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ABUSE OF PROCEDURAL RIGHTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER OF THE LAW

M.A. FOKINA,
Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor,
Department of Civil and Administrative Legal Proceedings,
Russian State University of Justice

The article deals with the correlation between the concepts “letter of the law” and “spirit of
the law” in correlation with the concepts of good faith and abuse of procedural rights. The
author points out that if the “spirit of the law” is not clear enough, there is an abuse of the
“letter of the law”. In this case the law turns into a tool which is used by its enforcers not for
the purposes of justice but for their own purposes. As a result of the study of controversial
issues of the concept of good faith behavior of subjects of procedural law in civil proceedings,
it is concluded that “good faith”, and especially “inadmissibility of abuse of procedural rights”
cannot be considered as principles of civil and arbitration proceedings, administrative
proceedings. The article specifies the condition under which the behavior will be considered
as bona fide, namely: when it corresponds to the goals and objectives of civil and arbitral
protsesses, administrative proceedings. The application of the current and projected legislation
on the problems of combating the abuse of procedural rights is analyzed.

Keywords: good faith; subject of procedural law; legal status; purpose of civil proceedings;
principle of civil procedural law; abuse of procedural law; jurisdiction; mediation; recusal.

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Information about the author

M.A. Fokina (Moscow, Russia) – Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Department
of Civil and Administrative Legal Proceedings, Russian State University of Justice
(69 Novocheremuskinskaia St., Moscow, 117418, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]).

Recommended citation

Fokina M.A. Zloupotreblenie protsessual’nymi pravami: sootnoshenie dukha i bukvy
zakona [Abuse of Procedural Rights: The Relationship Between the Spirit and the Letter
of the Law]. Vestnik grazhdanskogo protsessa – Herald of Civil Procedure, 2022, vol. 12,
no. 1, pp. 48–62. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24031/2226-0781-2022-12-1-48-62

M.A. FOKINA