Principle of reasonableness in international standards of civil proceedings

Abstract

The principle of reasonableness holds a prominent place in the system of principles of any procedural activity. To achieve the goals and objectives of civil proceedings, reasonableness is either present or should be present in the daily routine of a judge in the administration of justice and is expressed in the judge's reasonable procedural actions upon consideration of each particular case. The aim of the study is to highlight the statutory consolidation and reflect the role of the principle of reasonableness within international standards of justice, the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and procedural law of some European states. The main method for this study was the weighing method. Also, the study used comparative legal methods. The authors of the study state that a principle and a concept of reasonableness is not and cannot be defined within a rigid framework since reasonableness is an evaluation category that covers its essence and purpose in practice. Moreover, a particular controversial situation, a certain set of circumstances and conditions prevailing in a particular case are decisive.

Introduction

The principles of law act as a certain link and a category that seeks to achieve the goal of optimal protection of violated or disputed rights, freedoms, and legally protected interests. Without principles it is impossible to imagine the final model of the branch of law since they are what should give integrity to the result of law drafting practice (Grünstein, 2019). In addition, the understanding of the functions of the principles of procedural law depends on the appropriate definition of principles. While interpretation of the principles as imperative fundamentals of legal regulation, suggests that the principles have a regulatory function and a certain place in the structure of procedural law, it is also obvious that the principles have merely interpretive value of doctrinal nature for the interpretation of civil procedural law provisions and do not constitute a real tool in the mechanism of legal regulation of civil relations (Sturza and Dos Santos, 2020; Woolcock, 2018). Procedural sciences usually approach the principles of law in the same way as general theoretical science along with the errors of the latter. Procedural principles are theoretically substantiated and legally established basic legal ideas that express the democratic and humanistic essence of the legal procedure (Pavez and Maureira, 2020). They constitute a legal category, the integral part of which is enshrined in procedural legislation (Dronov, 2019).

Principles are the most generalised category of the science of civil procedural law along with such categories as the subject and method of civil procedural law, civil procedural legal relations, etc. Therefore, these principles reflect the essential characteristics of civil procedural law as an independent field of law and civil justice as a certain area of legal regulation (Gorence, 2018). For example, in Ukraine, the principle of reasonableness belongs to the constitutional ones since it is manifested in trial within a reasonable time in the first place (Constitution of Ukraine, 1996). It can also be called a conventional principle of procedural practice. Despite the lack of a legislative definition, the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as “the CPC of Ukraine”) (Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, 2004) explicitly and implicitly uses various aspects of the “reasonableness” category.

In the matter of observance of reasonable terms for the consideration of civil cases, this principle is expressed most noticeably and applied in practice. The attention of Ukrainian lawyers and representatives of civilistic doctrine to such a category as the principle of reasonableness in terms of civil trial within a reasonable began in the early 2000s. This transpired as a result of the ECHR initiating the procedure of approval of decisions against Ukraine on the applications of citizens who complained about the violation of their right to a fair trial, guaranteed by Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”). Paragraph 1 of the said article of the Convention provides that, in particular, everyone shall have the right to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law. This circumstance calls for a clarification of the specific features of the principle of reasonableness as a procedural principle through its consolidation in international standards of justice, The case law of the European Court of Human Rights (2000) and civil procedural legislation of certain European countries.