European standards in the field of civil proceedings: scientific problem formulation

Abstract

Problem formulation. The article analyzes European standards in the field of civil proceedings. The need to change traditional approaches within the framework of civil procedural science, covering its conceptual and categorical framework, the methodology of studying law, and research subjects is substantiated. This need is due to, first of all, the growing influence of the concept of human rights and freedoms on the contemporary legal systems, as well as the models of procedural activity. Purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose of the article is to analyze the essence of the category of European standards in civil proceedings. Research methods. The methodological basis of the study is a set of general scientific and general legal methods and means of cognition of civil procedural law. It is argued that the system of European standards began to acquire serious shape and a certain completeness in the global dimension only in the middle of the 20th century as a result of the historical development of states. Having passed the path of its development within the framework of three generations of human rights, the concept of human rights has brought the problem of their ensuring to a qualitatively new level in terms of appropriate procedures and protection mechanisms. The natural result was the possibility of enshrining the minimum necessary list of human rights in the field of judicial protection in international legal instruments for the first time. In this sense, the very emergence of the term “standards in the field of ensuring the right to judicial protection” as a quite new phenomenon of legal doctrine and legislation was a logical extension of this movement, given the need for a global assessment of respect for human rights and freedoms and of national laws in terms of their compliance with the ideas of the rule of law. The correct use of the terms “procedure”, “legal proceedings”, “civil proceedings”, “judicial procedures”, “defense of a right” in relation to the standards under consideration is also important in the theoretical and applied context. We can speak of the possibility of their use only in the sense that they are all aimed at the cognition of the same phenomenon. Not all standards may have a fundamental character for legal proceedings, be within the scope of normative regulation, cover structurally all stages and proceedings, individualize procedural activities and determine the necessary scope of rights and obligations of its participants and the procedural position of the court. The issues of the content of standards in the field of ensuring the right to judicial protection in civil proceedings are considered. It is noted that the trend in the activities of the European judicial institution, especially given the unique perception of the Convention as a “living instrument”, will be the expansion of the methodology for understanding the rule of law and the formation of new approaches to its normative regulation, including such its aspects as related to ensuring the right to judicial protection and a fair trial. The vector of development of both national procedural legislation and deepening of legal and, first of all, procedural integration will be of no small importance. The approximation of the legislations of different states in order to achieve a certain degree of their consistency will also determine the emergence of new standards in the field of ensuring the right to judicial protection in civil proceedings. The standards in the field of civil proceedings may include the following: an independent and impartial tribunal with appropriate jurisdictional powers; procedural equality of the parties and the adversarial form of the proceedings; the right to legal aid; due notice and the right to be heard; language of legal proceedings; reasonable time frames for judicial procedures; autonomy of the parties; judicial administration of the proceedings; conciliation procedures; institutional and procedural accessibility of justice; public trial; responsibility for non-compliance with procedural obligations; burden of proof and obligations of the court and the parties in determining the elements of fact and law; the judgment and its reasoning; the immediate execution of judgements; appeal; and a number of others. Research conclusions. European standards in the field of civil proceedings should be considered as conceptual ideas reflecting the global context of the development and impact of the doctrine of human rights and recognized by the European community as inherent, determining the methodology for understanding their essence, including from the standpoint of the Convention and its interpretative results, as well as a model of ensuring these rights in terms of the requirements for legal proceedings as judicial procedures.