The judiciary is one of the three state branches of government formed in accordance with the tenth article of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (principle of separation of powers). Interacting with other areas of power, it remains independent and independent. The judicial system of the Russian Federation is a set of bodies that are created in accordance with the provisions of Federal Constitutional Law No. 1.
Essence
The judiciary is one of three elements that interact with each other. It exerts influence on the legislative sphere by exercising control of a constitutional nature, recognizing certain acts as inconsistent with the provisions of the Russian Constitution. If the act is recognized by the court as inconsistent with the Constitution, its legal force is lost.
The judicial system of the Russian Federation is a set of bodies interacting not only with the legislative, but also with the executive branch. The executive branch prepares personnel for ships. And the judges, in turn, control that the acts issued by the authorities comply with the provisions of Russian law.
The judicial system of the Russian Federation is a group of courts in the activity of which other branches of the government are not entitled to intervene, nor are they entitled to influence it. The duties of the courts include the following tasks:
- ensuring the rights, interests and freedoms of Russian citizens and protecting these rights from violations by other people, organizations and bodies;
- resolving conflicts that arise in society in legal ways;
- control over the conformity of acts issued by state authorities and their officials;
- application of legal measures of responsibility for illegal wrongful acts.
According to the first article of the Federal Law on the Judicial System in the Russian Federation, only courts (judges and jurors or arbitrators) are vested with such powers. Any other bodies are prohibited from administering justice.
According to the norms of the legislation on the judicial system of the Russian Federation, the system of Russian courts includes two groups: the federal level and the level of the subject.
System structure
The fourth article of the Law on the Judicial System in the Russian Federation relates to the courts of the federal level the following:
- Constitutional.
- Subordinate to the Supreme Court, vested with general jurisdiction: supreme republican courts, regional and provincial courts, courts in cities of federal significance, autonomous regions and districts, district courts, specialized and military.
- Subordinate to the Supreme Arbitration Court: federal district (cassation), appellate arbitration courts, arbitration courts in the entities.
In the constituent entities, the judicial system of the Russian Federation is two types of courts: constitutional in the constituent entities and world courts.
Charter (constitutional) jurisdiction
According to the norms of the legislation on the judicial system of the Russian Federation, subjects establish the system of government bodies independently. The formation of statutory (constitutional) courts takes place through the publication of relevant legislative acts.
The financing of the activities of the respective courts is carried out at the expense of the corresponding budget. The judicial system of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is structured in such a way that co-financing from the federal budget is not provided. The purpose of the creation of these institutions is the norm control and interpretation of charters and constitutions in the subjects of the Federation. It should be noted that not all entities have such types of ships.
General jurisdiction
The law on the judicial system of the Russian Federation defines the groups of powers of various courts of this system in the field of various types of proceedings.
District (city) courts consider cases of a civil, administrative and criminal nature as a first instance. They are superior (cassation) in relation to judges of judicial districts (world).
The supreme republican, regional and regional courts, as well as courts in cities of federal importance, are located above the district ones. They consider cases as the first and supervisory authorities.
The organization of the judicial system of the Russian Federation determines that all of these courts are located under the Supreme Court in the Russian Federation.
Arbitration Jurisdiction
The arbitration court system of the Russian Federation includes bodies of the judicial type, which resolve economic disputes and other cases referred by the Arbitration Procedure Code to their competence.
Arbitration institutions are specialized bodies, as they consider disputes between organizations and other economic entities.
The fundamentals of the judicial system of the Russian Federation reinforce the provision that the arbitration judicial system is a guarantee of economic independence and independence of organizations, non-interference in their activities by the state, development and protection of entrepreneurship, and the balance of business and public interests.
Principles of design and operation
The structure of the judicial system of the Russian Federation (federal courts and courts of the constituent entities) is built on specific principles of a constitutional type. They determine not only the organization of the activity of courts and judges, but also act as the guarantor of justice in Russia.
There are four basic constitutional basic principles:
- The independence of the judiciary from other authorities.
- Publicity and openness of proceedings.
- Equality of all individuals or legal entities and state bodies before the court, the principle of free access to justice.
- Equal rights and competitiveness of the parties.
Independence
The entire judicial system (Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, other higher and lower courts) is independent of the executive and legislative branches of government. The power of the judicial type is vested in the entire body of bodies carrying out legal proceedings. These bodies resolve each specific case independently, not based on someone's will, guided by the provisions of the Constitution and laws.
The implementation of the principle of independence of judges is expressed in the fact that they take and evaluate the materials (evidence) submitted by the parties and make independent decisions regarding their reliability, as well as the correctness of the applicant. The decisions are based on the rule of law and internal beliefs.
When administering justice, judges also rely on other principles: the equality of people before the judiciary and the law, the right to receive protection, the principle of knowingly innocence of a person, and so on. On the other hand, the courts are protected by law from interference by state bodies and their employees or other legal entities.
For example, when causing harm to human health and life, a prosecutor is involved in the process. He makes his decision on the measures and extent of punishment in relation to the guilty person. The court takes into account the opinion of the prosecutor, but, nevertheless, takes the decision independently. Jury members additionally participate in the criminal process, who express their opinion, but do not affect the final court decision.
Persons who have been found guilty of unlawful influence on a judge or jury, as well as other types of interference in judicial activity, bear administrative or criminal liability on the basis of federal laws. If a person has been convicted of misappropriation of authority, the punishment is imposed in accordance with the criminal law.
The independence of the court is based on a qualitative level of provision of material and technical means of the courts themselves and their employees. According to the norms of the Russian Constitution, judicial funding is provided from the federal budget. Article 124 of the Constitution stipulates that the financing of such activities should enable the courts to independently and fully administer justice in full compliance with the law.
Principles of openness and publicity
The judicial system of the Russian Federation is based on the openness and publicity of the proceedings. These principles are means of public scrutiny of the administration of justice. All actions of a procedural nature (with the exception of the judicial consultation procedure when deciding on the subject of the dispute) are committed in most cases openly in courts of all levels (from highest to world).
Constitutional norms provide for cases of closed court hearings, which are enshrined in the relevant federal laws. For example, in civil proceedings, closed court hearings are held in a certain range of cases.
This list includes cases that are connected with a secret of a state nature, the secret adoption of a child, as well as the petition of one of the parties that the publicity of the process can provoke a violation of trade secrets, privacy of certain people. This also includes other circumstances, the disclosure of which under unauthorized persons may interfere with the proper consideration of the case, cause the disclosure of various secrets of a commercial or other type or violate the rights and interests of people (in accordance with the first part of the tenth article of the Code of Civil Procedure).
Openness and publicity of the proceedings are the most important indicators of the principle of judicial democracy, providing citizens with access to justice with the right to monitor the processes and disseminate the information in various ways.
The principle of equality of all before the body and the law
The entire judicial system in the Russian Federation operates in accordance with the principle of the general equality of subjects before the judicial authority and the law. The implementation of this principle is expressed in the fact that every citizen can be involved in the proceedings by the authorities on the same basis in the manner prescribed by federal laws.
For the courts there are no privileged bodies or persons participating in the trial as one of the parties to the case, regardless of their state, racial, social, political or national affiliation, as well as their official or property status, origin, place of residence or birth, religious beliefs, attitudes towards politics and other grounds.
The principle of subjective equality before the court and the law is enshrined in Article 7 of the Constitutional Federal Law No. 1-FKZ.
Exceptions to this principle are special grounds and rules for holding the Russian President, deputies in the State Duma, members of the Federation Council, and judges themselves accountable. The differences in holding these entities accountable are determined by the inviolability principle.
These exceptions are of a public law nature, serve the interests of society and are important guarantees for the implementation by these persons of functions useful to society and the implementation of professional level activities, based on the interests of each member of the society.
The principle of equality of all before the judicial authority and the law is expressed in the fact that every citizen has the right to apply to the court for legal protection of his interests and rights. Equality is also expressed in the identity of the grounds of the legal type of responsibility for all subjects of the proceedings, in the unity of the procedural rules for the parties to the case and the provision of equal guarantees of their rights.
The ability of every citizen to participate in the administration of justice is both the principle of legal proceedings and one of the rights of a citizen and a person enshrined in the Russian Constitution (article 32 of the Constitution).
Legislation has given citizens the right to participate in the administration of justice as judges (jury or arbitrators), public prosecutors or public defenders. Along with this, the participation of a citizen as a judge (by jury or arbitration) is the civil duty of each person. The implementation of this obligation is also determined by the relevant federal laws.
The principle of equality and competitiveness of the parties
This principle is enshrined in the third part of article 123 of the Russian Constitution. According to him, the parties have the right to provide evidence to the judicial authority, to take part in their research, to challenge and petition, and so on.
The functions of defense, prosecution and resolution of criminal cases are divided and cannot be assigned to one official or one body. The accuser is represented by the victim, the public prosecutor and the public prosecutor; side of the defense - the defendant, public defender and representative. In a civil proceeding, the parties are divided into civil plaintiffs and defendants (and (or) their representatives).
The function of resolving civil, administrative and criminal cases is separate from the above parties and belongs entirely to the court. The judge must listen to all participants in the process, receive arguments and objections, examine evidence and so on.
He does not take sides, basing his decision on the norms of law and the evidence presented. The court is obliged to provide the parties with all the conditions so that they can express their position on the case.
The court as a body of justice does not prosecute individuals, nor does it initiate criminal proceedings. He has the right to make a decision on the conduct of certain investigative actions, which only such a body can resolve.
The court system in Russia is represented by a large number of judicial bodies that specialize in holding accountable for violation of the interests and rights of citizens and organizations, as well as in issuing separate acts of a special type.
The article presented the principles and types of judicial structure of the Russian Federation.