Directions for Improving State Judicial Policy in Legal Costs in the Context of Justice Accessibility

Abstract

Court appeal is an integral component of the constitutional right to judicial protection. This paper introduces ways to improve the institution of civil court costs through the prism of justice accessibility. The author studied the optimal mechanisms for paying state fees at civil court; the direct connection between the benefits for the payment of state duty, the principle of justice accessibility, and the right to judicial protection; grounds for granting benefits for the payment of state duty. The author finds it highly undesirable to increase the rates of state duty because this factor can affect the scope of guarantees for judicial protection. However, the current inflation creates prerequisites for an increase in the cost of civil trials for the state, which means expanding the criteria for benefits. A judicial practice analysis revealed no uniformity in the provision of benefits for the payment of state duty but identified the grounds for the application of certain preferential mechanisms. The author proposes to introduce additional guarantees for the right to legal protection, e.g., the institution of financing court costs by a third party, not involved in the case but with guarantees for reimbursement of their costs for financing the trial. The mechanism for investing court costs could be tested in group proceedings.