Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff (current version)

Article 29 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Article 36 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation establish situations in which the right to choose the territorial jurisdiction of a claim belongs to the plaintiff. The provisions of these articles can be called exceptions to the general rule according to which claims are brought at the place of residence (location) of the defendant.

Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff in civil proceedings and in arbitration proceedings is determined differently. This is due to the specifics of cases considered by courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts.

General rules of jurisdiction

Any claim must be filed in the proper court - one that has jurisdiction to hear the particular case. In both civil and arbitration proceedings, unless otherwise provided by law or contract, claims are brought at the place of residence (citizens) or location (legal entities) of the defendant.

Exceptions to the general rule:

1. Situations provided for by procedural law when the territorial jurisdiction of the claim is chosen by the plaintiff.
2. Contractual jurisdiction determined by agreement of the parties (plaintiff and defendant).
3. Exclusive jurisdiction of cases established by law, in which certain categories of claims can only be filed in a court of a specific location. For these cases, neither the general rule for determining jurisdiction, nor the plaintiff’s right to choose jurisdiction, nor contractual jurisdiction apply.

Documents required for filing an arbitration claim to the respondent party

According to the norms of the current Russian legislation, when considering an economic dispute, an initial pre-trial review of the case is provided, the purpose of which is to resolve the dispute peacefully and contractually. In cases where the parties fail to reach mutual understanding, the dispute is referred to arbitration court. It also provides for direct appeal to the judicial arbitration bodies of the first instance with a claim for consideration of the dispute. In this case, in addition to the application, it is required to collect a certain package of documents, without which the application may be legally refused. It includes the following titles:

• a receipt for payment of state duty to the selected territorial arbitration court (the details of this court can be found directly in the court itself);
• documents providing grounds for filing an application (all documents according to which a violation of the rights of the plaintiff party is confirmed);
• information about the status of the defendant party (an indication of who the defendant party is: an individual or a legal entity, whether the party is registered as an individual entrepreneur);
• copies of documents proving the insolvency of the pre-trial procedure, if any;
• information about the status of the plaintiff party (extract from the tax authorities, which indicates who the person is registered as: an individual entrepreneur, a legal entity or an individual).

All necessary documents are attached to the application, drawn up in accordance with the rules of arbitration procedural law. Without them, the court has the right not to accept the case for consideration, since there are no legal grounds for resolving the dispute.

Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff in civil proceedings

Cases when the plaintiff has the right to choose the territorial jurisdiction of the claim are established by Art. 29 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation:

• If the defendant’s place of residence is unknown or he does not live in Russia, the claim can be filed at the location of the defendant’s property or at his last known place of residence in Russia.
• A claim to establish paternity or collect alimony can be filed either at the place of residence of the defendant or at the place of residence of the plaintiff. A similar rule applies to claims for divorce, however, provided that the plaintiff lives with a minor child or, due to illness, cannot come to the defendant’s place of residence.
• Claims for compensation for damage to health or in connection with the loss of a breadwinner are filed either at the place of residence (location) of the defendant, or at the place of injury, or at the place of residence of the plaintiff.
• A claim against a branch or representative office of the defendant organization can be filed either at the location of this organization or at the location of the branch (representative office).
• Plaintiffs have the right to apply to the court at their place of residence if we are talking about claims for the restoration of pension and housing rights, return of property, compensation for its value, and such claims are caused by specific illegal actions - criminal prosecution, unlawful conviction, imprisonment, administrative arrest or other use preventive measure.
• At their place of residence, plaintiffs have the right to bring claims for the protection of personal data, for the blocking of links by Internet search engines, and for the restoration of labor rights.
• Claims for the protection of consumer rights can be brought at the place of residence (stay) of the plaintiff or at the place of conclusion (execution) of the contract.
• Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff is allowed if a claim is brought arising from any kind of contract, which specifies the place of its execution. In this case, the claim is filed either at the place of residence (location) of the defendant, or at the place of execution of the contract.

Jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff may be changed by agreement of the parties. Such an agreement is often included in advance as a condition of the contract. An agreement is sometimes concluded during attempts to resolve a dispute out of court.

Commentary on Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation

1. The commented article indicates cases when the plaintiff can choose, at his discretion, the court to which he would like to apply for protection of his rights, i.e. bring a claim in a court of your choice. Thus, the commented article deals with alternative territorial jurisdiction. At the same time, Part 10 of the commented article specifically stipulates that only the plaintiff has the right to choose a court in cases regulated by the commented article.

Part 1 of the commented article provides for the case when the place of residence of an individual is unknown or this person does not have a place of residence in the territory of the Russian Federation (for example, lives abroad) at the time of filing the claim. In this case, the plaintiff has the right to file a claim either in court at the location of the property of such defendant (if any), or in court at his last known place of residence in the Russian Federation.

Within the meaning of the commented norm for property on the basis of Art. 128 of the Civil Code includes any things (real and movable), including money, securities, as well as property rights. So, for example, if the defendant has funds in a bank, then a claim against such defendant on the basis of Part 1 of the commented article can be brought at the location of this bank. If the defendant has the right of ownership, for example, of an apartment, then a claim against him can be filed at the location of this real estate.

If the claim is filed at the location of the defendant’s property, then in the statement of claim the plaintiff must indicate the address of the defendant’s last known place of residence. In this case, the plaintiff must provide evidence that the defendant lived in this place. Otherwise, the plaintiff bears the risk of adverse consequences of postponing the trial of the case or the reversal of judicial decisions due to inadequate notification of the defendant who failed to appear.

2. The rule of Part 2 of the commented article provides that a claim against an organization arising from the activities of its branch or representative office can be brought as per the general rule of Art. 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and to the court at the location of its branch or representative office.

According to civil law, a legal entity has the right to open its branches outside its location. This right is granted to a legal entity in order to ensure the most favorable conditions for its activities, the implementation of all or part of its functions, and the representation and protection of its interests outside the location of the legal entity. Depending on the tasks assigned by the legal entity to such a department and the functions assigned to it, they may be representative offices or branches of the legal entity. The Civil Code calls them separate divisions of a legal entity (Article 55 of the Civil Code).

It should be borne in mind that even if in the cases described in Part 2 of the commented article, a claim is filed in court at the location of a separate division of a legal entity, the defendant in the claim will always be a legal entity, since by virtue of Clause 3 of Art. 55 of the Civil Code, representative offices and branches are not legal entities; their managers act on behalf of the legal entity and in its interests on the basis of a power of attorney issued to them. However, due to the functions assigned to them by the legal entity, they have the right to carry out activities on behalf of the legal entity that may cause claims to be made against the legal entity.

The location of a separate division of a legal entity is determined based on the constituent documents of the legal entity, which must contain information about its branches or representative offices, including the addresses of their location (see, for example, paragraph 6 of Article 5 of the Federal Law dated December 26, 1995 N 208-FZ “On Joint Stock Companies” <1>, paragraph 5 of Article 5 of the Federal Law dated February 8, 1998 N 14-FZ “On Limited Liability Companies” <2>). The address of the location of a separate division is also indicated in the Regulations on the branch (representative office), approved by the authorized management bodies of the legal entity.

——————————— <1> NW RF. 1996. N 1. Art. 1. <2> NW RF. 1998. N 7. Art. 785.

3. In accordance with Parts 3 - 6 of the commented article, the following claims may be brought at the plaintiff’s place of residence:

1) claims for alimony. In this case, we mean claims for the collection of alimony both for children and for other persons entitled to this in accordance with family law. In this case, claims for reduction of alimony are subject to consideration according to the general rules of territorial jurisdiction (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure);

2) claims to establish paternity;

3) claims for divorce in cases where the plaintiff has a minor with him or, for health reasons, it is difficult for the plaintiff to travel to the defendant’s place of residence. In this case, the plaintiff must attach to the statement of claim documents confirming the fact that he has a child with him or the fact of such a state of his health that would make it difficult for him to travel to the plaintiff’s place of residence;

4) claims for compensation for damage caused by injury, other damage to health or as a result of the death of the breadwinner. In addition, such claims can be brought in court at the place where the harm occurred. It should be borne in mind that claims for compensation for damage caused to property fall under the general rule of territorial jurisdiction established in Art. 28 Civil Procedure Code;

5) claims for compensation for harm caused to a citizen by illegal conviction, illegal prosecution, illegal use of detention as a preventive measure, a written undertaking not to leave the place, or illegal imposition of an administrative penalty in the form of arrest. The possibility of bringing such claims is provided for in Art. 1070 GK.

The establishment of alternative jurisdiction in these cases is due to the need to provide preferential conditions for certain groups of the population.

4. Part 7 of the commented article establishes alternative jurisdiction for claims for the protection of consumer rights. These claims must arise from relationships involving consumers.

According to the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” (as amended by Federal Law No. 2-FZ of January 9, 1996) <1> a consumer is a citizen who intends to order or purchase, or who orders, purchases or uses goods (work, services ) exclusively for personal, family, household and other needs not related to business activities.

——————————— <1> NW RF. 1996. N 3. Art. 140.

Claims for the protection of consumer rights can be filed either by the consumer himself in defense of his rights and interests, or by other persons in defense of the interests of an indefinite number of consumers. So, according to Art. 46 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights” the authorized federal executive body for control (supervision) in the field of consumer rights protection (its territorial bodies), other federal executive bodies (their territorial bodies) exercising control and supervision functions in the field of rights protection consumers and the safety of goods (works, services), local government bodies, public associations of consumers (their associations, unions) have the right to bring claims to the courts to recognize the actions of the manufacturer (performer, seller, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer) as unlawful in relation to an unspecified circle of consumers and to stop these actions.

The commented norm establishes five options for jurisdiction of these claims:

1) the general rule of territorial jurisdiction (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure);

2) to the court at the plaintiff’s place of residence;

3) to the court at the place of residence of the plaintiff. The place of stay should be distinguished from the place of residence. Place of stay is the place where a person is temporarily located;

4) to the court at the place where the contract was concluded with the consumer. The place of conclusion of the contract may be specified by the parties in the contract itself. According to Art. 444 of the Civil Code, if the contract does not indicate the place of its conclusion, then the contract is recognized as concluded at the place of residence of the citizen or the location of the legal entity that sent the offer (proposal to conclude a contract). According to the general rule of Art. 493 of the Civil Code, a retail purchase and sale agreement is considered concluded in the proper form from the moment the seller issues a cash receipt or sales receipt or other document confirming payment for the goods to the buyer. In such cases, unless another place is indicated in the named documents, the place of concluding the purchase and sale agreement will be the place of residence of the citizen-entrepreneur or the location of the legal entity who is the seller;

5) to the court at the place of execution of the contract with the consumer. According to the general rule of Art. 316 of the Civil Code, the place of performance is indicated in the contract or is evident from business customs or the essence of obligations, and may also be indicated in a law or other legal act. If the place of performance is not determined by law, other legal acts or contract, or is not clear from business customs or the essence of the obligation, performance must be made: a) for the obligation to transfer a land plot, building, structure or other real estate - at the location of the property ; b) under an obligation to transfer goods or other property that involves its transportation - at the place of delivery of the property to the first carrier for delivery to the creditor; c) for other obligations of the entrepreneur, to transfer goods or other property - at the place of production or storage of the property, if this place was known to the creditor at the time the obligation arose; d) for a monetary obligation - at the place of residence of the creditor at the time the obligation arose; if the creditor at the time of fulfillment of the obligation changed his place of residence or location and notified the debtor about this - at the new place of residence of the creditor; e) for all other obligations - at the place of residence of the debtor, and if the debtor is a legal entity - at its location.

5. In accordance with the rule of alternative jurisdiction established in Part 8 of the commented article, claims for compensation for losses caused by a collision of ships, recovery of remuneration for providing assistance and rescue at sea may be brought: 1) to the court at the location of the defendant’s ship; 2) to the court of the home port of the defendant’s vessel.

Issues of compensation for damage caused by collisions of ships are regulated by the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Regarding Collisions of Ships of September 23, 1910, to which Russia is also a party, as well as by the rules of Chapter. XVII KTM.

Issues of collecting remuneration for providing assistance and rescue at sea are regulated by the International Salvage Convention of 1989, to which the Russian Federation is a party, and the rules of Chapter. XX KTM.

The above regulations mainly determine the proper parties, other persons participating in the case, as well as the conditions and limits of liability of the obligated persons.

The concept of “location of the defendant’s vessel” should be understood literally, i.e. as the physical location of the vessel at the time of filing the claim. This could be one or another sea or river port. The home port of a ship should be understood as the port of its registration, i.e. the port where the vessel and the rights to it are registered in the appropriate registry (Article 33 of the MCC).

For example, the Rules for the registration of ships and rights to them in sea trade ports, approved by Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated July 21, 2006 N 87 <1>, establishes a List of sea trade ports in which the registration of ships used for merchant shipping purposes and rights is carried out on them.

——————————— <1> BNA. 2006. N 32.

The choice of the plaintiff between two options of territorial jurisdiction provided for by the commented norm is determined by the nature of the object of the disputed legal relationship, since a collision of ships can also occur in neutral waters, i.e. in territory over which no state has jurisdiction.

6. In accordance with Part 9 of the commented article, the jurisdiction of cases arising from the agreement, which indicates the place of its execution, may be determined at the choice of the plaintiff.

In this case, the plaintiff can bring a claim to the court based on the general rule of territorial jurisdiction, i.e. to the court at the location of the defendant or to the court at the place of execution of the contract, if it is specified in the contract.

The rules of this norm are subject to application only if the contract contains a direct indication of the place of its execution, for example, “the contractor must perform work at the location (residence) of the customer.” Thus, the location (residence) of the buyer in this case will be, based on the provisions of the commented norm, the place of execution of the contract, and therefore the possible place for filing a claim arising from this contract.

With regard to disputes related to the circulation of bills of exchange, it is necessary to keep in mind that taking into account the fact that the obligation under the bill of exchange is subject to execution in the place specified in it (place of payment), which may not coincide with the location or residence of the person (obligated) on the bill of exchange (persons), a claim for collection of a bill of exchange debt can be filed both in the place determined in accordance with the general rules on jurisdiction, and in the place of payment on the bill of exchange (clause 40 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated December 4, 2000 N 33/14 “On some issues in the practice of resolving disputes related to the circulation of bills of exchange” <1>).

——————————— <1> RF Air Force. 2001. N 2. P. 19.

Since an agreement can also be concluded through the exchange of written documents (Article 434 of the Civil Code), then if these documents contain an indication of the place of fulfillment of the obligations assumed by the parties, Part 9 of the commented article can also be applied by the plaintiff when filing a claim arising from the data contractual relations.

When applying the commented norm, it is unacceptable to apply the provisions of Art. 316 of the Civil Code, which establishes the rules for determining the place of fulfillment of obligations.

According to the rules of Part 9 of the commented article, the jurisdiction of claims for the protection of consumer rights cannot be determined, since in relation to these claims, Part 7 of the commented article establishes special rules for determining jurisdiction.

7. Part 2 of Art. 254 of the Code of Civil Procedure establishes alternative territorial jurisdiction in cases of citizens challenging decisions and actions (inaction) of state authorities, local government bodies, officials, state and municipal employees: at the discretion of the citizen, the application can be filed with the court at the place of his residence or location government body, local government body, official, state and municipal employee, the decision, action (inaction) of which is disputed. Applications from organizations in this category of cases are submitted to the court according to the rules of general territorial jurisdiction (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

Jurisdiction in arbitration proceedings

Situations when the plaintiff has the right to choose in which region to apply to the arbitration court are established by Art. 36 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation:

1. If the place of residence or location of the defendant is unknown, the plaintiff has the right to appeal to the arbitration court of the subject of the federation in which the defendant’s property is located or which is known as the last place of residence (location) of the defendant.
2. If there are several defendants and they live (are located) in different regions of the Russian Federation, the plaintiff has the right to choose an arbitration court in any of these regions.
3. If the defendant lives (is) abroad, the claim may be brought to the Russian arbitration court at the location of the defendant’s property.
4. Claims arising from an agreement may be brought at the place of execution of this agreement, if such a place is indicated in its terms.
5. A claim against a branch (representative office) of a legal entity may be brought at the location of the branch (representative office), but only if it is located in a different region than the parent organization.
6. At the place where the losses were caused or at the location (registration) of the ship, claims for compensation for losses from a collision of ships and for the recovery of remuneration for rescue at sea may be filed.

The rules of jurisdiction at the choice of the plaintiff do not cancel the general rule - the claim is brought at the place of residence (location) of the defendant. The plaintiff simply has the right to choose whether to use this rule or the provisions of Art. 36 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

Notwithstanding the general rule of jurisdiction and the rules for choosing jurisdiction by the plaintiff, the parties may exercise their right to choose contractual jurisdiction. If the claim arises from an agreement and this agreement stipulates in which court disputes should be resolved, the plaintiff can appeal exclusively to this court. An agreement on which court should resolve the dispute can be concluded separately, in particular, within the framework of a pre-trial (for example, negotiation, claim) procedure for resolving the dispute.

Contractual jurisdiction is impossible only in cases where the rules of exclusive jurisdiction should be applied to the claim. They are established by art. 38 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The same rules apply in all other cases, including in situations where the plaintiff formally has the right to choose jurisdiction.

Location of the defendant or place of his registration and residence

Arbitration proceedings are inextricably linked with civil law, according to the rules of which it is determined what is the location or place of permanent residence of the defendant. At the same time, the definition is given both for individuals - participants in economic relations, disputes in which are resolved by arbitration courts, and for legal entities. According to the applicable rules of civil law, the place of residence of an individual is understood to be the place in which the citizen actually resides and is registered most of the time, that is, a person may primarily live at one address, but sometimes travel beyond this address due to certain circumstances (for example, during a business trip or for leisure). In civil law, the location of an individual who acts as a participant in economic or business relations is understood as the address at which a citizen is located and lives at a specific moment and period (address of temporary registration issued for a certain period of time, for example).

If the defendant party is an organization or any other legal entity, then the location is understood to be the address specified when registering this legal entity when registering with the tax authorities.

An application for consideration of an arbitration dispute is sent exclusively to this address, even if the organization’s official contacts (official website, business cards, advertisements, etc.) indicate a different location address.

Why is this so important?

There are three circumstances that require you to know the address of the person you are suing. Firstly, jurisdiction . Most of the issues that, in the opinion of the plaintiff, should be decided by the court, are considered by the courts in the area of ​​residence of the second party (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure). True, there are two exceptions - cases when a claim can be filed in court:

• to the applicant's address, if his case is listed here;
• according to the rules of exclusive jurisdiction when there is a housing dispute or other cases defined here.

But even if an alternative jurisdiction option can be used, this will not solve all the applicant’s problems. This is because the second reason is the need to send a copy of the claim . The fact is that the applicant, before going to court, is obliged to send a copy of the claim to the other party. If the defendant's address is unknown, the statement of claim will have no addressee. Well, if you don’t send a copy, the court has the right to “freeze” the proceedings until you correct the mistake (clause 6 of Article 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

The third is the obligation to indicate the address in the claim. An address is a detail that is included in the information about the parties and must be indicated in the claim (clause 3, part 2, article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Subpoenas and copies of documents will be sent according to it.

Request to specialized organizations

What if you contact specialized organizations, for example, an address bureau? Will the citizen be given the information he is interested in?

Law of the Russian Federation dated June 25, 1993 No. 5242-1 states that the federal executive body authorized to exercise control and supervision functions in the field of migration keeps records of citizens of the Russian Federation at the place of stay and at the place of residence within the Russian Federation.

Currently, the federal executive body authorized to exercise control and supervision functions in the field of migration is the Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Those. Information about a citizen's registration is kept by the police.

The information contained in the database is subject to protection in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on information, information technology and information protection, the legislation of the Russian Federation on state secrets, trade secrets and other secrets protected by law, as well as the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of personal data.

In other words, information about a citizen’s registration is protected by law and is not subject to disclosure.

The address and information bureau of the Internal Affairs Directorate can provide information about citizen registration to individuals and legal entities upon their requests only with the consent of the person in respect of whom such information is requested.

The information contained in the database is also provided to law enforcement agencies and other authorities in cases where it is necessary for them to exercise their powers. Police officers, tax officers, and bailiffs have access to such information. The court may also send a request for such information.

Therefore, if you personally contact the authorized body with a request for information about your place of residence, you will receive a refusal. And the legality of the refusal will be justified.

Location

The general meaning of this term is contained in Article 20 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and when translated from the dry language of the law into Russian, place of residence is understood as the address where a person lives permanently or almost permanently. However, since we are talking about a trial, there are some legal nuances.

Anyone who has decided to go to court (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) must provide in the statement of claim not only his personal data, but also complete information about the defendant, including indicating his place of residence. This is necessary in order to promptly and properly notify the defendant of the scheduled meeting.

Based on the above, the defendant’s place of residence is the address where the citizen is constantly or most of the time. In other words, in the absence of any special circumstances (temporary relocation, rental housing, etc.), this is the registration address (aka -), which is indicated in.

Jurisdiction and jurisdiction: concept and content

First, let's get acquainted with these specific terms and find out what their differences are.

What does “jurisdiction” mean?

This concept implies the assignment of a dispute (legal case) to the competence of a certain body - a state or arbitration court. The jurisdiction of state courts includes the following categories of disputes:

• violation of rights guaranteed by industry legislation (for example, housing, labor, civil, land, family disputes);
• providing for the issuance of court orders;
• related to cases of special proceedings;
• cases related to the activities of arbitration courts (assistance, execution of writs of execution, challenging decisions);
• cases related to decisions of foreign courts.

The parties can apply to the arbitration court only if an arbitration agreement has been concluded between them (which, in fact, contains the consent of all participants to resolve the dispute by an arbitrator). But many disputes cannot be resolved this way:

• involving special production;
• family;
• hereditary;
• about damage to life or health;
• relating to issues of privatization of state and municipal housing;
• about eviction;
• related to the field of public procurement;
• labor;
• on compensation for environmental damage.

What does “jurisdiction” mean?

Based on established criteria, the concept of jurisdiction determines where exactly the case will be heard. Actually, in accordance with these factors, generic, territorial and exclusive jurisdiction are distinguished.

Ancestral

It consists of structuring by type of courts and the cases they consider.

Territorial

The meaning of this type of jurisdiction is that the court to which one must apply for the protection of violated rights is determined on a territorial basis.

The following types of territorial jurisdiction have been established:

• general (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) - assumes that a claim against an organization is considered at its location, against an individual - at his place of residence;
• alternative (Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) - gives the plaintiff the right to choose which court to apply to, including the possibility of filing a claim at the place of residence of the claimant. But such privileges can only be enjoyed in certain cases;
• on the connection of cases (Article 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) - if there is an objective connection between the cases, then they can be combined into one proceeding and considered in one court;
• contractual (Article 32 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) - implies that the parties have agreed in advance in which court the disputes will be heard. However, such an agreement cannot contradict the requirements of generic and exclusive jurisdiction.

Exceptional

Regulated by Art. 30 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, applies to certain types of disputes and determines in which court the claim is filed:

• matters related to transportation - at the location of the carrier company;
• cases related to rights to plots of land and subsoil, real estate, release of property from arrest - at the location of the object or seized property;
• claims made by the testator's creditors before accepting the inheritance - at the place of opening of this inheritance.

The legislative framework

Russian legislation is a very broad concept, so there is no point in listing here all the regulations that are in one way or another related to litigation. Indeed, by and large, theoretically, any legal document can be mentioned in the process of considering a dispute. But it is still necessary to talk about those that can be called basic.

So, such legislative acts include:

1. Codes (Civil, Labor, Family, etc.).
2. Laws, presidential decrees, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, orders of ministries regulating the activities of specific industries or areas of activity.
3. Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation). It is singled out as an independent paragraph, since it determines the procedure, the rights and obligations of the parties, the actions of the participants - everything that directly concerns the court session, as well as all issues within the competence of the courts.

The third point deserves special attention, since it is the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation that contains information about where and how the statement of claim is filed, what documents must be submitted with it, and what to do if, for example, the plaintiff does not know where the defendant lives.

If the defendant's place of residence is unknown

In the statement of claim, the defendant’s place of residence is indicated, firstly, in order to comply with the requirements of jurisdiction, and, secondly, to notify the court of where to send materials, subpoenas and other documents. If this information is missing, the court will not be able to accept the case for consideration and will return the statement of claim to eliminate the comments.

Those who submit such applications can be understood: they probably do not have information and simply have no idea how to find out the defendant’s place of residence.

Of course, you can try to find friends in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who can check the person of interest in their databases and provide the required address. However, this method is not suitable for everyone, because not everyone knows police officers, and not every police officer has access to databases.

There is another option: send a written request to the same Ministry of Internal Affairs. Most likely, the result will be unsatisfactory: employees of this structure are not obliged to provide information on individual requests. Thus, contacting law enforcement will bring nothing but meaningless waiting.

But the situation is not as deadlock as it seems: the plaintiff can file a petition to establish the defendant’s place of residence. In this case, the request is sent by the court and has official status, that is, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not be able to ignore it.