Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Legitimacy, Accountability and Discretion of the Russian Courts

  • Chapter
Politics and Legitimacy in Post-Soviet Eurasia

  • 728 Accesses

Abstract

The two decades of judicial reforms in Russia have produced a puzzling duality of judicial behavior.1 On the one hand, little has changed in the way judges handle criminal cases, as indicated by the stable pre-trial detention and acquittal rates. On the other hand, Russian judges have increasingly ruled against the federal government in cases brought by individuals and companies, something unimaginable during the Soviet period.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Boven, A. (2013) ‘How Putin Uses Money Laundering Charges to Control His Opponents’, The Atlantic, 17 July.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, W., P. B. Maggs and G. M. Danilenko (2005) Law and Legal System of the Russian Federation (New York: Juris Publishing).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chebankova, E. (2009) ‘Russia’s Noncovenantal Federalism: Past and Present’, Journal of Church and State, 51(2), 312–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dal, V. (1989) Poslovitsy russkogo naroda (Moskva: Khudozhestvennaia literatura).

    Google Scholar 

  • Esakov, G. (2012) ‘The Russian Criminal Jury: Recent Developments, Practice, and Current Problems’, American Journal of Comparative Law, 60(3), 665–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Firestone, T. (2009) ‘Armed Injustice: Abuse of the Law and Complex Crime in Post-Soviet Russia’, Denver Journal of International Law & Policy, 38(4), 555–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foglesong, T. (1995) ‘Habeas Corpus or Who Has the Body — Judicial Review of Arrest and Pre-Trial Detention in Russia’, Wisconsin International Law Journal, 14, 541–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendley, K. (2002) ‘Suing the State in Russia’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 18(2), 122–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendley, K. (2011) ‘Varieties of Legal Dualism: Making Sense of the Role of Law in Contemporary Russia’, Wisconsin International Law Journal, 29(2), 233–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendley, K. (2012) ‘The Puzzling Non-Consequences of Societal Distrust of Courts: Explaining the Use of Russian Courts’, Cornell International Law Journal, 45(3), 517–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozyreva, P. and A. Smirnov (2008) ‘Problemy ukrepleniia doveriia k sudebnoi vlasti v sovremennoi Rossii’, Vlast’, (8), 97–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert-Mogiliansky, A., K. Sonin and E. Zhuravskaya (2007) ‘Are Russian Commercial Courts Biased?: Evidence from a Bankruptcy Law Transplant’, Journal of Comparative Economics, 35(2), 254–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melnikov, V. (2007) ‘Problemy primeneniia domashnego aresta kak mery presecheniia’, Zhurnal rossiiskogo prava, (3), 72–80, http://www.juristlib.ru/book_2934.html

  • Mirzabalaev, M. (2005) Nezakonnye zaderzhanie, zakliuchenie pod strazhu ili soderzhanie pod strazhei: Ugolovno-pravovoi i kriminologicheskii analiz (Makhachkala: Dagestan State University (unpublished dissertation)).

    Google Scholar 

  • Paneyakh, E. (2014) ‘Faking Performance Together: Systems of Performance Evaluation in Russian Enforcement Agencies and Production of Bias and Privilege’, Post-Soviet Affairs, 30(2–31), 115–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrukhin, I. (2003) Sudebnaia vlast’ (Moskva: Prospekt).

    Google Scholar 

  • Popova, M. (2006) ‘Watchdogs or Attack Dogs? The Role of the Russian Courts and the Central Election Commission in the Resolution of Electoral Disputes’, Europe-Asia Studies, 58(3), 391–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popova, M. (2012) Politicized Justice in Emerging Democracies: A Study of Courts in Russia and Ukraine (New York: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sakwa, R. (2011) The Crisis of Russian Democracy. The Dual State, Factionalism and the Medvedev Succession (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakwa, R. (2013) ‘Systemic Stalemate: Reiderstvo and the Dual State’, in Robinson, N. (ed.) The Political Economy of Russia. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield), 69–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saul’, S. (2006) ‘Poriadok ustanovili—kak zhe vypolniat?’, EZh-Iurist, (8), http://www.roskazna.ru/pubs_27.html

  • Sinelnikov, A. (2013) ‘Criminological Aspects of Crimes Against Public Justice Committed by Prosecution Authorities Office Holders’, Criminology Journal of Baikal National University of Economics and Law, (2), 94–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. (1987) ‘The Case of the Vanishing Acquittal: Informal Norms and the Practice of Soviet Criminal Justice’, Soviet Studies, 39(4), 531–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. (1996) Soviet Criminal Justice under Stalin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. (2004) ‘Judicial Power in Russia: Through the Prism of Administrative Justice’, Law and Society Review, 38(3), 549–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. (2008) ‘Assessing the Courts in Russia: Parameters of Progress under Putin’, Demokratizatsiya, 16(1), 63–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. (2014) ‘The Unexpected Demise of Russia’s High Arbitrazh Court and the Politicization of Judicial Reform’, Russian Analytical Digest, (147), 2–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, P. H. and T. Foglesong (2000) Courts and Transition in Russia (Boulder: Westview).

    Google Scholar 

  • Trochev, A. (2008) Judging Russia: The Role of the Constitutional Court in Russian Politics, 1990–2006 (New York: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Trochev, A. (2009) ‘All Appeals Lead to Strasbourg? Unpacking the Impact of the European Court of Human Rights on Russia’, Demokratizatsiya, 17(2), 145–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trochev, A. (2012) ‘Suing Russia at Home’, Problems of Post-Communism, 59(5), 18–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trochev, A. (2014) ‘Soviet Legacies in Post-Communist Criminal Justice’, in Beissinger, M. R. and S. Kotkin (eds) Historical Legacies of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 152–78.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Troshchenko, R. A. (2009) ‘Sudebnye rebusy’, Pravo v vooruzhennykh silakh, (1), 45–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valent, R. (ed.) (2009) Analiticheskii obzor rezultatov Vserossiiskogo monitoringa po problemam sudebnoi reformy v Rossiiskoi Federatsii (Moskva: Vysshaia shkola ekonomiki).

    Google Scholar 

  • Volkov, V., A. Dmitrieva, M. Pozdniakov and K. Titaev (2012) Rossiskie sudi kak prof Essionalnaia gruppa: sotsiologicheskoe issledovanie, St. Petersburg: Institute for the Rule of Law, http://www.enforce.spb.ru/images/analit_zapiski/Jan_2012_NormsValues.pdf

  • Vyskubin, A. A. (2007) ‘Ispolnenie sudebnykh postanovlenii v Ministerstve oborony Rossiiskoi Federatsii zatrudneno nesovershenstvom normativnopravovoi bazy’, Pravo v vooruzhennykh silakh, (7), 66–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vyskubin, A. A. (2009a) ‘Povtornoe obespechenie voennosluzhashchikh zhilem — ne mif, a realnost’, Pravo v vooruzhennykh silakh, (4), 46–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vyskubin, A. A. (2009b) ‘Prikaz, reguliruiushchii voprosy ispolneniia sudebnykh postanovlenii v Ministerstve oborony Rossiiskoi Federatsii, priniat, no problemy ostalis’, Pravo v vooruzhennykh silakh, (6), 28–31.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Alexei Trochev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institutions and Institutional Change in Postsocialism, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

    Martin Brusis (Director, Competence Network) (Director, Competence Network)

  2. Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen, Germany

    Joachim Ahrens (Professor of International Economics) (Professor of International Economics)

  3. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

    Martin Schulze Wessel (Chair for the History of East and Southeast Europe) (Chair for the History of East and Southeast Europe)

Copyright information

© 2016 Alexei Trochev

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Trochev, A. (2016). Legitimacy, Accountability and Discretion of the Russian Courts. In: Brusis, M., Ahrens, J., Wessel, M.S. (eds) Politics and Legitimacy in Post-Soviet Eurasia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137489449_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation