Filing a lawsuit as a set of procedural actions at the stage of opening a lawsuit in a civil process

Abstract

The article examines the concept, essence and legal nature of filing a claim in a civil process. The author critically evaluates the traditional view of filing a lawsuit as one procedural action that triggers the entire mechanism of protection of violated rights, freedoms, or interests in civil proceedings. Taking into account the need to observe the established procedure for the exercise of the right to file a claim, the point of view is substantiated that the filing of a claim is a set of procedural actions that determine the realization of the specified subjective procedural right. A list of procedural actions is given, with the help of which the right to file a claim is realized in the established order: the minimum permissible procedural actions and their increased number are determined. Based on this, it is concluded that the filing of a claim in a civil process can be presented in the form of abbreviated or extended legal composition. In the latter case, it is required to perform such a set of procedural actions, which are determined by the nature of the disputed legal relationship, the stated claim and the person of the applicant. Instead, the truncated composition of the lawsuit indicates that the plaintiff has certain procedural benefits. It is indicated that all procedural actions that must be taken by the plaintiff in order to comply with the established procedure for exercising the right to file a claim are mandatory, but their number may be different, depending on the type of legal structure that determines the realization of the right to file a claim. It is noted that despite the numerous procedural actions of the plaintiff, which form the legal structure of the right to file a lawsuit, only one behavior of the plaintiff at the stage of opening a lawsuit will be of decisive importance: submitting a claim statement to the court of first instance. Without this, the previous behavior of the plaintiff (preparation of a statement of claim of the prescribed form and content, payment of a court fee, etc.) will not have legal significance, since it does not indicate the will of the person to seek legal protection.