The Court System of Ukraine

Under the Constitution the judiciary in Ukraine is administered by the Constitutional Court and by the courts of general jurisdiction.

The Constitutional Court has the right to declare unconstitutional any law passed by Supreme Council of Ukraine or any order issued by the President. It consists of 18 judges who are elected by the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada and the congress of judges.

Courts of general jurisdiction have three tiers, like a pyramid: the district courts, the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest body of general jurisdiction. It only examines cases of particular complexity of special public significance, and does so either upon its own decision, or upon the initiative of the Procurator – General of Ukraine.

Appellate courts are divided into regional, territorial and military courts of appeals. The courts of appeals review decisions of the district courts within their areas.

At the bottom of the judicial pyramid are the district (town) courts and military tribunals where litigation begins. Most litigation occurs in these courts (97 % of all criminal cases and 99 % of all civil cases are examined in the principal link of Ukrainian judicial system – the courts of districts and towns).

There are also special trial courts that have jurisdiction over certain types of cases. The special trial courts are organized in a system that looks like the system of courts of general jurisdiction with a Supreme Court at the top. The structure is the following: there are district administrative and economiccourts, appellate administrative and economic courts, and high appellate administrative and economic courts.

The first appointment to theoffice of the judge is done by the President of Ukraine. All the other judges except the judges of the constitutional court are elected by the Verkhovna Rada. Judges shall hold office until they die, retire, or resign.