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In all legal systems there are institutions for modifying, interpreting and applying the law. Usually these take the form of a hierarchy of courts as a branch of government established to administer justice. The role of each court and its capacity to make decisions is strictly defined in relation to other courts. There are two main reasons for having a variety of courts.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF THE RF,
GB AND USA
Judicial System of the Russian Federation
1. In all legal systems there are institutions for modifying, interpreting and applying the
law. Usually these take the form of a hierarchy of courts as a branch
of government established to administer justice. The role of each court
and its capacity to
make decisions is strictly defined in relation to other courts. There
are two main reasons for having a variety of courts. One is that a particular
court can specialize in particular kinds of legal actions (for example,
family courts). The other is that a person who feels his case was not fairly treated
in a lower court can appeal to a higher court for reassessment.
The decisions of a higher court are binding upon
lower courts.
2. The structure of our judicial system and the sphere of activities
of its various parts are determined by the Constitution and federal
constitutional laws. There are three main elements within this system:
the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Higher Arbitration
Court.
3. The Constitutional Court of the RF considers cases relating to the compliance
of the federal laws, normative acts of the President, the Council of
the Federation, the State Duma, the Government, constitutions of republics,
charters and other normative acts of the subjects of the RF with the
country’s Constitution. There is a separate system of the constitutional
courts (or charter courts)
of the republics and other subjects of the Federation.
4. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the four-tiered system
of courts of general jurisdiction: civil, criminal, administrative and
military cases. Lower courts are district, city and regional courts.
After the reestablishment
of the Justices of the Peace in 2000 magistrate’s courts have become
an integral part of the system of courts of general jurisdiction. The
activity of all these courts may be classified as follows: a court of
trial, a court of appeal, a court of cassation.
5. The Higher Arbitration Court is the supreme judicial body within
the system of courts competent to settle economic disputes. The basic
judicial organs in that system are arbitration courts of the subjects
of the Federation.
6. Each court has its staff which
usually consists of legally qualified
judges, clerks and bailiffs. The
participants of the legal procedure may be the following: a plaintiff
– the party bringing a lawsuit, a defendant – a party being sued,
a jury – a group of ordinary people summoned to pass a verdict, a prosecutor
- the lawyer for
the plaintiff in a criminal case, an advocate -
a lawyer for defence or just a legal counsel
in civil cases, witnesses - people who give testimony, experts - they
express their own opinions.
The history of constitutional court in Russia
December 25, 1989 the Constitutional Supervision Committee was created.
It started functioning mid-1990 and was dissolved towards the end of
1991. In December 1990 the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was amended with provisions which provided
for creation of Constitutional Court (whereas a similar USSR body was
called a Committee, not a Court). On July 12, 1991 Constitutional Court
of the RSFSR Act was adopted. In October the Fifth RSFSR Congress of
Soviets elected 13 members of the Court and the Constitutional Court
de facto started functioning. From November 1991 till October 1993 it
rendered some decisions of great significance. For example, it declared
unconstitutional certain decrees of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet,
which were adopted ultra vires, and forbade the practice of extrajudicial
eviction.
On October 7, 1993 Boris Yeltsin's decree suspended work of the Constitutional
Court. According to the decree, the Constitutional Court was "in
deep crisis". On December 24 another presidential decree repealed
the Constitutional Court of the RSFSR Act. In July 1994 the new Constitutional
Court Act was adopted. However, the new Constitutional Court started
working only in February, 1995, because the Federation Council of Russia
refused several times to appoint judges nominated by Yeltsin.
In 2005 the federal authorities proposed to transfer the court from
Moscow to Saint Petersburg.
President Dmitry Medvedev on June 2, 2009 signed an amendment whereby
the chairperson of the court and his deputies would be proposed to the
parliament by the president rather than elected by the judges, as was
the case before.[1]
Constitutional Court Judge Vladimir Yaroslavtsev in an interview to
the Spanish newspaper 2009, claimed that the presidential executive
office and security services had undermined judicial independence in
Russia. In October the Constitutional Court accused Yaroslavtsev of
"undermining the authority of the judiciary" in violation
of the judicial code and forced him to resign from the Council of Judges.
Judge Anatoly Kononov had supported Yaroslavtsev in his interview to
Sobesednik. The Constitutional Court forced Kononov to step down from
the Constitutional Court on January 1, 2010, 7 years ahead of schedule.
Law of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has three legal systems. English law, which applies in England
and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in Northern Ireland,
are based on common-law principles.
The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to,
as "The House of Lords") was the highest court in the land
for all criminal and civil cases inEngland and Wales and Northern Ireland,
and for all civil cases in Scots law, but in October 2009 was replaced
by the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
In England and Wales, the court system is headed by the Supreme Court of
England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court
of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases).
The Courts of Northern Ireland follow the same pattern. In Scotland the
chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court
of Justiciary, for criminal cases. Sheriff courts have no equivalent outside
Scotland as these Courts deal both with criminal and civil caseloads.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the highest court of appeal
for several independent Commonwealth
There are three distinct legal jurisdictions in the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern
Ireland and Scotland. Each has its own legal system.
"English law" is a term of art. It refers to the legal system administered
by the courts in England and Wales. The ultimate body of appeal is the Supreme Court of
the United Kingdom. They rule on both civil and criminal matters. English
law is renowned as being the mother of the common law. English law can
be described as having its own distinct legal doctrine, distinct from civil
law legal systems since 1189. There has been no major codification of the
law, andjudicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. In
the early centuries, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting
the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent
and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g.,
the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts see Court of Piepowder (a
corruption of the French "pieds-poudrés" or "dusty feet",
meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliamentdeveloped in strength,
and subject to the doctrine of separation of powers, legislation gradually
overtook judicial law making so that, today, judges are only able to
innovate in certain very narrowly defined areas. Time before 1189 was
defined in 1276 as being time immemorial.
After the Acts of Union, in 1707, English law has been one of two legal
systems in the same kingdom and has been influenced by Scots law, most
notably in the development and integration of the law merchant by Lord
Mansfield and in time the development of the law of negligence. Scottish
influence may have influenced the abolition of the forms of action in
the nineteenth century and extensive procedural reforms in the twentieth.
The law of Northern Ireland is a common law system. It is administered
by the courts of Northern Ireland, with ultimate appeal to the Supreme
Court of the United Kingdom in both civil and criminal matters. The law of Northern Ireland is closely similar to English law, the
rules of common law having been imported into the Kingdom of Ireland under
English rule. However there are still important differences.
The sources of the law of Northern Ireland are English common law, and
statute law. Of the latter, statutes of the Parliaments of Ireland, of
the United Kingdom and of Northern Ireland are in force, and latterly statutes
of the devolved Assembly.
Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating
back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common
law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal
system, comparable to that of South Africa, and, to a lesser degree,
the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec. Since the Acts
of Union, in 1707, it has shared a legislature with the rest of the United
Kingdom. Scotland and England & Wales each retained fundamentally
different legal systems, but the Union brought English influence on
Scots law and vice versa. In recent years Scots law has also been affected
by both European law under the Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the Scottish
Parliament which may pass legislation within its areas of legislative
competence as detailed by the Scotland Act 1998.
English Judiciary
1. The Civil Courts. Civil actions take place
between two or more individuals in dispute. These disputes can take
many forms, for example between neighbours, families, companies, consumers
and manufacturers. It is the function of the civil courts to adjudicate
on these disputes.
2. The lowest court in a civil action is a county court,
of which there is one in every town in England and Wales. There are
some 250 county courts. Each court is assigned at least one circuit judge
and one district judge. The circuit judge usually hears the high-value
claims and matters of greater importance or complexity. The district
judge hears uncontested
matters, mortgage repossession
claims and small-value claims. The circuit judge deals with appeals
from decisions by the district judge.
3. The jurisdiction of the county courts covers: actions founded upon
contract and tort; trust and mortgage cases; action for the recovery of land;
disputes between landlords and tenants, complaints about race and sex
discrimination; admiralty cases
(maritime questions and offences) and patent cases; divorce cases and
other family matters. The general limit in such cases heard before the
county court is 25,000 pounds.
4. Cases involving larger amounts of money are heard by one of the divisions
of the High Court.
This court has unlimited civil jurisdiction and consists of three branches:
- the Queen’s Bench Division,
which is concerned with contract and tort cases, and deals with applications
for judicial review;
- the Chancery Division,
which deals with corporate and personal insolvency,
disputes in the running of companies,
between landlords and tenants and in intellectual property matters;
and the interpretation of trusts and contested wills, and
- the Family Division,
which is concerned with family law, including adoption and divorce.
Judges in the County Courts are circuit judges who rank equally with
those who sit in the Crown Court. They are assisted by district judges.
5. Appeals in matrimonial,
adoption, guardianship and child care proceedings heard by magistrates
courts go to the Family Division of the High Court. The Chancery Division
hears appeals about bankruptcy and company insolvency decisions. The
Queen’s Bench Division exercises jurisdiction in respect of habeas corpus cases.
Appeals from the High Court and county courts are heard in the Court
of Appeal (Civil Division), which is presided over by the Master of the Rolls.
The Court of Appeal normally consists of three judges. Each one delivers a judgment,
and the majority opinion
prevails. The Court has the power to order a new trial or the reversal or variation of
a judgment.
6. In accordance with the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the judicial
functions of the House of Lords as of the final national court of appeal
in civil and criminal cases are set to be transferred
in 2009 to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. This Supreme Court
of the UK shall consist of 12 judges appointed by the Monarch by letters patent.
One of the judges becomes President and one is appointed to be Deputy
President of the Court. The judges other than the President and Deputy
President are styled “Justices
of the Supreme Court”.
The first Supreme Court judges are the current twelve Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary but the new members of the Court will not take the peerage.
7. The Criminal Courts. There are two main
types of court, magistrates' courts (or courts of first instance), which
deal with about 95 per cent of criminal cases, and Crown Courts for
more serious offences. All criminal cases above the level of magistrates'
courts are held before a jury.
8. There are about 700 magistrates' courts in England and Wales, served
by - approximately 28,000 unpaid or lay' magistrates or Justices of
the Peace (JPs), who have been dealing with 'minor crimes for over 600
years. JPs are ordinary citizens chosen from the community. These people
are not legally qualified but receive some basic training in court procedures,
the examination of pre-sentence reports and penalties for certain offences. Lay magistrates
usually sit in groups of three. The more senior magistrate sits in the
middle and plays the leading role. They should not all be of the same
sex. Serving members of the lay magistracy
are entitled to use the letters 'JP' after their names meaning that
they are Justices of the Peace.
Magistrates' courts may not impose a sentence of more than six months
imprisonment or a fine of more than £2,000, and may refer cases requiring
a heavier penalty to the Crown Court.
9. The most serious crimes are tried and sentenced in the Crown Court.
These crimes are known as indictable offences. All judges, sitting in
the Crown Court have unlimited sentencing powers subject to the legal
maximum. The judge presides over the Crown Court and passes sentence
(if the defendant is found guilty). In a Crown Court trial there are
twelve jurors. These are ordinary members of the public between the
ages of 18 and 70 who are selected at random from electoral register.
The main function of the jury is to judge the guilt or innocence of
the defendant.
10. A person convicted in a magistrates' court may appeal against its
decision to the Crown Court. An appeal against a decision of the Crown
Court may be taken to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), but it
is seldom successful. Judges in the Court of Appeal may confirm, reverse or vary the original
sentence. The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal is headed by
the Lord Chief Justice
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The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the supreme court in all matters under English law, Northern Irish
law and Scottish civil law. It is the court of last resort and highest appellate
court in the United Kingdom; however the High Court of Justiciary remains
the supreme court for criminal cases inScotland. The Supreme Court has
jurisdiction to resolve disputes relating to devolution — cases in which
the legal powers of the three devolved governments or laws made by the
devolved legislatures are questioned. It shares the Middlesex Guildhall in
the City of Westminster, with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform
Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. It assumed the judicial functions
of the House of Lords, which were exercised by the Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary (commonly called "Law Lords"), the 12 professional
judges appointed as members of the House of Lords to carry out its judicial
business. Its jurisdiction over devolution matters had previously been
held by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The main role of the UK Supreme Court is to hear appeals from courts in the United
Kingdom's three legal systems: England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
(English and Welsh law differ only to the extent that the National Assembly
for Wales makes laws for Wales that differ from those in England, and the
two countries have a shared court system.) The Supreme Court acts as
the highest court for civil appeals from the Court of Session in Scotland
but the highest appeal for criminal cases is kept in Scotland. It may
hear appeals from the civil Court of Session, just as the House of Lords
did previously.
From the Court of Session, permission to appeal is not required and
any case can proceed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom if two Advocates certify
that an appeal is suitable. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland,
leave to appeal is required either from the Court of Appeal or from
a Justice of the Supreme Court itself.
The Court's focus is on cases that raise points of law of general public
importance. Like the previous Appellate Committee of the House of Lords,
appeals from many fields of law are likely to be selected for hearing—including
commercial disputes, family matters, judicial review claims against
public authorities and issues under theHuman Rights Act 1998. The Court
also hears some criminal appeals, but not from Scotland as there is
no right of appeal from the High Court of Justiciary, Scotland's highest
criminal court.
The Supreme Court also determines "devolution issues" (as
defined by the Scotland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Government
of Wales Act 2006). These are legal proceedings about the powers of
the three devolved
The twelve justices do not all hear every case - typically a case will
be heard by a panel of five justices, but sometimes the panel may consist
of three, seven or nine members. All twelve justices are also members
of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and spend some of their
time in that capacity.
The creation of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom was first mooted
in a July 2003 Department of Constitutional Affairs Consultation Paper. Although
the report noted that there had been no criticism of the current law
lords, or any indication of an actual bias, it argued that the separation
of the judicial functions of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords should
be made explicit from the legislative functions of the House of Lords.
First, it was concerned whether there is any longer sufficient transparency
of independence from the executive and the legislature to give assurance
of the independence of the judiciary. Looked at alternatively it was
argued that requirement for the appearance of impartiality and independence
also limited the ability of the Law Lords to contribute to the work
of the House of Lords, thus reducing the value to both them and the
House of their membership. Second, it was concerned that it was not always
understood by the public that judicial decisions of "the House
of Lords" were in fact taken by the Judicial Committee of the House
of Lords and that non-judicial members were never involved in its judgements.
Conversely, it was felt that the extent to which the Law Lords themselves
have decided to refrain from getting involved in political issues in
relation to legislation on which they might later have to adjudicate
was not always appreciated. The new President of the Court, Lord Phillips,
has claimed that their old position had confused people and that with
the Supreme Court there would for the first time in the UK be a clear separation
of powers among the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. Finally,
it was noted that space within the House of Lords was at a constant
premium and a separate supreme court would ease the pressure on the
Palace of Westminster.
The main argument against the court was that the previous system had
worked well and kept costs down. Reformers expressed concerns that the
historical admixture of legislative, judicial and executive power in
the UK might conflict with the state's obligations under the European
Convention on Human Rights. Officials who make or execute laws have
an interest in court cases that put those laws to the test. When the
state invests judicial authority in those officials, it puts the independence
and impartiality of the courts at risk. Consequently, it was supposedly
possible that the decisions of the Law Lords might be challenged in
theEuropean Court of Human Rights on the basis that they had not constituted
a fair trial.
Lord Neuberger has expressed fear that the new court could make itself
more powerful than the House of Lords committee it succeeded, saying
that there is a real risk of "judges arrogating to themselves greater
power than they have at the moment". Lord Phillips said such an outcome
was "a possibility", but was "unlikely".
The reforms were controversial and were brought forward with little
consultation but were subsequently extensively debated in Parliament. During
2004, a select committee of the House of Lords scrutinised the arguments
for and against setting up a new court. The Government estimated the
set-up cost of the Supreme Court at £56.9 million.
The Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform
Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. It assumed the judicial
functions of the House of Lords, which were exercised by the Lords of
Appeal in Ordinary (commonly called "Law Lords"), the 12 professional
judges appointed as members of the House of Lords to carry out its judicial
business. Its jurisdiction over devolution matters had previously been
held by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session and the Office of the
Accountant of Court comprise the College of Justice, and are known as
the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
Before 1 October 2009, there were two other courts known as supreme
court, namely the Supreme Court of England and Wales, which
was created in the 1870s under the Judicature Acts, and theSupreme Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland,
each of which consists of a Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice and Crown
Court. When the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 came
into force, those became known as the Senior Courts of England and Wales and
the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland respectively, to avoid confusion.