Principles of functioning of the judicial system of Ukraine and the Court of Justice of the European Union in the period of global spread of COVID-19 virus: comparative legal analysis

Abstract

The article explores the pandemic justice arrangements that have been taken in Ukraine as a democratic unitary state and in the European Union. The objects selected for the study - the judiciary of Ukraine and the Court of Justice of the European Union, in our opinion, can be compared, since the subject of the study is the principles of organization of work of judicial institutions, which were in the same conditions of global spread COVID-19 and the action aimed at combating them. Based on the analysis, we can determine that, at the time of the quarantine, the legislature empowered the courts, regardless of the form of justice, to restrict the access of free listeners to the courtroom. In assessing the work of the courts during the quarantine period, it should be noted that the legislative changes in the quarantine conditions did not contribute to the functioning of the judicial bodies. The judicial institutions continued to operate without much change in the way they worked. But unlike the EU Court of Justice, which on its own initiative postponed the hearing of cases in court sessions and directed the work of the court to hear urgent cases, Ukrainian judges continued to hear cases, postponing their consideration only at the request of the parties. It should be noted that a comparative analysis of the organization of the functioning of the judicial system in Ukraine and the Court of Justice in the period of emergency caused by the spread of coronary virus infection shows that, unlike the Court of Justice, the judicial power in Ukraine is not endowed with independence, as a basis for the organization of judicial power, which makes it impossible to exercise effective handling of cases in emergency situations and is a wake-up call to the independence of the judiciary as a whole. Keywords: Judicial system of Ukraine, EU Court of Justice, comparative legal analysis, COVID-19.