Originally from The Journal of Eurasian Law (JEL)

I. Introducing the JP Courts

The justice-of-the-peace courts (JP courts or mirovye sudy) represent one of the most ambitious innovations of the post-Soviet Russian judicial system.1 Over the past decade, thousands of new courts have been created across the massive territory of the Russian Federation. They provide a new entryway for mundane claims of all varieties (O mirovykh 2011).2 Serious crimes and complex civil cases remain the province of higher courts, but almost all other cases originate with the JP courts. Those dissatisfied with the decisions of the JP courts can appeal to the district (or raionnye) courts. There is a JP court for every 15-23,000 Russian citizens. Each court covers a distinct geographic territory, known as a judicial district (or sudebnyi uchastok).

Though created with an eye to the tsarist past, the true purpose of the JP courts was to relieve the burden on the district courts. Over the decade of their existence, this goal has been achieved. Mundane cases have been diverted to the JP courts, leaving the other courts free to spend more time on the complex cases that need extra attention. Between 2001 and 2011, the caseload of the JP courts almost doubled. In 2011, the JP courts handled 14.5 million cases, which constituted almost three-fourths of all civil cases, about 45 percent of all criminal cases, and almost 95 percent of all administrative cases heard by the Russian courts.3 Despite the unmistakable importance of the JP courts, we know remarkably little about them.4