Jurisdiction of the Courts of General Jurisdiction

In particular, individuals and legal entities may defend their rights in courts of general jurisdiction in case these individuals and legal entities are parties to a disputable legal relationship. The following cases are considered in courts of general jurisdiction:

• Cases and claims arising from civil, family, labour relations

• Disputes arising from public legal relations

• Contesting by an individual (a group of individuals) of normative legal acts

• Disputes of public or religious organizations (associations) with bodies of state power or state officials disputes between public and religious organizations

• Cases and claims arising from administrative legal relations

• Cases and claims arising from transportation agreements

The above list may be continued: courts of general jurisdiction may also consider other disputes. Having the largest capacity, the jurisdiction of these courts is determined first of all on the basis of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation according to which «each person is guaranteed to have judicial protection of his/her rights and freedoms», while «decisions and actions (inaction) of bodies of state power, of bodies of local self-government, of public organizations or officials of these bodies and organizations may be appealed against in court». Therefore, the scope of issues considered by courts of general jurisdiction may only be determined by the method of exclusion — i.e. courts of general jurisdiction consider all disputes except those that pertain to jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court or of Arbitrazh courts. Still, there is the general criteria for determining what cases are considered by courts of general jurisdiction — that is depending on who are the participants of disputes. The general rule implies that courts of general jurisdiction consider disputes with at least one party — an individual (providing the given dispute is not related to entrepreneurial activity of an individual entrepreneur).

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body for civil, criminal, business and other cases. It has the power of supervision over the activities of all the judicial bodies of the state. The Supreme Court gives the court interpretation on the issues of court practice. It tries the most important criminal and civil cases and likewise hears appeals against the judgements and sentences of other courts, as well as appeals against the judgements and sentences of the military courts of the state.

The Civil Colleague of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has full original jurisdiction in all matters, so no action may be excluded from the Supreme Court. Its jurisdiction is unlimited. It hears appeals from the Supreme Courts of the Republics of the Russian Federation, the Area, Oblasts, Cities of federal importance, Autonomy Oblast and Autonomies Circuit Courts as well.

The Criminal Colleague of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is the body exercising highest general criminal jurisdiction.