Ukraine’s accession to the European legal area requires that Ukrainian scholars and practitioners reconsider and take a fresh look at the long-established legal institutions, the court being one of them. The key issue focused on in this research stems from the pressing philosophical and legal contradiction between the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine which stipulate that in our State justice is administered exclusively by courts and which do not envisage that functions of courts may be delegated to or appropriated by other bodies or officials, and the provisions of Art. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (right to a fair trial) and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights via which this provision is implemented. The core of the issue raised in this article is that the national legal thought incorporates rather a settled (unchanging) idea that the court is a public body with its legal status determined within the framework of the court system, and the majority of scholars maintain a stance that the court is a body of state power; only the state courts determined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are vested with judicial power as a form of state power, and therefore, no other bodies may be granted the functions via which judicial power can be implemented. However, the Western European doctrine has a different idea of the court envisaging that this legal institution can take various organizational forms, including those beyond the state framework. The purpose and objective of this article is to elucidate the essence of the court as a social and legal phenomenon, to identify its key attributes and manifestations at different stages of mankind development, and also to make a comprehensive scientific analysis of this legal institute. To achieve this purpose, the etymology of the word “court” should be studied and a philosophical, anthropological and historical analysis of this social phenomenon should be made; modern concepts of interaction between the State and the court should be investigated; the interrelation, mutual influence and involvement of the international court in the national legal system should be ascertained. The article substantiates that the court is a phenomenon underlain by the natural human ability to perceive, analyze and make a critical assessment of information through the prism of an individual’s social perception of the world. The origination of the court as a separate form of human relations stems from the early stages not only of human civilization but also of the development of man as a social being. The author has established that this process took place at the times of the pre-class, ancestral system, when the key economic institutions (property and means of production) were just in germ. It is substantiated that the court as a phenomenon has a socio-cultural basis which, in the age of the struggle of “all against all” influenced the consolidation of people and the establishment of close social ties, and eventually – close unions of public authority. The court as an institution of social organization and interaction of individuals is a pre-class phenomenon, and the right to judicial protection has become one of the foremost natural rights of a “civilized” individual. The author suggests that there is a need to differentiate between “the court” as a separate social institution and “the court” as an institution of public authority. It is the enhancement of the State on the basis of absolute rule that the state court began to take over and later almost completely appropriated the functions and role of the court as a social institution. However, in each historical epoch these two formations of the court existed and still exist simultaneously, influencing each other and often amalgamating. As a unique social phenomenon, the court exists and develops according to the rules and laws of human social development, sometimes even independently of and contrary to the positive right of the State. Currently, the court maintains and plays a decisive role in the existence of separate societies, states, and in the construction of the newest global world order. At the same time, realities indicate that societies disintegrate and states collapse if they lost or failed to organize the social and legal foundations of a fair trial It is the court, being a unique social and legal phenomenon, that is the centerpiece of the subject matter of judicial law which is experiencing its revival amid the present-day reforms of Ukraine’s legal system.

List of legal documents 
 

Legislation 
1. Konstytutsiia Ukrainy [The Constitution of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 28 chervnia 1996 r. № 254k/96-VR. URL: http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/254%D0%BA/96-%D0%B2%D1%80 (accessed: 09.03.2018) (in Ukrainian). 
2. Pro vnesennia zmin do Konstytutsii Ukrainy (shchodo pravosuddia) [On Amending the Constitution of Ukraine (Regarding Justice)]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 2 chervnia 2016 r. № 1401-VIII. URL: http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1401-19/ paran6#n6 (accessed: 07.03.2018) (in Ukrainian). 

Cases

3. Oleksandr Volkov proty Ukrainy Zaiava № 21722/11 (IeSPL, 9 Sichnia 2013 roku) [Oleksandr Volkov v Ukraine App no 21722/11 (ECtHR, 9 January 2013)] (in Ukrainian).

4. Rishennia Konstytutsiinoho Sudu Ukrainy vid 10 sichnia 2008 roku № 1-rp/2008 u spravi za konstytutsiinym podanniam 51 narodnoho deputata Ukrainy shchodo vidpovidnosti Konstytutsii Ukrainy (konstytutsiinosti) polozhen abzatsiv somoho, odynadtsiatoho statti 2, statti 3, punktu 9 statti 4 ta rozdilu VIII “Treteiske samovriaduvannia” Zakonu Ukrainy “Pro treteiski sudy” (sprava pro zavdannia treteiskoho sudu) (sprava № 1-3/2008) [Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated January 10, 2008 № 1-рп/2008 in the Case Following the Constitutional Petition of 51 People’s Deputies of Ukraine Concerning the Compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine (Constitutionality) of the Provisions of Paragraphs Seven, Eleven of Article 2, Article 3, Clause 9 of Article 4 and Section VIII “Arbitrational Self-Government” of the Law of Ukraine “On the Arbitration Tribunals” (Case of the Objectives of the Arbitration Tribunal) (Case № 1-3/2008). URL: http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v001p710-08 (accessed: 06.03.2018) (in Ukrainian).

5. Rishennia Konstytutsiinoho Sudu Ukrainy vid 24 liutoho 2004 roku № 3-rp/2004 u spravi za konstytutsiinym zvernenniam spilnoho pidpryiemstva “Mukachivskyi plodoovochevyi konservnyi zavod” pro ofitsiine tlumachennia polozhennia punktu 10 statti 3 Zakonu Ukrainy “Pro vykonavche provadzhennia” (sprava pro vykonannia rishen treteiskykh sudiv) (sprava № 1-8/2004) [Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated February 24, 2004 № 3-рп/2004 in the Case Following the Constitutional Petition of Joint Venture Mukachevo Fruit and Vegetable Canning Plant Concerning the Official Interpretation of the Provision of Paragraph 10, Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Enforcement Proceedings” (Case of Enforcement of Decisions Passed by Arbitration Tribunals) (Case № 1-8/2004)]. URL: http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/v003p710-04 (accessed: 06.03.2018) (in Ukrainian).

6. Romashov proty Ukrainy Zaiava № 67534/01 (IeSPL, 27 Lypnia 2004 roku) [Romashov v Ukraine App № 67534/01 (ECHR, 27 July 2004)] (in Ukrainian).

7. Vysnovok Konstytutsiinoho Sudu Ukrainy vid 11 lypnia 2001 roku № 3-v/2001 u spravi za konstytutsiinym podanniam Prezydenta Ukrainy pro nadannia vysnovku shchodo vidpovidnosti Konstytutsii Ukrainy Rymskoho Statutu Mizhnarodnoho kryminalnoho sudu (sprava pro Rymskyi Statut) (sprava № 1-35/2001) [Opinion of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated July 11, 2001 № 3-в/2001 in the Case Following the Constitutional Petition of the President of Ukraine Requesting for the Opinion Concerning the Compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Case of the Rome Statute) (Case № 1-35/2001)]. URL: http://zakon2. rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v003v710-01 (accessed: 07.03.2018) (in Ukrainian).

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Journal articles

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30. Skliarenko Vitalii, ‘Etymolohichni rozvidky’ [‘Etymological Investigations’] 2011 (5) Movoznavstvo 3 (in Ukrainian).

Conference papers

31. Usenko I ta inshi (red), Sudova vlada v Ukraini i sviti: istoriia, suchasnist, perspektyvy rozvytku [The Judiciary in Ukraine and in the World: History, Present Times, Prospects of Development]: materialy XXV Mizhnarodnoi istoryko-pravovoi konferentsii [Materials of the XXV International History and Law Conference] (SMD 2011) ch 1 (in Ukrainian).

Dissertations

32. Baronin Denys, ‘Pravovyi status sudu v Ukraini’ [‘Legal Status of the Court in Ukraine’] (dys kand yuryd nauk, Natsionalnyi yurydychnyi universytet imeni Yaroslava Mudroho 2015) 145 (in Ukrainian).

Websites

33. Kuijer Martin, ‘Tribunal Established by Law’ (Bulgarian lawyers for human rights) <http://blhr.org/media/documents/Tribunal_established_by_law_1.doc> accessed 7 March 2018 (in English).