Interviews

“Let us say that we have a super-precedential law. I mean certain “traditions” in judges’ behaviour, certain attitude towards the authority of the superior court”. (Full version)

“It is impossible not to touch upon recently observed attempts of a significant part of legal community to introduce into Russian law-creation practice the elements of the Anglo-Saxon law of precedent”

The importance of preceding practice and available court decisions, the very precedentiality liberate a particular judge from individual responsibility.  During a year ECHR receives about 50 thousand complaints. They mostly have one-type character. Usually it is possible to find an apposite decision, based on the ones adopted earlier… In Russia we, judges, exercise justice, often being guided by our intuition, our ideas of justice, good and evil. In ECHR the same things also exist, but bear less emotional character. The approach is rather pragmatic, procedural, precedential. (Full version.)

The highest courts, when generalizing judicial practice in certain categories of cases, formulate legal opinions which every court must follow. These positions can be right or wrong. But the judge must follow them, because he cannot appeal against them anywhere. Constitutional Court may not review the decrees of plenary sessions of the highest courts of Russia. This is the only act in Russia, which may not be appealed against anywhere. (Full version.)

Court system is unified, and the law-application must be unified. If court system does not ensure the unity of law-application, it does not ensure in essence the pervasion of law into life. What is law? Law is certainty. And the certainty is achieved by the unity of judicial practice. (Full version.)

I am not a proponent of introducing the law of precedent in our country. But what can be done: to issue the surveys of judicial practice more frequently. From the Supreme Commercial Court and the Supreme Court as well. Then nothing bad would happen. Hold joint plenary sessions of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Commercial Court more frequently. Issue joint decrees, give interpretations, generalize law-application practice. (Full version.)