ABOUT ISSUE 1 OF 2022

Abstract

This is the first issue of Access to Justice in Eastern Europe in 2022 and I am delighted to present our authors’ contributions. The research articles section opens with the article related to a very important practical issue in procedural law and the theory of law – the division of cases into easy ones and hard ones. It seems that the digitalisation of justice may significantly impact this division because of the courts’ decision-making processes in such cases. In this essay, the author examines whether the solutions proposed by legal positivism (such as applying syllogisms and precedents) are sufficient to deal with easy cases and what factors analysed by legal realists have an impact on judges when making decisions in hard cases. Learn more about this topic and why and how these changes occur in the article of a young and promising researcher from Vilnius University, Goda Strikaitė-Latušinskaja. A fresh and interesting perspective on derivative lawsuits and the right to file such a lawsuit was included in this issue. The regulation of derivative lawsuits differs in each jurisdiction, despite sharing common features, raising a variety of issues to be resolved. It is a great pleasure for me to highlight that the author Heorhii Smirnov is apostgraduate Student of our Law School at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. An excellent study related to land rights disputes and the effective protection of rights was prepared by Oleh Ilnytslyi and Ivan Boychenyk. I highly recommend reading this article to discover more about how procedural legislation and the practice of its application to unresolved issues have limited methods of protection in cases of the rights and interests of persons to land by courts of different jurisdictions and the possibility of their cross-application in Ukraine. I also particularly want to draw the attention of our readers to the very interesting and inspiring note prepared by Dobrosława Szumiło-Kulczycka from Jagiellonian University as part of the ‘Costs of a Criminal Trial in View of an Economic Analysis of Law’ project. In her article, prof. Szumiło-Kulczycka points out three fundamental factors determining the amount of the expenses, i.e., the fact of the accused being imprisoned during the proceedings, the use of scientific evidence (opinions produced by expert witnesses), and the participation of a public defender remunerated by the State Treasury. Joanna Bodio’s review on the book ‘Implementation of the principle of the best interests of the child in mediation in matters concerning the exercise of parental authority and contacts’, edited by Joanna Mucha,appears in our issue as well. This monograph was prepared with the wide participation of colleagues from European states and focused on a very important goal – the thesis that in court proceedings in matters relating to a child and mediation in matters concerning the exercise of parental rights and contact with a child, the primary value to be protected should be the best interests of the child. I would like to thank both of my colleagues – the reviewer and the editor of this excellent book – and sincerely hope that we will continue this promising and important research. A few notes have also been included in this issue due to their interesting insights and importance for further research.