Ensuring the exercise of the right to access to justice as a mandatory attribute of a constitutional state

Abstract

The article analyzes both the positive and negative obligations of the state regarding the right to access to justice. Based on the principle of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial, emphasis on the need for real justice in constitutional state, as well as ensuring its accessibility, is made. Some aspects of the European Court of Human Rights case-law in the field of access to justice are considered. It is also hypothesized that the ECtHR case-law ensures the dynamic development of the European Convention on Human Rights provisions. In particular, the article analyses several ECtHR decisions which explicitly state that the Convention is intended to guarantee not theoretical and illusory, but practical and effective rights («Matthews v. The United Kingdom», «Bellet v. France and others»). The decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is studied, which, inter alia, reveals the special role of constitutional and administrative proceedings in ensuring the rule of law. The obligation of the state to ensure equal access to justice is stated, since the purpose of justice is to protect violated, disputed rights, freedoms that belong directly to the person applying to the court for their protection. Therefore, the exercise of the right guaranteed by part two of Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine to appeal court decisions, actions or omissions of subjects of power must be ensured in accordance with the stated purpose of justice. At the same time, this right connects to the opportunity of every person to justify before the court conviction in the illegality of interference by the subjects of power in rights and freedoms concerned. The article analyses the decision of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, which reveals the legal nature of ensuring access to justice in criminal, or administrative offenses. It is stated that the attributes of the rule of law are not limited to the justice and access to it, and their autonomous existence is impossible in a society where other democratic institutions do not work. Keywords: the rule of law, justice, access to justice, constitutional state, human rights, legal aid.