On the problem of principles of constitutional procedure in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation
The article deals with one of the most controversial and insufficiently developed problems in our constitutional legal science, having both theoretical and practical significance for the effectiveness of the activities of the Constitutional Court. It is the regulation of the principles of constitutional procedure that determines the nature and essence of constitutional procedure, reflects its legal content and specific functional purpose and defines the actions of all the parties of the constitutional procedure. In legal sources all principles of constitutional procedure are classified according to the degree of their influence on the object of regulation of public relations into two types: general and special. The majority of general principles of constitutional procedure are laid down in international legal acts, federal constitutional laws and federal laws. They can acquire their concretization and development in the judicial practice of the Constitutional Court. General principles of the constitutional procedure include fairness of trials, independence of courts and judges, collectivity, publicity, openness, free choice of the language for communication, enforceability of court decisions, continuity of trials, competitiveness and equality of parties. Such general principles of the constitutional procedure including constitutionality, legality, publicity, accessibility, ascertainment of the objective truth, directness in the examination of evidence and procedural economy have not found legal normative support and are stated in the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the course of the constitutional procedure. As far as special principles of the constitutional procedure are concerned they cover the work of some legal institutions and the peculiarities of different categories of cases in the Constitutional Court. These principles include: the procedural activity of the Constitutional Court, combination of dispositive and imperative fundamentals in the constitutional procedure, the use of oral and written forms of procedure, admission of the legal force of final decisions of the Constitutional Court and the connectedness of the tried case with previous legal positions. The realization of the content of the above special principles of the constitutional procedure elaborated in the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is aimed at the ordering of legal procedures and stages, the broadening of powers of parties to the constitutional procedure and finally will promote the guaranteeing of the access of applicants to the administration of constitutional justice in the Constitutional court.