V.V. Yarkov,

Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Procedure 

of the Ural State Law University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation

The article analyzes the problems of determining the competence of courts to hear civil cases in accordance with the Draft Unified Code of Civil Procedure. The question of competence is central in the codification, as it is with the help of its key elements – court jurisdiction and subject-matter jurisdiction – carried the distinction of competence between the courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts, as well as with the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, constitutional (charter) courts of subjects of the Russian Federation, foreign courts, arbitral tribunals and international commercial arbitration. Questions of judicial competence determine access to justice for citizens, as well as the caseload of one or another court. Since in this aspect of the question is more economic than legal in nature, associated with the staffs, increase or decrease of the financing of one or another judicial subsystem or concrete courts. A separate allocation of Supreme Court jurisdiction due to the fact that under the new law, it is «taken out of the brackets» as a system of courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts and is located outside of them, leading the entire judicial system (except the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation). 

Keywords: Concept of the Unified Code of Civil Procedure; judicial reform; jurisdiction; court jurisdiction; venue; subject-matter jurisdiction; in rem jurisdiction; territorial jurisdiction; alternative jurisdiction; exclusive jurisdiction; jurisdiction by the interrelation of choses in action.