Powers of the court of appeals in the review of court decisions

This scientific article is devoted to determining the specifics of application and ways of improving the powers of appellate courts in the civil process of Ukraine when checking the legality and reasonableness of the decisions of the courts of first instance. It is noted that the powers enshrined in Article 374 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine are used to perform the main task of the court of appeal - checking the legality and validity of both decisions and decisions of the courts of first instance and correcting judicial errors made in the adoption of these judicial acts. The statement that when reviewing the decisions of the court of first instance is substantiated, the courts of appeal have the right to apply any of the powers provided for in Art. 374 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, if there are legal grounds for this. At the same time, the powers provided for in p.p. 6 and 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine are intended exclusively for the review of court decisions, while other powers are more universal and can be applied by appellate courts both when reviewing decisions and decisions of courts of first instance. It is emphasized that there is a potential possibility for the court of appeals to use the powers provided for in p. 3 and p. 4 Art. 374 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, and at the same time points out the practical impracticality of such application. It was concluded that in the practice of the Supreme Court there are two different approaches to the understanding of the term «resolutions that prevent further proceedings in the case», depending on the situation in which it needs to be determined. When applying the power of the appellate court provided for in p. 6 Art. 374 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, the Supreme Court currently maintains the position that the decision is considered to prevent further proceedings in the case, even if it only prevents the resolution of a separate issue of a procedural nature (for example, the issue of interim measure), without at the same time preventing the proceedings in the case in as a whole. A proposal was formulated to improve the legal regulation of the powers of the appellate court in civil proceedings with the aim of harmonizing the norms of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to the Economic Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine on Improving the Procedure for Review of Court Cases» from 15.01.2020 No. 460-IX.