Viktor Gorodovenko

Viktor Gorodovenko, Doctor of Law – Judge, President of the Court of Appeal of Zaporizhia Region

Viktor Gorodovenko is the President of the Court of Appeal of Zaporizhia Region. He owns the titles of Honorary Lawyer of Ukraine (2008), Doctor in Law (2013) and Associate Professor (2013). Since 2001 he is the national Representative of Ukraine in the Consultative Council of European Judges under Committee Ministers of the Council of Europe; since 2015 he is a member of the working group in charge of drafting the Consultative Council of European Judges’ Opinions. Mr. Gorodovenko is the Chairman of the Coordination Center for Judges under National School of Judges of Ukraine. In 2017 he started to carry out functions of the Secretary of the Consultative Council of the Courts’ Presidents under the High Council of Justice of Ukraine.

Mr. Gorodovenko took part in more than 100 national and international projects, such as: Program “Courts and Mass Media: Tools of Communication” (USA, 2008); Seminar “Usage of Electronic Technologies in Courts” (Georgia, 2010); Seminar “Judicial Trials on Legalization of Criminal Proceeds: Key Features” (Moldova, 2013); Seminar “Proofs” (Canada, 2014), Program “Strategies of Justice” (Singapore, 2015). Viktor Gorodovenko was an active participant of the the Ukrainian – Canadian Project on creating model courts in Ukraine (1996-2001); took part in drafting of the Code of Judicial Ethics (2013).

Viktor Gorodovenko has authored more than 40 publications on ethics and independence of judges, the most considerable of them are monographs: “Challenges in formation of independent judiciary in Ukraine” (2007), “Principles of judicial power” (2012). He stands among co-authors of the monography “Judiciary in Ukraine” (2015). Mr. Gorodovenko is a member of the editorial bodies of such academic journals as “Newsletter of the Supreme Court of Ukraine”, “Newsletter of Civil and Criminal Justice”, “Newsletter of the National School of Judges” and takes part in sessions of the Scientific Consultative Council under the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine in Civil and Criminal Cases.

In November 2016 Mr. Gorodovenko was nominated as a winner of Yaroslaw the Wise Prize for Significant Academic Achievements.

Viktor Gorodovenko presents the report titled as “Mechanisms of Ensuring Equal Application of Law in Procedural Legislation Reform: European Standards and Ukrainian Practices”.

Annotation

Mechanisms of Ensuring Equal Application of Law in Procedural Legislation Reform: European Standards and Ukrainian Practices

The uniform and consistent application of law ensures the universality of legal rules, realization of principles of equality before the law and legal certainty. On the other hand, guaranteeing uniform application of law should not result in either rigidity and excessive restriction of the proper development of law, or threaten independence of the judiciary.

In a state governed by the rule of law, a citizen lawfully expects that his case will be treated in the same way as the affairs of other citizens, and may refer to previous decisions in similar cases, and therefore able to foresee the legal consequences of their actions or inaction.

In common law countries, decisions of higher courts that touch legal issues, in the future serve as an imperative rule in similar disputes. Thus, precedents are mandatory de jure and are considered to be a proper source of law. The obligatory force of a precedent is an important aspect of the common law system. In Roman law, most guarantees of judicial independence are traditionally interpreted in the sense that judges are independent and, in decision-making, are obliged to adhere to (only) the Constitution, international treaties and laws, ignoring judicial decisions overruled in similar cases in the past. Therefore, case law is not usually recognized as an appropriate source of law. Consequently, traditionally important differences between general and continental legal systems result in granting higher level courts with the powers to cancel a precedent, issued by the lower courts. This means that everyone, including first instance courts, can challenge the insisting case law, if such a deviation is not unlawful.