Administrative and legal status of decisions of the supreme court through the prism of the development of case law in Ukraine

Abstract

In recent years’ modernization and reform of the judiciary has become one of Ukraine’s key tasks. The events of 2013-2014, called the Revolution of Dignity, exacerbated the existing problems of judicial and legal reform, as well as slowed down effective reform measures in this area. Under such conditions, the executive and legislative bodies had to act in the direction of reforming and adapting the judicial system to generally accepted European norms and standards. Since 2014, a number of progressive laws on the functioning of the judiciary and the administration of justice in the state have been approved. And in 2016, the judicial system in Ukraine was reformed: the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine, the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, and the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases were terminated and subsequently liquidated. Instead, all functions, tasks and powers to consider the case as a court of cassation were assigned to the newly created Supreme Court. One of the preconditions for judicial reform in Ukraine was the overburdening of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and higher specialized courts, which violates the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, which is enshrined and guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In accordance with Art. 17 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, the judicial system in Ukraine consists of the Supreme Court, appellate courts, local courts. At the same time, the highest court in this system is the Supreme Court. Along with such innovations in the structural and functional characteristics of the judiciary in Ukraine, there is a tendency to the possibility of future recognition of decisions of the Supreme Court – the official source of law in the country.
 The article reveals the issue of determining the administrative and legal status of decisions of the Supreme Court in Ukraine, outlining key theoretical and practical conclusions over the years of judicial reform. Emphasis is placed on the development of the peculiarities of the Anglo-Saxon legal system in the state and the development of case law.