The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the current Constitution, is considered the supreme body of the court.
In the constitutions of almost all countries of the world, there is a chapter on the judiciary, which is one of the constituent parts of state power, which directly affects the freedoms and rights of people.
Until 1991, the Russian judicial system included only courts of general jurisdiction. In their competence were all civil, including family, labor, housing, etc., as well as criminal and administrative cases.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, formerly referred to as the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, has existed since Soviet times, since 1922. It was created as a body that should exercise control over all existing courts, both in the administrative sense of this concept and in the procedural one. He examined the cassation and supervisory complaints of any cases that went through the courts.
In addition, he also had independent jurisdiction of the first instance, gave explanations on judicial practice, which were binding on all lower courts.
The structure of this supreme body includes the Plenum and the Presidium, the Cassation Collegium, two Judicial Collegiums, considering, respectively, criminal or civil cases, as well as the Military Collegium with its judicial composition.
His work is provided by the apparatus of the Supreme Court - the department.
According to the current Constitution, record keeping and legal proceedings in all courts of our state, including the Supreme, are carried out in the state - Russian - language.
Today, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation acts simultaneously in three independent procedural qualities, doing so in accordance with the constitutional concept of “supervision” over the rulings of courts of general jurisdiction:
1. Firstly, he considers decisions as a second court of appeal - cassation - in relation to those sentences that have been issued in courts of a subject level, but have not yet entered into legal force.
2. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is intended to conduct judicial review of cases with respect to the sentence of any federal court that has already entered into force.
3. In certain cases, he may act as the court of first instance. For example, a federal judge against whom a criminal case has been instituted has the right to request that the Russian Supreme Court listen to him. This court also has the right to examine complaints from citizens related to the violation of their electoral rights in the presidential and Duma elections, as well as decisions contesting the non-normative legal acts of the President or the Federal Assembly or the relevant colleges regarding the dismissal of judges.
The determination of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is made after a thorough study of the appealed court ruling based on the conclusions made as a result of the consideration of the submission or complaint. It necessarily indicates the motives for which the relevant decision was made, as well as a reference to those laws by which this judicial authority was guided.
The powers of the supreme court body also include the resolution of controversial cases that are transferred from the President of Russia and concern the state authorities of our country and its subjects.
If the case has not been considered before in the Supreme Court, then this will be done by the board of this body, if there has already been a precedent, it will be submitted to the meeting of the Presidium, which has the right both to cancel the decision adopted earlier by sending it for further consideration and to leave a supervisory appeal without satisfaction.
A judicial procedure as a court of first instance in a civil or administrative case is carried out individually (by one judge) and collegially (in the amount of three judges), or by one judge together with a jury in a criminal case.