Melikhova Y. Moral and professional culture of a judge as a philosophic and legal problem.

The thesis is devoted to philosophic legal study of such phenomenon as moral and professional culture of a judge. Systematic analysis of the specified phenomenon was carried out in the work that enables substantiation of its essence as a characteristic of personal development level on which the efficiency of legal proceeding depends. Structure of moral and professional culture of a judge was investigated as a unity of a judge's professional potential (knowledge, abilities, and skills, level of ethical and legal thinking, feelings and behaviour) and social-psychological attitudes orientation (values, system of values, beliefs) being applied to professional activity. The statement that orientation of social-psychological attitudes in activity of a judge (as expression of his/her personal position) and professional potential of a judge (standard of knowledge, abilities, and skills) are of primary importance to the process of moral certainty formation was grounded. A historical analysis of the genesis of moral and professional standards for judges' activity on different stages of national social historical development was carried out, and peculiarities of their social-psychological attitudes and professional potential were outlined. The main manifestations of deformations in moral and professional conscience of judges and the primary reasons of their arising were analyzed. The author also substantiates approaches to creating judges' moral immunity, ways to prevent deformations of conscience and to optimize selection of cadres for judicial appointments on the basis of international practices: the introduction of effective personnel policy, check on candidate's biographical data, making specialists in other areas of knowledge members of qualification commissions to test character of world view orientation and social-psychological attitudes of activity of candidates for judicial appointment etc.