The Institution of Special Court Rulings in Civil Procedure: Problems of Application

Abstract

The institution of a special court ruling is one of the procedural tools that ensures that courts of general jurisdiction, when considering cases in civil proceedings, strengthen the rule of law and prevent offenses. Special court rulings have a long history of development: they have gone from a mandatory form of procedural reaction of the court to detected violations of the rule of law or the rules of the socialist community to a response measure of the court to cases of violations of the rule of law attributed to its discretionary powers. At the same time, with the adoption of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the importance and effectiveness of the institution of a special court ruling have significantly decreased. Judicial statistics indicate that there is a long-term and gradually developing trend towards a decrease in the number of private rulings issued by courts of general jurisdiction in civil cases. This situation is caused by fragmented and incomplete legal regulation, its ambiguous interpretation, diversely developing judicial practice and the lack of clarification of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the practice of applying the institute of a special court ruling. In addition, the procedure for monitoring the enforcement of special court rulings by authorized persons in terms of informing them to the court about the measures taken to eliminate and prevent further violations of the rule of law goes beyond the function of the court to administer justice and imposes on the court the duties inherent in control (supervisory) bodies. The above circumstances raise questions about the necessity and expediency of having the institution of special court rulings in civil proceedings in its current form, as well as about the prospects for its further improvement.