Justice in the Contemporary World

• Author: O. Pankova - Yu. Migachev
• Position: Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Moscow, Russia)
• Pages: 119-147

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume VII (2020) Issue 1

JuSTICE In THE ConTEMPoRARY woRLD

OLGA PANKOVA,

Kutan Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Moscow, Russia)

YURI MIGACHEV,

Kutan Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Moscow, Russia)

https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2020-7-1- 119-147

The article reveals the essential characteristics of justice as a specic type of state activity

and identies the main signs of justice that distinguish it from other types of state activity

as well as from other types of judicial activity. The ar ticle also analyzes the categories of

“justice” and “judicial power” and denes the essence of judicial control in the context of

its relationship with justice. As a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion

that the most important and promising approach is to consider justice to be one of the

characteristics organically inherent in the judiciary or as a related phenomenon. In this

sense, justice is dened as state activity within the framework of which the judicial power

is exercised. The judiciary is, accordingly, the essential expression of the functional purpose

and competent certainty of justice. Turning to the issue of the signs of justice, the authors

touch upon the problem of its wide and narrow understanding arising in connection

with the increasing role of mediation, conciliation and arbitration as alternative forms

of resolving legal conicts, as well as in connection with vesting certain state bodies with

jurisdictional powers. They come to the conclusion that, unlike in a number of foreign

countries, justice in Russia can be administered only by state courts. The study of the subject

area of justice related to the situation of legal conict is also of considerable interest. In this

context, the analysis of the concept of “legal conict” and the proposed dierentiation of

such conicts into types with the subsequent study of each of them is quite justied. Having

studied justice as a category, which makes it possible to reveal the content and legal essence

of this type of state activity, the authors dene this concept in one universal denition.

Keywords: justice; judicial authority; legal conict; fairness; jurisdiction; judicial control.

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume VII (2020) Issue 1 120

Recommended citation: Olga Pankova & Yuri Migachev, Justice in the Contemporary

World, 7(1) BRICS Law Journal 119–147 (2020).

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Justice as a Multidimensional and Meaningful Category

2. Essential Characteristics of Justice as a Type of State Activity

3. The Concept and Signs of Justice

3.1. The Legal Content of the Feature “Administration of Justice

Only by a Court”

3.2. Subject Area of Justice

3.3. The Arbitration Nature of Justice

3.4. Procedural Form of Administration of Justice

3.5. Justice and Justness: Aspects of Interaction

3.6. Binding Force of Court Decisions

Conclusion

Introduction

The main goal of legal and judicial reforms in Russia and abroad is to create an

eective state. In such a state an important role is undoubtedly played by justice

designed to ensure the sustainability of the judiciary and the adequate needs of

society with a focus on the individual person, with his or her rights and freedoms,

and democracy, the separation of powers and parliamentarism are recognized as

basic political values.

Unfortunately, evaluating the results of the implementation of the constitutional

ideas, principles and norms underpinning the contemporary model of justice in

Russia, we have to state that only a virtual illusion of its eectiveness and full-edged

provision of human rights and freedoms has been formed so far. In fact, we are far

from meeting the set goals – the gap between the ideal of justice and its practical

implementation is very tangible. It seems that the more the judicial power and the

judicial system are reformed, the more public complaints and societal distrust they

cause. Numerous negative statements about justice in the mass media sometimes

use the most unexpected combinations of the notion, such as “rusted justice” and

“tari for justice.”

However, this situation is not unique to Russia. Some foreign countries are also

concerned about the current state of justice.

For example, the United States recognizes the inability of its system of justice

to preserve the social fabric that binds the nation together. The state has invested