Influence of Doctrine on Transformation of the Concept of “Competence of the Court” in the Context of Reforming Civil Law Procedural Legislation

As part of the implementation of the judicial reform, the fundamental institutions of the civil process, such as competence, jurisdiction has undergone a serious transformation. Often in the legislation of the Russian Federation and in the doctrine, the concepts of “competence”, “jurisdiction”, “authority”, “to jurisdiction”, are used as synonyms. The interchangeability of these words in the usual lexicon, in fact, does not change the semantic load, however, when it comes to “appeal to the competent court, authorized to consider the case referred to its jurisdiction”, each term has its own meaning. By virtue of the principle of separation of powers, enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, each of them (legislative, executive and judicial) is carried out by independent bodies within the competence established by the relevant legal norms that determine the subjects of jurisdiction. Subjects of reference (jurisdiction) are the first necessary element of competence. However, the exclusion of the term “jurisdiction” from the procedural legislation does not cancel the effect of this institution in the distribution of cases between various state authorities, being, in fact, a property of the case, which makes it possible to determine the competence of a court, and not another body. Doctrinally, the competence of the court is determined by the correct application in the aggregate of the rules of jurisdiction, which are properties of cases. In addition, it would be more correct to use the procedural instrument “jurisdiction” in full, supplementing it with one more type – “on the subject of jurisdiction”, fixing in law the criteria for the distribution of cases between arbitration, military and courts of general jurisdiction.