4 Court system of ukraine

Exercise 1 Read the text and translate it.

Court system of Ukraine has undergone substantial changes since its independence. But this system isn’t sufficient for democratic and constitutional state* yet. Court system consists of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and courts of general jurisdiction. Courts system of general jurisdiction consists of unspecialized courts and specialized courts, commercial and specialized administrative courts*. The Constitutional Court has jurisdiction only over constitutional matters. Courts’ system of general jurisdiction has a hierarchical structure. This system consists of first-instance local courts (district, town, regional and territorial), appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Ukraine. The Supreme Court of Ukraine reviews judgments rendered by the appellate courts and it is the highest authority of the court system of Ukraine.

Article 127 of the Constitution of Ukraine declares that justice in Ukraine is administrated by professional judges and jurors. There are four kinds of procedure in Ukraine: civil process, criminal process, administrative and commercial procedures.

Criminal cases are examined in first-instance local courts by a single judge*. Cases of grave crime* are examined by two judges and three jurors playing role of judges. In appeal and cassation instances criminal cases are heard by three judges. Commercial disputes in court of first instance are heard by a single judge and in high instances by three judges or more but odd number. New Civil Procedural Code provides for hearing civil matters by a single judge or a single judge and two jurors having legal status of judges in court of first instance. Civil matters in high instances are heard by three or more judges. Administrative cases are disposed by a single judge in court of first instance as a rule. But in complex cases there must be three judges in composition of the court.

The legality of the courts’ activities is controlled by the Procurator’s Office. This office exercises general supervision over the observance of laws by executive organs, official and individual citizens. The Procurator-General of Ukraine is appointed by the President and approved by the Verkhovna Rada.

The reform of Ukrainian court is far from normal completion. There are no juries in the sense of common-law in Ukraine. The very goal of the Ukraine’s court reform, that is transformation of inquisitorial judicial proceedings into adversarial ones, is not attained. There are many failures in this reform but there are some achievements. For instance: enforcement of court’s disposition of civil and commercial cases has become more civilized.

No person can be regarded guilty or subjected to legal punishment, before the decision of the court. All Ukrainian citizens are equal before the law.

constitutional state – правова держава

commercial court – господарський суд

single judge – одноосібно суддею

grave crime – тяжкий злочин

Exercise 2 Read the text again and say, whether the statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.

1 Ukrainian judicial system contains district and regional courts, the Supreme Court, military tribunals and The Procurator’s office.

2 Most of the criminal and civil cases are examined in the Supreme Court.

3 The Constitutional court hears the most serious cases.

4 The Procurator’s office supervises the legality of courts’ activities.

5 The Procurator-General of Ukraine is appointed by the President.

6 There are adversarial judicial proceedings in Ukraine.