Specialized Courts in the Context of the Differentiation and Integration of Court Jurisdictions

The aim of the article is to study the place and role of specialized courts in the processes of differentiation and integration of court jurisdictions. To achieve this aim, the author analyzed the types of specialized courts in Europe (administrative courts, juvenile courts, labor courts, family courts, military courts and others), justified the criteria for the specialization of courts, revealed their advantages and disadvantages. The author proceeds from the fact that the creation of specialized courts can be a way of both differentiation and integration of court jurisdictions. The existence of specialized courts, their system and competence in each state are determined by historical, political, social characteristics, financial possibilities, the degree of prevalence of a particular category of cases and many other factors. One jurisdiction may have several specialized courts; the competence of each of them is separated from the competence of other courts by categories of cases, subject composition of participants in legal relations and other factors. In this case, specialized courts may carry out the same type of proceedings as other courts of jurisdiction, but in respect of a certain category of persons or category of cases, for example, military courts in Russia carry out the same types of proceedings as other courts of general jurisdiction. Specialized courts within several jurisdictions exist, for example, in Germany, where there are five branches of the judiciary - general and four specialized (administrative, labor, social and financial), each headed by its highest judicial authority. The basic criteria of the specialization of the courts are: the subject structure of disputable legal relations; the nature and (or) the subject of the dispute; the nature of the relationship and the procedural role of the court in resolving the dispute, and others. The advantages of specialized courts are: specialization of judges allowing to study the content and the procedural features of certain categories of cases; creation of optimal conditions for the consideration of cases for participants in the trial, in particular, for minors, for persons with special status; consideration of the peculiarities of legal relations in specific areas; reduction of judicial errors; uniform law enforcement among specialized courts. The disadvantages of specialized courts are: risk of the lack of uniformity of court practice between several levels of courts; confusion of jurisdiction and difficulties in determining jurisdiction; disputes about jurisdiction and competition between courts. The author substantiates the conclusion that specialized courts should have a certain sphere of competence and have a special regulation within the three components of the justice mechanism: court structure, judicial procedure, status ofjudges.

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