The parting word of the presiding judge in the court with the participation of the jury: To be or not to be?

M.V. Belyaev

Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, 420015 Russia

E-mail: 2216406@mail.ru

Received February 15, 2017

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Abstract

The author sets a goal to explain the importance and indispensability of such a stage of the trial with the participation of jurors as a parting word of the presiding judge. The cases in which the parties influence the perception of jurors and the role of the parting word in issuing a lawful and impartial verdict have been analyzed. The requirements for the parting word of the presiding judge have been described in detail. A parallel with the foreign practice has been drawn. The example of sentence remission has been given in connection with the violation of the generally accepted principle of objectivity and impartiality. The views expressed by a number of scientists who are opponents of this stage of the judicial process and the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation regarding doubts about the impartiality of the court at this stage have been considered. It has been concluded that the exclusion from the trial of such a stage as the parting word of the presiding judge is impossible, since it is an important organizational tool and allows jurors to give the minimum legal tools for a fair and objective verdict.

Keywords: court, presiding, jury, parting word, principle of neutrality, verdict

References

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For citation: Belyaev M.V. The parting word of the presiding judge in the court with the participation of the jury: To be or not to be? Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2017, vol. 159, no. 2, pp. 497–503. (In Russian)

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