Vocabulary tasks

A Match the following English words and expressions with their Russian equivalents.

1	legal system	a	судебный иск
2	application of law	b	решить спор
3	variety of courts	c	сторона по делу
4	make decisions	d	ограничение
5	legal action	e	разнообразие судов
6	party	f	применение права/ закона
7	restriction	g	правовая система
8	resolve a dispute	h	принимать решения

B Match the legal terms with their definitions.

1	appeal	a	an out-of-court settlement of a dispute
2	jurisdiction	b	discussion about a subject where there is disagreement
3	court	c	governmental power or jurisdiction
4	arbitration	d	the right to use an official power to make legal decisions
5	authority	e	one of the people or groups of people involved in a legal agreement or argument
6	party	f	a formal request to a court for a decision to be changed
7	dispute	g	a governmental body intended to apply the law to controversies brought before it and to administer justice

Text b Jurisdiction of Courts

Jurisdiction means the power of a court to hear and determine a case. There are three forms of jurisdiction:

• If a court can be consulted by another court on points of law it is said to have consultative jurisdiction.

• A court has original jurisdiction if a case can be completely heard before it.

• If a court hears appeals from a lower court it is said to have appellate jurisdiction.

The judicial system consists of several levels, each level having numerous courts. Which court shall consider a particular case?

After cases are distributed between basic levels of judicial system (i.e. between courts of general jurisdiction and Arbitrazh courts), they shall be distributed between numerous courts of one judicial level. The basic principle in determining court's jurisdiction in this case is the geographic position of the court.

The Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court ensures that the laws and other normative acts passed or being considered by the supreme and local legislative branches are constitutional.

The jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court is the observance over compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation of federal laws, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, acts of the Federation Council, of the State Duma, of the Russian Federation Government, Constitutions of Republics of the Russian Federation and a number of other normative legal acts. The Constitutional Court may rule on the legal matters when that is stipulated by the Federal Constitutional Law.

Among persons that may file their claims to the Constitutional Court are the President of the Russian Federation, the State Duma, one-fifth of the members of the Federation Council or deputies of the State Duma, the Government of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the High Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation, the bodies of legislative and executive power of the subjects of the Russian Federation, individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities. The named persons may file their claims to the Constitutional Court in case their constitutional rights and freedoms were infringed by a law enforced or to be enforced in a particular legal case.

While filing a personal or joint complaint to the Constitutional Court one should keep in mind the following peculiarities of jurisdiction of this court:

• First, it must be law and not other legal acts that infringes or has infringed rights and freedoms of the plaintiff. Here the law is understood as federal constitutional laws, federal laws, constitutions and statutes of the subjects of the Russian Federation. Normative legal acts of Ministries are appealed against in courts of general jurisdiction.

• Second, it must be constitutional and not other rights and freedoms that are infringed by the law.

• Third, the law appealed against has enforced or is to be enforced in a particular legal case already considered or being considered by a court or other juridical body.