The functions of civil judicial procedure and their determination by substantive law

The author examines the influence of substantive law on the objectives of civil proceedings. The existence of such an influence stems from the complex nature of the institution for the protection of rights, freedoms, and interests in civil proceedings, which has developed at the intersection of substantive law and civil procedural law. In particular, the protection of rights, freedoms, and interests in civil proceedings is carried out during the administration of justice, which is governed by the rules of civil procedural law. It is here that the procedural aspect of the purpose of civil proceedings manifests itself. However, the objects of protection (rights, freedoms, and interests), the grounds for protection (violation, non-recognition, or challenge), the means of protection (recognition of a right, declaration of a legal act as invalid, etc.), and the quality of protection (proper, an integral part of which is effectiveness) are governed by the norms of substantive law. In this case, the substantive-law aspect of the purpose of civil proceedings comes to the fore. Substantive law also lists forms of protection, where the judicial form has acquired the status of a principle (Art. 3 of the Civil Code, Part 10 of Art. 7 of the Family Code). The tasks of civil proceedings serve as the means to achieve its purpose (“effective protection of violated, unrecognized, or disputed rights, freedoms, or interests”). Based on the fact that, according to Article 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, the objective of civil proceedings is “the fair, impartial, and timely consideration and resolution of civil cases,” the author identifies the ways in which substantive law influences civil proceedings. It is argued that substantive law has both a direct and an indirect impact on the objectives of civil proceedings. A civil case, the consideration and resolution of which falls to the court, has its origin in substantive law in the form of a dispute over a right or another legal issue. The indirect influence of substantive law is manifested here in the fact that the court, when deciding a civil case on its merits, must apply the provisions of substantive law. The direct influence of substantive law is manifested in the definition of the qualitative characteristics (criteria) of the objectives of civil proceedings: fair, impartial, and timely. Thus, based on a substantive legal requirement, a civil case concerning the hospitalization of a person in a psychiatric care facility must be heard and decided within 24 hours.

protection of subjective rights, freedoms and interests; substantive law; civil proceedings; consideration and resolution of civil cases; criteria for the objectives of civil proceedings