Implementation of the principle of unity of judicial practice in Russian court proceedings

Recently, in law enforcement practice, one can increasingly frequently encounter court viewpoints contradicting the norms of substantive and procedural law, which gives rise to an objective necessity of studying and understanding the causes of this phenomenon, as well as developing ways to improve the level of justice in the Russian Federation. The author considers the principle of unity of judicial practice as one of the means, the use of which can neutralize the deviations of courts in the uniform interpretation and application of legal norms. This paper analyzes the key viewpoints existing in the procedural law doctrine, as well as the provisions of the current legislation and numerous judicial practice on the existence and consolidation of the principle of unity of judicial practice. The author gives his own definition of the principle of unity of judicial practice and distinguishes it from the concept of judicial practice uniformity, which acts as a tool for implementing the fundamental principle under consideration. The conducted study allowed concluding on the existence and general binding nature of the principle of unity of judicial practice. Summing up the results of the conducted study, the author substantiates the need for comprehensive legislative changes in order to improve the level of justice in the Russian Federation. In particular, the author proposes to establish directly and consolidate in certain norms of procedural legislation the generally binding nature of provisions contained in resolutions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The introduction of such changes will allow improving the quality of Russian justice, ensuring to a greater extent the principles of the rule of law, equality and adversarial nature of the parties in legal proceedings, as well as increasing the level of stability, fairness, legal certainty and predictability of justice in the Russian Federation, and reducing the burden on higher judicial authorities.