in the process ask for it or the case is sent for appeal. The application is submitted. Application deadline is 3 days from the date of the decision.
The decision of the district court is still being prepared in full. The bill, extending the practice of world courts to all others, was adopted negatively and actually frozen.
So far, the time allotted for appeal remains - a month from the moment the decision was announced or received by a participant in the process, which was not in the meeting.
Cases excluded from district courts
In the civil process, the courts of the first instance jurisdictions consider all cases with state secrets, as well as with the execution of judicial acts adopted in foreign states.
CAS attributed to the jurisdiction of the courts of the subjects a serious list of cases, in particular:
- disputes related to state secrets;
- contesting normative acts adopted at the level of subjects and local municipalities;
- contesting decisions of the qualification judges;
- termination of activity of public, religious organizations, mass media;
- contesting decisions of local election commissions;
- contesting decisions of commissions measuring cadastral value.
Only a few cases are excluded from the competence of district and world courts.