Social concern with issues of justice, objectivity, independence and effectiveness of justice has accompanied humanity since the time of the need to resolve disputes that arise by turning to a third independent judge. Much has been said about this in the writings of ancient authors during the existence of classical scientific rationality. In non-classical scientific rationality, this discourse acquires its specific characteristics, and the achievements of post-non-classical science objectify the need for further transformations in the judicial sphere, the legitimacy of justice. This is due to the fact that the structure of the judiciary is in a relationship of functional dependence on social systems as one of the substructures of state power, which has a huge impact on the economic, political, rule-making, cultural and moral spheres of social practice. For the judicial system at all times, the attributive properties are not only the continuity of its existence, but also the dynamism of its own structures or individual institutions, which at various stages of real existence are characterized by transformational changes, sometimes cardinal. In order to increase the efficiency of the social functioning of the judicial system, to meet its needs of legal development, it is necessary to generalize scientific ideas about judicial transformations as a real historical and legal phenomenon that accompanied the existence of state power. The article characterizes the essential features of the concepts “judicial system”, “judicial reforms”, “judicial reform”.