Judicial practice as a source of procedural law: theoretical and practical issues

The paper analyzes the influence of judicial practice and individual legal positions of the highest courts on law enforcement activities: it examines its impact on judges, employees of certain state bodies, and practicing specialists (lawyers and advocate). Attention is focused on the increased role of judicial practice within procedural law, which allows us to speak about its characteristics as a legal source within this area of legal relations. The research outlines key positions of prominent pre-revolutionary, soviet, and contemporary legal scholars on the recognition of judicial practice as a legal source. The views of foreign specialists are presented, taking into account the practice of certain states in recognizing normative properties of individual judicial acts. Special attention is paid to the study of various forms of judicial practice: legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. The position is expressed that the formation of new judicial practice occurs at the level of the Judicial Boards of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Certain trends in the formation of "regional judicial practice" at the level of cassation and appellate instances are outlined. Attention is focused on the fact that the recognition of normative properties of individual judicial acts raises questions about the hierarchy of judicial practice, the mechanism of appealing individual decisions of the highest courts. A mechanism for appealing resolutions of Plenums of the highest courts through the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is proposed. The paper also presents the hierarchy of judicial acts within the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. It is determined that it is advisable to recognize the normative properties of individual legal positions of the highest courts as a source of procedural law - this will contribute to achieving the most accurate and uniform application of federal legislation by all courts in Russia, which will positively impact the efficiency of the Russian judicial system.