Jurisdiction of civil cases and differences from jurisdiction

What is jurisdiction?

Jurisdiction in civil proceedings is a concept that delimits the substantive competence of courts, state and municipal authorities, notaries, and other organizations that are granted the right to consider disputes.

In simple words: jurisdiction implies that the dispute can be resolved not only in court, but also through other institutions. However, there is exclusive jurisdiction when conflicts are resolved only in the courts. Let's look at all types in more detail.

Types of jurisdiction in civil cases

In civil law, jurisdiction is divided into several types:

• alternative;
• exceptional;
• conditional;
• imperative.

Alternative jurisdiction

Alternative jurisdiction implies the possibility of an interested person applying not only to the court, but also to another institution for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The right to choose remains exclusively with the citizen. The parties can conclude a peace treaty or apply to the Arbitration Court, having previously concluded an agreement.

Example of alternative jurisdiction:

The couple divorced, and the woman had a child. She wanted to go to court to collect alimony from her ex-husband, but he suggested concluding an agreement, because... This opportunity is provided by Art. 99 RF IC. The parties chose an alternative option, and instead of going to court, they turned to a notary to certify the agreement.

Exclusive jurisdiction

Exclusive jurisdiction means that in order to resolve a dispute, the parties do not need to comply with the pre-trial settlement procedure, and the problem is resolved only in court - other government agencies do not have the right to deal with this.

Examples of exclusive jurisdiction:

• invalidation of a real estate purchase and sale agreement;
• challenging illegal dismissal with subsequent reinstatement;
• acknowledgment of authorship;
• deprivation of parental rights;
• recognition of a citizen as incompetent or missing or dead.

As can be seen from the above, exclusive jurisdiction implies consideration of rather serious problems and issues that other government agencies cannot resolve.

Conditional jurisdiction

Conditional jurisdiction means that before going to court, citizens and organizations must comply with the mandatory pre-trial procedure for resolving the conflict.

This procedure is established for the following types of disputes:

• individual labor disputes;
• collection of obligatory payments, arrears;
• termination of a bank account agreement;
• termination of a lease or rental agreement;
• payments under the MTPL agreement;
• disputes regarding cargo, railway, air transportation, transfers by sea, etc.;
• disagreements regarding supply contracts.

Example of conditional jurisdiction:

A citizen has opened a savings account in a bank. After withdrawing the amount, he wanted to close it, so he wrote an application and presented it at the bank branch. According to the conditions of the financial institution, account closure occurs within 30 days after the client’s request. However, after the expiration of the specified period, there was no response, the account was not closed.

The citizen again contacted the bank for an explanation, but there was no intelligible answer. He sent a written complaint demanding that the account be closed and a written response be provided within 30 days. The requirements were not met, and then the man filed an application for a restraining order. The document was ready in 5 days and sent to the bank’s address, the contract was forcibly terminated.

Imperative jurisdiction

Mandatory jurisdiction means the mandatory combination into one case of several claims that are subject to consideration in different courts: for example, in a court of general jurisdiction and an arbitration court.

Important! If part of the claims is considered by the district court, and another part by the arbitration court, the proceedings should take place in a court of general jurisdiction, if separation is impossible (Article 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).

If the claims are divided, the judge issues a ruling refusing to accept the claim, which should be considered by an arbitration court, and accepts the claims within the competence of a court of general jurisdiction.

Briefly: the concept of jurisdiction is relevant if you need to determine where exactly to go to solve a problem.

Cost of a claim in civil proceedings

Simplified proceedings in civil proceedings

Judicial system in the Russian Federation

It would be much easier to simply give a diagram of the judicial system instead of a long description.

So, if we go from below, we have courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts. Both of these systems have recently been headed by the RF Armed Forces. Previously, the system of arbitration courts was headed by the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, which was abolished in 2015.

There is the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation - a body of constitutional control. In some regions, constitutional (statutory) courts of constituent entities of the Russian Federation have been established.

In addition to state courts, there are also arbitration courts.

If we do not limit ourselves to Russia, then there are international courts (for example, the well-known European Court of Human Rights - ECHR). It also happens that a dispute may be subject to the jurisdiction of a court of a foreign state. Most often these are disputes over transactions with a foreign element. But not always.

Now you can go directly to the jurisdiction criteria.

Types of jurisdiction

Many people often confuse the concepts of “jurisdiction” and “jurisdiction”, while there are colossal differences between them. Jurisdiction means the distribution of different categories of cases among courts.

For example, an arbitration court cannot consider cases of collection of alimony, and a district court cannot consider economic disputes of legal entities.

Jurisdiction is determined by Ch. 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, where cases are distributed between different courts:

• world;
• regional;
• military or specialized;
• regional, regional, supreme courts of republics;
• Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Jurisdiction is generic and territorial, the latter is divided into several subtypes. Let's consider all the nuances in detail.

Patrimonial jurisdiction

Generic (subject) jurisdiction is determined by the subject of the claim, is differentiated vertically between the courts of first instance and is determined by several parameters:

• the nature of the case, the subject of the dispute;
• claims.

From the point of view of generic jurisdiction, disputes are divided into jurisdiction of the world, district, regional (regional, city, republican), and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Here there is a differentiation of the competencies of the courts: for example, the magistrate cannot consider cases within the jurisdiction of the district court, and the district court does not have the right to resolve disputes within the jurisdiction of the regional court.

Territorial jurisdiction

With territorial jurisdiction, civil cases within the jurisdiction of courts of the same level are delimited in space (by territory).

In simple words: in this case, it means choosing a specific court to file an application depending on the place of residence of the plaintiff or defendant.

In certain categories of cases, the plaintiff can make a choice independently, but there are disputes where exclusive jurisdiction, determined by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, is applied.

Exclusive jurisdiction

Exclusive jurisdiction is established by Art. 30 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

For certain categories of cases, claims can only be filed in specific courts, depending on the established territory:

• challenging, establishing rights to land plots, subsoil, buildings, structures, non-residential and residential premises, lifting the seizure of property - at the address of the location of the objects;
• collection of credit debt by creditors after the death of borrowers when legal successors enter into inheritance - at the place of opening of the inheritance case;
• disputes under transportation contracts - at the location of the carrier companies;
• protection of the interests of a group of persons, including in consumer disputes - at the defendant’s residence or registration address.

Example of exclusive jurisdiction:

During his lifetime, the man took out a loan in the amount of 2,000,000 rubles, and died a few months later. The balance of debt amounted to 1,700,000 rubles. According to the law, debts are inherited within the value of the inherited property. The inheritance case was opened in another city, so bank representatives will have to go there in accordance with the rules of exclusive jurisdiction to collect money from the legal successors.

Alternative jurisdiction

Alternative jurisdiction is regulated by Art. 29 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and gives plaintiffs the right to appeal to any courts: both at their place of residence and at the defendant’s residence address.

In what cases can a plaintiff file an application with the judicial authority at his residence address:

• divorce if a child lives with the plaintiff or a trip to court at the defendant’s residence address is difficult due to poor health;
• determination of paternity, collection of alimony;
• compensation for harm to life and health due to the fault of the defendant;
• pension, housing disputes about rights;
• compensation for moral damages for violation of the law on personal data;
• restoration of labor rights.

Note! In the statement of claim, the plaintiff must indicate the defendant's residential address. If he is unknown, the claim is filed at the last known address or in court at the location of his property.

Contractual jurisdiction

According to Art. 32 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the parties to a specific case can independently change the territorial jurisdiction by prior agreement.

This is only possible before the claim is accepted for production. The exception is generic and exclusive jurisdiction: they are determined by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, therefore they cannot be changed by agreement.

Jurisdiction of related cases

This implies the possibility of bringing a claim at the place of residence of one defendant, if there are several of them and they all live in different places. When merging claims, the plaintiff has the right to choose a specific court independently.

Example of jurisdiction of related cases:

A group of people, out of hooligan motives, damaged a citizen's car. He contacted the police and they were prosecuted. The owner of the car decided to seek compensation for damage caused to property. To do this, he filed an application with the court at the place of residence of one of the culprits, because all are registered in different regions of the Russian Federation.

Briefly: unlike jurisdiction, jurisdiction concerns exclusively the courts. The concept is used to determine the competence of courts in specific cases.

Exclusive jurisdiction of the district court

Exclusive territorial jurisdiction means that claims will be considered only in a specific court; it is impossible to change this jurisdiction by agreement or choose the plaintiff.

Civil cases considered under the rules of exclusive jurisdiction include:

• violation of the rights to a building, structure, land plot or any other stationary object belonging to a person, including the seizure of such objects;
• demands made by the creditors of the person who opened the inheritance until the inherited property is distributed among potential heirs;
• violations by cargo carriers of the terms of transport contracts.

In addition, if a citizen’s claim arises from a criminal case (when it was not filed or was simply not resolved when a criminal case was initiated), then this claim is subject to jurisdiction only by the district court, which considers it according to the rules of civil procedure.

Jurisdiction and jurisdiction: differences

These two concepts differ in criteria:

How to determine jurisdiction?

To determine where to go, just take a few simple steps:

1. Determine the nature of the problem. For example, disputes with employers are often resolved through the State Labor Inspectorate, and in housing and communal services - through the Housing Inspectorate.
2. See whether there are grounds for going to court and whether pre-trial settlement is mandatory.

If there are grounds for filing a claim, the subject of the dispute is established, and then the generic jurisdiction is clarified. After this, you need to decide on the territorial one and find out where to send the application - at the place of residence of the plaintiff, defendant, or location of the property.

Example:

A man works in an organization; for a minor violation, the employer reprimands him and records it in his personal file. The citizen considered that this would have a negative impact on his career, and complained to the State Labor Safety Inspectorate, because taking into account the rules of jurisdiction, such cases are resolved by this organization. However, to cancel the order, the man had to go to court, because The inspection did not reveal any violations on the part of the manager.

According to the rules of jurisdiction, the case was heard by the district court at the location of the enterprise. The decision was made in favor of the plaintiff, the order to impose disciplinary liability in the form of a remark was canceled.

Services for determining territorial jurisdiction

Today, to determine territorial jurisdiction, it is enough to have access to the Internet, where there are many services in order to figure out where the plaintiff should go with his papers. Here are some services:

• State Automated System of the Russian Federation “Justice” - jurisdiction of justices of the peace in civil cases - find the site of the Justice of the Peace: https://sudrf.ru/index.php?id=300&var=true
• Website of the Moscow Regional Court - find a district court site for residents of the Moscow region: https://www.mosoblsud.ru/courts.php
• Portal of the Unified Information Space of Magistrates of the City of Moscow - territorial jurisdiction module: https://mos-sud.ru/services/podsudn/
• Courts of general jurisdiction of the city of Moscow. Official portal - territorial jurisdiction: https://www.mos-gorsud.ru/mgs/services/territorial