If a situation arises as a result of which certain rights of a person or a legal entity were violated, as a result of which material or moral damage was caused, the person (organization) has the right to apply to the court to protect the violated rights and compensate for the damage caused.
Parties to the lawsuit
A case in court cannot be started without a statement of claim. A person who submits an application or in whose interests the consideration of a case begins, in accordance with Art. 38 CCP called the "plaintiff". The meaning of the term is that one of the parties to the civil process has become the initiator of the consideration of the situation.
The second party, which, according to the plaintiff, violated his rights, logically, should defend himself, prove the plaintiff is wrong. In case of confirmation of the fact of illegal actions of the second party, the perpetrators will be liable. Based on this logic, the second side of the process is called the “responder”.
Rights and obligations of persons participating in civil proceedings
AT judicial process consideration of the dispute both sides of the process in accordance with the provisions of Art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation have procedural rights and obligations. A democratic trial is guaranteed by the possibility for the plaintiff and defendant to use their rights in full. But in no case should you abuse the opportunities provided by the legislator.
The theory of civil law distinguishes between general and special rights that the parties have in the civil process.
All moments of the trial (and there are a lot of them) are regulated by articles of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The issue of the rights and obligations of the parties is considered in art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. This legislative norm consists of two parts. The first part provides an exhaustive list of general procedural rights, and the second part, we can learn about the obligations of the parties.
The right to get acquainted with the case file
Parties to the trial have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the materials of a civil case. What does this give the plaintiff and defendant? A party to a legal dispute shall submit supporting documents to substantiate the correctness of its position. A judge, as an impartial arbitrator in a dispute between two parties, is obliged to attach all evidence, petitions, etc. to the case. The plaintiff, when he gets acquainted with the materials that are in the case, is convinced of the presence of those documents that he presented as evidence. If there is no document in the materials, the prosecution raises this issue, and most often the missing documents are filed to the case.
The party to the defendant is probably more interested in familiarizing themselves with the materials of the legal proceedings. Persons participating in the case as the defendant’s lawyers must build a defense strategy based on the essence of the accusations made to the defendant. Studying each document attached to the case, the lawyer plans his actions as a defender and, on the basis of the information received, puts forward certain counterarguments.
Other important procedural rights
Art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure also provides for other rights of the parties in civil proceedings. For example, the plaintiff and defendant may challenge judicial acts in the manner prescribed by law. It is a question of both intermediate acts that can be adopted in the course of the consideration of a dispute (decisions, individual decisions), and the final court decision in a civil case. Decisions (decisions) usually indicate the procedure and terms of appeal.The right to appeal court decisions held by parties to a civil procedure guarantees a democratic judiciary and the ability to prove their case.
Why provide evidence?
In Art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation with comments refers to the right of the parties to provide evidence on the essence of the issues. We cannot fully agree with this interpretation, because:
- the facts set forth in the statement of claim must be documented initially;
- the parties to the process are interested in winning the case, so they will in any case provide evidence;
- the plaintiff and the defendant must justify their innocence, since the court is not an investigative organization; in order to resolve the dispute on the merits, the judge may request documents that cannot be submitted by the persons participating in the case due to the lack of legal authority to receive such documents;
- The principle of competitiveness in a lawsuit obliges the parties to argue in favor of their innocence.
Based on the above facts, we can conclude that the provision of evidence during the trial is better considered not so much a right as an obligation of the parties to the process.
Special Procedural Rights
At the beginning of the article we said that, in addition to the ordinary procedural rights enshrined in part 1 of article 35 Code of Civil Procedure, there are also special procedural rights. For example, if the plaintiff has several claims against the defendant, he can combine all these issues into one lawsuit. The same can be done if several people believe that the same person violated their rights. The decision to combine several proceedings into one is made by the judge.
Special rights also include the ability to choose a court. In this regard, the plaintiff may have up to three options, since the lawsuit can be filed:
- to the authority at the place of residence of the initiator of the dispute;
- at the place of registration of the defendant;
- at the location of the property or the legal address of the company (if the defendant is a legal entity).
A person under the law can file only one lawsuit on the same issue.
Responsibilities of the process participants
Art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation (current version) does not establish a clear list of obligations of the parties to the process. This section of the Code of Civil Procedure states that the plaintiff and defendant bear the obligations established by this code and other federal laws.
Practitioners believe that those involved in the case must not abuse their rights. What is their opinion based on? It often happens that people file lawsuits in several courts at once. Such facts cannot be immediately detected. Such actions of the plaintiffs are detrimental to the state, since instead of preparatory measures for the consideration of the case took place in one court, they are carried out in two or three courts.
Rejection
As we have already emphasized, Art. 35 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation (the current version) provides for the possibility of using procedural rights not expressly specified in the text of a regulatory legal act. Often legal disputes do not reach their logical end (decision), because the parties agree among themselves.
Conclusion
The rights and obligations of participants in civil proceedings are regulated by Art. 35 GIC. In our judicial system, participants in litigation have many rights and opportunities that allow them to achieve a positive result.
