Judicial power

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation was formed and developed as a result of a judicial reform, carried out in Russia from the beginning of the 90s. The purpose of the reform was to create and maintain the judicial power in the state mechanism as an independent branch of power, free from political and ideological bias, independent in its activities from the executive and legislative branches of power.
Independent, competent law court is an important component of a democratic state based on a rule of law.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 became the main legal basis for the introduction of the judicial reform. For the first time the Constitution contained a Chapter according to which the state power in the Russian Federation should be exercised on the basis of its division into legislative, executive and judicial powers, and all these branches of power should be independent.

The structure of the judicial system of the Russian Federation and the sphere of activities of its various parts are determined by the Constitution and federal constitutional laws.

The judicial system of the Russian Federation consists of:
- the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and constitutional courts of the republics and other subjects of the Russian Federation.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation considers cases relating to the compliance of the federal laws, normative acts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Council of the Federation, the State Duma, the Government of the Russian Federation, constitutions of the republics, charters and other normative acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

- four-tiered system of courts of the general jurisdiction. Three-tiered system of the military courts is an integral part of it. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is the supreme judicial body of this branch;
- three-level system of the arbitration courts with the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation as a supreme judicial body, competent to settle economic disputes and other cases considered by arbitration courts, exercise judicial supervision over their activities, according to the federal law-envisaged procedural forms. The system of the arbitration courts comprises: the arbitration courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation; the courts of the arbitration districts and the Higher Arbitration Court. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is the highest judicial body for the civil, criminal, administrative and other cases, which are under trial jurisdiction. It carries out judicial supervision over lower courts in accordance with the judicial procedure provided by the federal law and gives explanations on the judiciary practice. The High Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation is the highest judicial body for the economic disputes and other cases, which under the jurisdiction of arbitration courts. It carries out judicial supervision over their activity in accordance with the judicial procedure of the federal law and gives explanations on the judiciary practice.

2. Give Russian equivalents:

1. (n) purpose, bias, rule, division, compliance, charter, dispute, supervision, district, jurisdiction, explanation

2. (v) carry out, maintain, contain, determine, develop, consider, settle, exercise, comprise

3. (adj) judicial, independent, main, various, military, three-level, four-tiered, law-envisaged, civil, criminal, trial, judiciary

3. Insert the correct preposition.

1. The Supreme Court was formed and developed as a result of a judicial reform, carried … in Russia from the beginning of the 90s.

2. The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 became the main legal basis … the introduction of the judicial reform.

3. The structure of the judicial system of the Russian Federation and the sphere of activities of its various parts are determined … the Constitution and federal constitutional laws.

4. For the first time the Constitution contained a Chapter according … which the state power in the Russian Federation should be exercised … the basis of its division … legislative, executive and judicial powers.

5. The Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation is a supreme judicial body, competent to settle economic disputes and other cases considered … arbitration courts.

6. It carries … judicial supervision … lower courts … accordance … the judicial procedure provided … the federal law and gives explanations on the judiciary practice.

4. Give English equivalents.

Судебная реформа, независимая ветвь власти, свободный от политического и идеологического влияния, другие субъекты Российской Федерации, высший судебный орган, осуществлять судебный надзор, предусмотренный законом процессуальный порядок, в соответствии с судебной процедурой.

5. Read the texts about the executive in judicial power again and answer the questions.

1. What are the federal organs of executive power?

2. Does the President have the right to appoint the Prime Minister and the cabinet?

3. The President is not only head of State but also the guarantor of the Constitution and citizens’ rights in the Russian Federation, is he?

4. What does the executive branch consists of?

5. What does control over the State apparatus enable the President to use?

6. What State organ helps and assists the President to implement his core functions?

7. Was the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation formed and developed as a result of a judicial reform, carried out in Russia from the beginning of the 90s or 80s?

8. What became the main legal basis for the introduction of the judicial reform?

9. What does the judicial system of the Russian Federation consist of?

10. What does the system of the arbitration courts comprise?

11. What is the highest judicial body for the civil, criminal, administrative and other cases, which are under trial jurisdiction?

12. Is the High Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation or the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation the highest judicial body for the economic disputes and other cases?

1. Free Speech

1. What Russian tsars do you know? Do you remember the years of their reign?

2. What was their reformative activity?

2. Read text A.

Text A

Russia has many historical trends in the development of the State government. In the Russian historical development the State and State government always played an autonomous and sometimes a decisive role. The Russian State has been greatly influenced by the reformative activity of Peter I, Alexander II, Nicholas I and the Pre-October status of state government under Nicholas II.

The Peter I’s system of administrative reforms was, without doubt, progressive and had a great role in strengthening all functions in the State. The operative control was many-faced and the original Russian empire became what it was under Peter I. The creative aim of Peter I was to achieve some most important changes aimed at a special regime of the regular State where the power of the monarchy realises the functions of State government with the help of advanced legislative activity. And the will of the monarch was the main driving force for progress. The whole great territory of the Russian empire was sub-divided first into eight and then into ten provinces (gubernii) and the provinces were sub-divided into regions. This ended the influence of zemstvo institutions. Peter I’s legislation covered all the levels of the society including the regulation of industry, the support of its priorities, the regulation of trade, the status of social groups and the activity of State apparatus and bureaucracy. A great number of people were mobilized for different governmental jobs. The system of taxation was changed. Peter I constantly took care of the modernization of administration to rationalize or modernize Russia and to make it more European he formed a new ruling class: the bureaucracy.

The reforms of Peter I certainly rationalized the government, because every collegiums (there were 11) had a general competence conferred by the State. Foreign affairs was the highest administrative collegium and finance questions came under the competence of the following three central institutions: the economic collegium (kamer-kollegiya), the office of State (shtat-kontor-kollegiya) and the revision collegium (revizionkollegiya). Peter I's reforms touched the activities of the Duma, the system of courts was changed and in Peter's reign the status of the church was changed, too. In 1720 the statute on the activities of the State collegiums, offices and institutions was given. It regulated the content, competence, functions and order of the activity of the institutions, the organization and conducting of office work. Every collegium based on the general principles produced documents according to its competence. The rationalization of the new civil service hierarchy, which abolished the traditional limitation of localities, the merging of functions and the priority of the aristocracy was reflected in the Table of Ranks of 1722, which was the last stage of the administrative reforms of Peter I.

The boyars in Russia opposed Peter's autocracy. In 1722, in order to consolidate his position, the Emperor created a civil service system with 14 ranks. This kind of system was common in 17th and 18th-century European state administration. The advisors of Peter I were usually not of noble birth and Peter the Great granted them rank. There was titled nobility - i.e. princes (velikii kniaz), dukes (kniaz), counts (graf) and barons (baron) - and even a large nobility without titles. However, the Russian rank system (tabel o rangah vysokih chinov) never totally replaced the system of hereditary merit (mestnitsestvo as placement), and thus, the titles of the rank system were neither noble nor hereditary. Only a lineage of civil service spanning over generations would normally pave the way to a higher rank.

3. Give Russian equivalents:

1. (n) empire, regime, monarch, support, bureaucracy, collegiums, competence, priority, nobility, merit, generation, lineage

2. (v) strengthen, aim at, take care of, confer, abolish, merge, replace, pave, consolidate, grant

3. (adj) many-faced, noble, common, hereditary, foreign, creative

4. Insert the correct preposition.

1) The Russian State has been greatly influenced … the reformative activity of Peter I.

2) The Peter I’s system of administrative reforms had a great role … strengthening all functions in the State.

3) The whole great territory of the Russian empire was sub-divided first … eight and then into ten provinces.

4) Peter I constantly took care … the modernization of administration.

5) Only a lineage of civil service spanning … generations would normally pave the way to a higher rank.

5. Answer the following questions.

a) By whose reformative activity has the Russian State been greatly influenced?

b) What was the creative aim of Peter I?

c) How was the whole great territory of the Russian empire sub-divided?

d) Did Peter I’s legislation cover all the levels of the society?

e) How did the reforms of Peter I rationalize the government?

f) Who opposed Peter's autocracy?

6. Read the second part of the text and answer the questions after the text.

Text B

Post-Catherinian Russia was divided into two parts: dvorieanne-run (dvorianskie) and bureaucratic (chinovnye). When filling an office, the function of the rank was to prove that a person had competence comparable to that of a person today holding a university degree. This system favoured the Russian nobility when filling posts. There was a non-titled nobility (blagarodie) corresponding to ranks from XIV to IX and titled nobility corresponding ranks from VIII to I. The titled nobility consisted of the higher nobility (vysokoblagorodie), aristocracy (vysokorodie), excellency (prevoshoditelstvo) and “profound” excellency vysokoprevoshoditelstvo). However, mostly a descendant of a nobleman would be appointed to a higher military office. Military ranks - mostly manned by noblemen - were esteemed higher than the corresponding civil ranks (chin). The court and the navy also had rankings of their own. As an example, a collegium advisor was of the same level as a colonel (rank 6) and a real advisor of the State was equal to a major-general (rank 4). The rank system formed the discretionary hierarchy around the Emperor.

The main changes in the system of State administration and civil service took place during the rule of Nicholas I. The bureaucratic model of governing of Nicholas I existed to all intents and purposes practically up to the revolution in 1917. During the reign of Nicholas I the reform of the system of government was conducted by issuing a full collection of the laws of the Russian Empire (45 volumes), including the period 1649-1825. One should note the basic document of that time: the statute on the civil service of 1832 regulated the organization of the civil service. Later on only additions were inserted. In 1834 the order of ranks in the civil service was defined. In 1846 the inspectorate of the civil office was created under the first department of the Empire Office. This department was responsible for monitoring the exact implementation of the existing normative acts which regulated the conduct of the civil service.

Alexander II initiated his reforms in 1861 by a manifesto and the abolition of serfdom. The manifesto included 19 normative acts. It elaborated the statute on the province and legal districts of jurisdiction (uezd) and the zemskie institutions. The reform of the organs of local self-government (zemskaja reforma) was conducted according to this.

Under Nicholas II there was an attempt to reform the new model of the State and its social economic organization in order to successfully harmonize the traditional monarchical community model of Russian society with the development of capitalism in the country. But that attempt proved unsuccessful. On 17th October 1905 the Tsar's manifesto on the modernization of State order was issued. According to this, the State Duma was formed as a legislative institution. The State Council became the upper chamber and had the right to veto the Duma's decisions. In other words it became a balancing factor. In practice, Russia was not yet a Constitutional monarchy. In 1906 a new edition of the collection of the main laws was issued, where the Tsar had the right to dismiss the State Duma and the State Council became the sole ruler in State and social life. The autocratic monarchy was in practice based on the landlords and aristocrats and lost credit in liberal-industrial circles. The historical experience of the civil service in Russia before 1917, the practice of creating a unique system of organs of the civil service adopted in that period, the normative acts on the organization and the functioning of the civil service deserve special attention today. The unique system of the institution of the civil service, which covered the central State, provincial and regional levels, was formed in Russia from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The civil service (corpus) was recognized as a public legal institution, which was responsible for the implementation of State politics on a high professional level. The communist nomenklatura carried out the same functions as the rank system. The position (posad) in the nomenklatura followed the post in the office or factory. This promotion list system became the new system of ranks in Russia in the 1990s.

a) What parts was Post-Catherinian Russia divided into?

b) What kinds of nobility existed?

c) Were military ranks and the corresponding civil ranks esteemed equally?

d) When did the main changes in the system of State administration and civil service take place?

e) Was the order of ranks in the civil service defined in 1834 or 1835?

f) Who initiated Nicholas I’ reforms in 1861? How did he do that?

g) What did Nicolas II want to reform?

h) The State Council became the upper chamber and had the right to veto the Duma's decisions, didn’t it?

i) When was a new edition of the collection of the main laws issued?

7. Find English equivalents from both texts.

Играть решающую роль; Российская империя; подразделяться на; бюрократия; система налогообложения; отменять; потомок; нетитулованный; коллегия; вовремя царствования; группа инспекторов; судебный орган; ведомство законодательной власти; местное самоуправление; конституционная монархия; иметь право на запрет.

8. True or false:

1) The creative aim of Peter I was to achieve some most important changes aimed at a special regime of the regular State where the power of the monarchy realizes the functions of State government with the help of advanced judicial activity.

2) The whole great territory of the Russian empire was sub-divided first into eight and then into ten provinces and the provinces were sub-divided into regions.

3) The boyars in Russia opposed Peter's democracy.

4) Russian rank system totally replaced the system of hereditary merit, and thus, the titles of the rank system were neither noble nor hereditary.

5) The titled nobility consisted of the higher nobility, aristocracy, excellency and “profound” excellency.

6) During the reign of Nicholas I the reform of the system of government was conducted by issuing a full collection of the laws of the Russian Empire.

7) Alexander I initiated reforms of Nicolas I in 1861 by a manifesto and the abolition of serfdom.

8) On 17th October 1905 the Tsar's manifesto on the modernization of State order was issued. According to the Tsar Nicolas II’s manifesto on the modernization of State order, the State Duma was formed as an executive institution.

9. Translate into English.

История отечественного государственного управления отсчитывается с образования Киевской Руси. Вместе с тем возникновению Древнерусского государства предшествовало складывание таких ранних государственных образований, как Куяба, Славия, Артания. Нахождение и размеры этих государственных центров до сих пор вызывают споры среди историков. В IX веке большая часть славянских племен объединилась в территориальный союз с центром в Киеве, получивший название «Русская земля». Со временем Киевская Русь присоединила к себе территории других славянских племен. Первоначально княжеская власть не имела постоянного характера. Функции князя состояли в предводительстве дружины в период военных действий и в поддержании дипломатических и торговых отношений с соседями в мирное время. На местах все важные вопросы решались народным собранием – вечем. Процесс формирования института княжеской власти начался со сбора дани с населения: на поселения была наложена обязанность доставлять дань в единый центр – князю. Еще одним фактором, сплотившим племена вокруг центра, стала обязанность их представителей участвовать в оборонительных походах. Племена стали сливаться в единую древнерусскую народность – «русь». Высшая политическая властьв Киевской Руси была представлена великим князем, который выступал как законодатель, военный вождь, верховный администратор и судья. Взаимоотношения с другими князьями строились на основе договоров – крестных грамот, определявших взаимные права и обязанности. Со времен первых русских князей, Рюрика и Олега, княжеская власть стала индивидуально наследственной и, соответственно, стала восприниматься современниками как особая власть, присущая только избранным людям, что в итоге способствовало укреплению и росту престижа власти. Постепенно власть князя стала отождествляться с государственной властью. По форме правления Древнерусское государство было типичной раннефеодальной монархией. Огромное значение для укрепления государственной власти имело принятие Русью христианства (988 г.). Церковь повышала авторитет князя, рассматривая его власть как богоданную.