Potylchak B. The Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR during 1943-1945: organizational activity, cassation and supervisory practices

Legal status, principles of organization and activity of the Supreme Court of the USSR in the judicial system of the Republic between the wars and during the Second World War have been analyzed. Organizational features and control activity of the Supreme Court, essence and structural dynamics of its development during the restoration of the judiciary in Ukraine liberated from the Nazis have been shown. The specific of the staffing of judicial panels and court staff during 1943-1945 was determined. Features of the socio-political activities of judges and staff, their participation in ideological propaganda initiated by government and military defense campaigns restoration works of charity and patronage programs, promotions care front were characterized. Practice of criminal cassation proceedings and specific criminal of the judicial supervision in the Supreme Court of USSR have been studied and their features and character during the war have been found. Features of civil proceedings in the final stage of the war were defined and described. Perspective directions of researched problem were determined, practical recommendations that take into account the lessons of history and experience of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR in the late 30's - mid 40-ies XX century with a view to their possible use in modern reforming the national judicial system were formulated. It is noted that in the activity of the Supreme Court of USSR during the final stage of World War II as the specific tasks could be distinguished two chronological stages. The first of them (January-December 1943) characterized by active organizational reconstruction and renewal collegial, control and advisory work of the court on the liberated from occupiers territory. Organizational specifics of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR at this stage were determined by the administration of the court registry and restore cassation and supervisory practices; streamlining service functions and powers of officials; strengthening human capacity and the move the Court to Kyiv. During the second phase (January 1944 - December 1945) organizational structure and staffing of the Supreme Court of the USSR were finally restored, and it had the usual activities of the pre-war period scale. The features of this stage became: strengthening the administration to establish a stable work of technical staff and members of the judicial panels, the further development of the organizational structure of the court, with the revitalization of the staff. Lack of specialists with legal education and a significant turnover of technical staff and the office of judicial panels were reasons for violating the terms of cases, poor quality of some regulations and court decisions, lack of control over the execution of judgments. Criminal proceedings during 1943-1945 characterized by cassation common practice in cases belonging to the jurisdiction of military tribunals, the use of deferral of enforcement of sentences of convicted people, sending amnestied people to the field force and a reduction by half a sentence of imprisonment appointed by the court. Civil proceedings replenished with new categories of cases brought to life by circumstances and consequences of wartime occupation. The author convinced of the inadmissibility to revise now the constitutional provisions governing the status of higher judicial body of Ukraine, in particular by an unjustified expansion of powers of high specialized courts.