Justice of the peace is a separate instance in the structure of the judicial system of Russia. What matters are subject to them? What are the features of doing business at this level? This can be found in the article below.
On the jurisdiction of magistrates
First of all, it is worth noting that this is a kind of legal mechanism. It allows you to determine the appropriate judge, endowed with special competence to consider a specific dispute. It is important to note that a justice of the peace is a person vested with the rights of a court of first instance.
Speaking of territorial jurisdiction, it is worth noting that it is a kind of institution that has the ability to fully function. However, only after the correct application of the rules on tribal jurisdiction. That is why in practice there is a review of cases together to determine the specifics.
About the specificity of tribal jurisdiction
It is important to understand that the tribal jurisdiction possessed by the justice of the peace has certain specifics. It consists in the fact that they occupy a lower position in the system of Themis. That is why they have the responsibility of hearing and subsequently resolving only the most simple cases in the field of administrative offenses, criminal offenses, as well as the conduct of certain civil and family cases. At the same time, legal experts strongly recommend paying particular attention to which particular criminal cases of crimes are subject to a justice of the peace.
About tax disputes
Can justices of the peace consider cases related to tax offenses? It is worth noting that until March 2015 they really had such an opportunity. However, the situation has fundamentally changed after the entry into force of Federal Law No. 22 (“On the Introduction of the Code of Administrative Procedure”). The specified normative act, by its content, completely excluded from the jurisdiction of magistrates justices disputes related to the collection of fees and taxes. As a result of this, such cases became jurisdictional to local courts (city and district).
It is worth noting that in the current practice this procedure was very inconvenient. Because of this, on the basis of FZ-103, adopted in 2016, the jurisdiction of magistrates included the issuance of orders on requirements regarding issues related to the topic under consideration.
Categories of cases
Speaking about which cases are under the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, it is important to note that a complete list of them is presented in the contents of Art. 3 of the Law "On Justices of the Peace", acting at the federal level. To some extent, such issues are also disclosed in the articles of the procedural codes of the Russian Federation, but, according to lawyers and practitioners, they are reflected in the most detailed manner in this normative act.
So, based on the content of Art. 3 Federal Law "On Justices of the Peace", a number of cases under the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace include:
- settlement of family relationships;
- order type production;
- disputes of a property nature;
- determination of procedures for the use of property, as well as residential premises;
- cases of administrative offenses;
- cases arising from labor disputes;
- criminal proceedings.
Judges Competency
It is worth noting that the content of the Federal Law "On Justices of the Peace" defines a strict circle of competence within which these officials have the opportunity to carry out their activities.It is important to understand that it provides a certain set of powers guaranteed when resolving issues related to different branches of law. Let us further consider in more detail the features of the consideration of cases by justices of the peace in accordance with the requirements of jurisdiction.
Criminal Competence
The content of the Federal Law "On Justices of the Peace" and the Code of Criminal Procedure enshrines a certain range of powers of an official in resolving substantive criminal disputes.
First of all, it is important to note that the main criterion for determining the criminal justice of a criminal case against a magistrate is the possibility of assigning a term to a defendant for a term of no more than three years. As legal practice shows, they mostly deal with the following cases:
- The investigation, which is carried out in the form of an inquiry.
- Providing for private prosecution (in other words, those whose initiation is carried out only if there is the will of the person who suffered as a result of criminal acts).
- Those for which a preliminary investigation is carried out (for example, for crimes related to inflicting both moderate and serious harm to health, excess of necessary self-defense, etc.).
Speaking in more detail about the list of criminal cases under the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, one should pay attention to the content of Art. 31 Code of Criminal Procedure, where it is mentioned.
Administrative competence
As mentioned above, judges of the rank in question are vested with the legal right to resolve administrative cases.
A complete list of administrative cases under the jurisdiction of a magistrate is included in the content of Art. 23.1 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. Based on the provisions presented in it, the officials of this instance, by virtue of their own competence, can consider issues of the following nature:
- on violations in the field of industrial safety;
- the illegal drawing of a taxi circuit;
- violation of road safety regulations;
- about violations in the field of jewelry turnover, as well as precious metals (their purchase, sale, etc.).
It is important to note that justices of the peace are not entitled to hear cases that require specialized proceedings, and therefore their consideration is the responsibility of the arbitration, district and military courts.
Civil Competence
As practice shows, justices of the peace mostly deal with cases involving the resolution of civil disputes. It is important to understand that in such proceedings, it is important to correctly determine the territorial jurisdiction of the issue, which operates according to general principles.
It is important to note that a number of civil cases under the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace include the following:
- On the division of jointly acquired property (in case of divorce of spouses), but only if the total price of the claim is not more than 50,000 rubles.
- On divorce (in the event that there are no disputes between the spouses regarding the determination of the place of residence of the children).
- On the issuance of a court order.
- On determining the procedure for using property.
- On property disputes.
Cases of inheritance of property and those that arose from relations connected with the use of the results of activities of an intellectual kind in the event that the price of a claim exceeds 50,000 rubles cannot be attributed to the jurisdiction of justices of the peace. Also, this competence cannot include family disputes related to:
- challenging paternity;
- definition of paternity;
- deprivation of parental rights or their restriction;
- adoption of children;
- invalidation of marriage.
In addition to all of the above, justices of the peace can deal with cases in which new circumstances were discovered. It is important to understand that in this case only claims can be taken into account, in which the decision was made by the very same magistrate.
Competence in labor disputes
It is worth noting that magistrates have jurisdiction over disputes in the application of labor legislation. Observations show that the most common subject of proceedings in cases considered by this instance are those related to reinstatement and illegal dismissal.
It is known that disputes in the field of labor law can be both individual and collective. With regard to the competence of justices of the peace, such individuals include only individuals, who, as a rule, relate to:
- transfers to another job or changes in working conditions;
- making entries in the work book;
- amending an employment contract or contesting some of its clauses;
- payment of forced absenteeism;
- employer misconduct;
- employee liability;
- remuneration, etc.
About the proceedings on cases, jurisdictional magistrate
When considering these issues, it is important to pay attention to the features of production.
In accordance with the procedural rules, justices of the peace conduct hearings of cases on their own, and decisions are made in the same manner. It is worth pointing out that the same rules of production apply to the persons of the instance in question as they are to the representatives of the first instance.
It is important to note that all applications submitted to the justices of the peace must be provided exclusively in strict accordance with the requirements of jurisdiction. Otherwise, it is prohibited to take it into consideration.
In cases where the classification of a case changes during the course of its consideration (for example, when filing a counterclaim, the content of which is not within the competence), the judge must redirect the case to a suitable authority.
It is important to note that at the end of the consideration of the issue, the justice of the peace is obliged to issue a final act (sentence, decision, determination, order, etc.), the content of which will determine the decision made.
Appeal of decisions
In the event that the justice of the peace made a controversial decision in a particular case, which did not have time to enter into legal force, it can be appealed on appeal by filing a complaint.
The appeal provides for a re-examination of the case on the merits on the same issues that were raised during its initial examination. Moreover, the appeal calls for verification of the legality of the decision.
It is important to note that the appeal may be filed both on the entire published decision, and on its separate part. Decisions taken in absentia are also subject to appeal, however, this possibility does not apply to court orders.
Who has the right to appeal decisions made by justices of the peace? This group of persons includes all participants in the process, including their legal representatives and even the prosecutor, if there is an urgent need.
What should be indicated in the content of the appeal? Some of this information includes the following:
- court to which the representation is directed;
- the person submitting the complaint, his contact details, as well as the role played by him in the process;
- name of the court that issued the controversial decision;
- decision date;
- the essence of the contentious issue;
- arguments with which the applicant disagrees and the justification of his own conviction of their illegality;
- clearly formulated requests to court;
- list of documents attached to the submission.
The appeal must be signed by the applicant and presented in several copies. Their number should correspond to the number of participants in the process.
So, today we examined the cases under the magistrate’s justice, and their features.