According to the general rules, two parties participate in the trial: the plaintiff and the defendant. The first claims the second. He goes to court to protect his interests. The plaintiff is also an entity in whose interests the prosecutor, a representative of a state or municipal government body, or an official acts in court. An ordinary citizen can also defend someone’s rights if, by virtue of the law, he has been given the appropriate authority. The defendant is the person to whom the claim is presented.
The procedural status of the parties
It is determined by the duties and rights of participants in the proceedings. The civil procedural law provides for a wide range of legal opportunities for the parties. At the same time, certain obligations are assigned to participants in the process. All these duties and rights are united by legal institutes and vary depending on the stage of the proceedings.
In the Code of Civil Procedure, for example, the right of the plaintiff to refuse claims, to change the subject or the basis of claims is fixed. The defendant may challenge the decision with which he does not agree, file a motion, ask for a delay in the execution of the court order, etc.
The subjective procedural law of the participant in the proceedings is a measure established and secured by the rules of the Civil Procedure Code of a person’s possible conduct in legal proceedings and the ability to demand certain actions from the court. The civil procedural obligation, in turn, is recognized as the required and secured by the norms of the proper behavior of the subject, corresponding to the subjective procedural rights of the court.
The value of duties and rights in legal proceedings
The procedural activities of the participants in the proceedings are very diverse. The parties may submit various petitions, provide the court with documents, evidence, participate in their study, give explanations, etc. Some actions have a direct impact on the dynamics of procedural legal relations, that is, they can change, generate or terminate them. For example, contesting a decision leads to the emergence of new procedural relations between the parties to the dispute and the appellate court. In the event of a waiver of the claim, the proceedings are terminated altogether. All such actions are administrative in nature. This allows us to regard them as significant legal facts.
Other actions of participants are not recognized as legal facts. Examples are the explanations of the parties, the provision of evidence, a debate, etc. Such actions in theory are called procedural acts. They, unlike legal facts, are considered the result of arising and existing procedural obligations and rights of participants.
The subjects are free to use their procedural status. However, they are prohibited from committing acts that are contrary to the law and infringe on the interests of others.
Content Rights
According to this criterion, all procedural possibilities of the parties can be combined into three groups. The first includes rights, the implementation of which affects the dynamics of legal proceedings, the second - providing protection in court in a broad sense. The third group consists of legal opportunities to participate in the proceedings.
The first group of rights reflects the principle of dispositivity. Opportunities from the latter group include the right to participate in the proceedings in person or through a representative, to participate in the study of evidence, etc. The second group is formed by the rights to secure requirements, evidence, to challenge a court, prosecutor, translator, secretary, to submit comments on the content of the hearing protocol and so forth
Features of Responsibilities
According to the provisions of Part 2 of Article 30 of the Code of Civil Procedure, participants in proceedings must conscientiously exercise all the procedural rights that they are vested with. In Art. 92 of the Code sanctioned in case of failure to comply with the requirements. So, according to the norm, an unscrupulous party must pay compensation in favor of another participant for the time actually spent. The amount of payment must be reasonable and determined in accordance with the circumstances of the case.
Each party must prove only those facts to which it refers as the basis for the stated claims and objections. In case of failure to provide written or material evidence at the request of the judge for valid reasons, the guilty party may be charged with a sanction in accordance with Art. 65 or 70 GIC.
Article 108 of the Code stipulates that the court, with the consent of the participant in the proceedings, may hand him a summons for delivery to the other party to the proceedings. The subject executing the order of the court is obliged to return the second copy of the document with a receipt on receipt by the addressee.
The person applying to the court must comply with the requirements of Article 126 of the Code of Civil Procedure for the content of the claim. In case of failure to comply with this requirement, sanctions are enshrined in 130 Codex norms.
Procedural complicity in civil proceedings
According to the provisions of Article 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure, claims may be brought before a court jointly by several applicants or by one plaintiff against several defendants. The concept of procedural complicity is used to indicate such actions. It is a combination of requirements in one proceeding on the subjects of proceedings. Such an understanding of procedural complicity in the civil process allows us to call it the subjective combination of claims.
Key features
The legislation stipulates the following cases where procedural complicity is allowed: if the requirements of one of the plaintiffs do not exclude the claims of the other or the obligation of one of the defendants does not exclude the obligations of the other. Thus, the courts should remember that not every multiplicity of persons implies a combination of claims.
If procedural complicity is allowed, then:
- Co-defendants / co-defendants should be the alleged participants in the disputed legal relations included in the subject of the proceedings.
- Persons must participate in one production.
- A claim or obligation of either party does not exclude a claim or obligation of the other.
Features of joining claims
From the contents of Article 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure it follows that procedural complicity can be initiated by the plaintiff if he makes claims at the same time to several defendants or several claimants, if they decide to combine the requirements for consideration together. However, Art. 128 of the Code establishes the right of the court to join cases in which the same entities participate on the side of the defendant or plaintiff.
Procedural complicity saves the efforts of the court and all participants in the proceedings. Combining claims significantly reduces the time it takes to hear cases.
Classification
Types of procedural complicity vary depending on the nature of the legal relationship from which the action proceeds. The rules provide for compulsory and optional complicity.
The first occurs when a legal and justified decision on the establishment of the rights and obligations of the participants in the proceedings can be taken if the court examines all the requirements of the co-applicants or the claims brought against the co-defendants jointly. It should be noted that the legislation does not fix the list of cases of mandatory procedural complicity and the grounds for its implementation. Nevertheless, in judicial practice there is a rule according to which it should take place in all situations when the claims of several applicants or claims against several defendants arise from a common law or obligation.
Types of cases with a mandatory combination of claims
The court cannot make a reasoned and lawful decision on a dispute over common property unless it considers it taking into account the interests of all parties. In this regard, procedural complicity is mandatory in the proceedings on:
- inheritance;
- common property (joint, shared);
- inventive and copyright if several persons participated in the creation of the product;
- the exclusion of material values from the inventory;
- protection of business reputation, dignity and honor;
- the right to use housing, etc.
Specificity of Compulsory Compound Claims
In case of mandatory procedural complicity, the parties should participate in the proceedings in any case. Unresolved is the question of whether the court has the right to bring on its own initiative co-applicants who have not filed a claim with the original applicant and have not applied for judicial protection. It seems that his decision should be determined by two circumstances.
First of all, it must be taken into account that the principle of dispositivity is enshrined in the domestic GIC. Secondly, modern society, legal science and practice recognize private law and private property relations. Taking this into account, many experts believe that the rule should be fixed by law, according to which co-applicants can be involved in proceedings with mandatory procedural complicity only with their consent.
Optional mix of claims
It is also referred to as optional procedural complicity. The rights and obligations of partners do not change. An optional combination of claims is advisable when considering claims made by several plaintiffs or claims against several defendants. In practice, quite often several homogeneous applications are combined in one production (for example, about collecting a salary from several persons, or to several employees who caused material damage through their actions / inaction).
The conditions of optional procedural complicity are not fixed in the Code of Civil Procedure.
When deciding on the combination of several claims in one proceeding with the participation of the same entities on the side of the defendant or plaintiff, the courts are guided by considerations of expediency. In this case, it is determined whether complicity in making a reasonable and lawful decision will help, to save time and court costs, and to prevent making a contradictory decision. All these tasks can be solved if the connected claims are connected with each other. By virtue of this, it is more convenient and easier for the court to consider them together.
Several claims are related if their bases are homogeneous. This is possible, for example, if during the performance of work under a work contract several performers caused damage to the customer by their actions - each one delayed the performance of its workload. The interrelation of requirements also occurs in disputes arising from labor relations. For example, if several persons charge different payments from the employer arising from the labor agreement (salary, severance pay, bonuses, etc.).
Due to the fact that the only condition for optional complicity is the consideration of expediency, when combining claims brought by several persons or to several defendants, the joint trial of which slows down and complicates the work, the court may separate them. This possibility arises from the provisions of Article 128 of the Code of Civil Procedure. On their own initiative or at the request of the participants in the proceedings, a separate claim for independent proceedings may be singled out exclusively with optional complicity.
Nuance
The legislation does not specify the time to which claims can be joined. Due to the fact that optional complicity provides a reduction in costs and time, it can be used upon presentation of the application and at the stage of preparing materials for the proceedings. If we talk about mandatory complicity, then the involvement of co-defendants or co-practitioners is not only possible, but necessary at any stage until the court is removed to the deliberation room.
The procedural status of partners
It is clearly defined in applicable law. Each co-contributor or co-defendant appears in production as an independent participant. This provision follows from Art. 35 GIC.
Since accomplices are independent entities in production, they have all the obligations and rights of the parties. Moreover, on the basis of Article 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure, they can entrust one of them to conduct business, even if he has no right to conduct other people's affairs. To exercise this right, the subject's authority must be formalized in accordance with the rules of judicial representation.
Conclusion
The institution of procedural complicity is used not only in civil proceedings. The current agro-industrial complex also provides for the possibility of combining claims. Procedural complicity in the arbitration process is regulated by the provisions of Article 46 of the Code. The conditions and grounds for its application are similar to those provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure.