Inter-Branch Challenge of Implementing the Prejudicial Institution in Modern Russian Criminal Legal Proceedings
Attention is paid in the paper to the need for studying and solving the urgent problems concerning implementation of the prejudicial institution in criminal proceedings based on the decisions of inter-branch legal processes from the point of new methodological, i.e., systemic and institutional positions. The problems associated with the essence and implementation of inter-branch prejudgment are considered. Their potential solving is discussed. In accordance with the aim of this research, the following tasks are set: 1) to reveal the essence of the prejudicial institution; 2) to specify its properties; 3) to find out the peculiarities of mutual influence produced by various legal proceedings based on the prejudgment of court decisions. The study of this kind is for the first time performed in line with the theory of legal institutionalism and the systemic and institutional method for analysis of legal phenomena. As a result, the author’s definition of the prejudicial institution is given. Its main properties are described. The forms of prejudgment of the legal relations during criminal proceedings are singled out. The following major properties of the prejudicial institution are identified: the availability of actual and nominal holders; the specificity in relations between trial participants regulated by legal norm; time of validity; transparency of the prejudicial rights of participants of various legal proceedings; the degree of formalization of the prejudicial institution and securement of prejudgment in the legal and regulatory frameworks; the use of the mechanism of direct control over compliance with the prejudicial norms. The differential parameters of interrelation between the institutional relations when proving the circumstances in different proceedings are shown. Prejudgment of the legal relations (criminal sentences) in civil, arbitration, and administrative legal proceedings, on the one hand, and in criminal legal proceedings, on the other hand, is analyzed. Attention is drawn to the need to establish an efficient mechanism of legal regulation of the prejudicial institution. The practical importance and value of the work lies in applicability of the results of this study during the process of judicial activity for recognizing the prejudgment of certain inter-branch judicial acts.