Text 1. The Court System in Russia.

The Judicial system in Russia is administered by The Ministry of Justice. Justice in the Russian Federation is administered by courts alone and exercised by means of constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings. The judicial system consists of three types of courts: 1) constitutional courts; 2) courts of general jurisdiction (including military courts); and 3) specialized state commercial courts or arbitration courts (named "arbitrazh").

The constitutional courts include the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and constitutional courts of the Subjects of the Russian Federation. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is a court of limited subject matter jurisdiction. The 1993 constitution empowers the Constitutional Court to arbitrate disputes between the executive and legislative branches and between Moscow and the regional and local governments. The court also is authorized to rule on violations of constitutional rights, to examine appeals from various bodies, and to participate in impeachment proceedings against the president. The July 1994 Law on the Constitutional Court prohibits the court from examining cases on its own initiative and limits the scope of issues the court can hear. The main function of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation thus is to resolve issues with regard to the compliance of laws and regulations with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Constitutional courts of the Subjects of the Russian Federation have similar functions with regard to compliance of regional acts with respective regional constitutions and charters.

There is a four-tiered hierarchical system of courts of general jurisdiction acting through the whole territory of Russia with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as the supreme judicial body of this branch. It includes the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, regional level courts, district level courts and justices of the peace. Courts of general jurisdiction hear: 1) civil cases with participation of individuals, 2) criminal cases, and 3) disputes between individuals and state authorities. In addition to settling particular disputes, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issues regularly general court rulings serving as explanations on the matters of judicial practice which are binding on the courts of general jurisdiction of the lower instances. There are about fourteen thousand judges in some two thousand five hundred courts of general jurisdiction on various levels throughout Russia.

Commercial disputes in Russia are heard by arbitration courts, which have a four-tier, hierarchical system: 1) the first level is the federal arbitration courts located in each Subject of the Russian Federation; 2) the second level is composed of 20 arbitration appellate courts; 3) the third level is composed of 10 federal district courts; 4) the top level is occupied by the superior judicial body for deciding commercial disputes which is the Supreme Arbitration ("Arbitrazh") Court of the Russian Federation. Similar to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in addition to settling particular disputes, the Supreme Arbitration ("Arbitrazh") Court of the Russian Federation issues regularly general court rulings serving as explanations on the matters of judicial practice, which are binding on the arbitration ("arbitrazh") courts of the lower instances. Parties may also refer their commercial disputes to the tribunals of private arbitration (both ad hoc and institutional) serving as an alternative to the state courts. International commercial arbitration is mainly regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation similar to the Model UNCITRAL Law. The most effective and popular international commercial arbitration courts in Russia are the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the Maritime Arbitration Committee, and the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Under the constitution, judges of the three highest courts serve for life and are appointed by the Federation Council after nomination by the president. The president appoints judges at the next level, the federal district courts. The minister of justice is responsible for appointing judges to regional and city courts. However, in practice many appointments below the national level still are made by the chief executives of sub national jurisdictions, a practice that has perpetuated local political influence on judges' decisions.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08