The Legal Nature of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (Using Criminal Procedure Legislation as an Example)

The Federal Constitutional Law of 21 July 1994 No. 1-FKZ “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation,” while establishing the legal force of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, does not provide a definitive answer to the question whether such decisions may be regarded as sources of law and, if so, to which type of sources they should be attributed. In a historical context, the article reviews the principal approaches to the legal nature of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. Using criminal procedure legislation as an example, the authors examine the role of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the formation of legislation. Rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation that declared provisions of criminal procedure legislation unconstitutional in whole or in part are divided into two groups: (1) rulings on the basis of and in accordance with which federal laws were subsequently adopted in implementation of the instructions contained therein (the majority of rulings); and (2) rulings that operate directly because no federal laws were adopted for the purpose of their implementation (a minority of rulings). Analysis of these two groups makes it possible to reveal the dual legal nature of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and to demonstrate that acts adopted by this body cannot be attributed to any of the officially recognized “classical” sources of law. The article substantiates the conclusion that rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declaring legislative provisions unconstitutional constitute independent, unique sources of law that partially possess features characteristic of such sources of law as judicial precedent and a normative legal act. Although the study analyzes only acts of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation affecting criminal procedure relations, the conclusions reached are equally applicable to all branches of law. The study employs methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as formal-legal, comparative-legal and statistical methods. 

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