Kunytskyi Y. The institution of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine

The general theoretical and methodological bases for the research of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine have been defined. The state of scientific development of the problem of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure in the relevant context has been analyzed, the methodology of the study has been provided, and the evolution of legal regulation of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine and some other States has been traced. The main stages of evolution of legal regulation of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine has been provided. The general characteristic of the institution of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine has been provided. It has been proved that the reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure should be considered from three angles: a) as the legal institution; b) as the legal category; c) as the process consisting of civil procedural legal relations. It has been substantiated that the prerequisites for reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure are: a) the presence of voluntary consent to reconciliation, which means the will of the party (the parties) to settle the dispute, one of the legal consequences of which is the termination of proceedings; b) observance of the procedural order (procedural form) of reconciliation determined by law. It has been determined that the consent of the party to settle the dispute should meet certain requirements, namely: a) it should be unconditional; b) it should be expressed in the procedural form determined by law, which varies according to the form, in which the parties to a civil suit will be reconciled. The consent of the parties to reconciliation has been classified according to the procedural form for: a) mutual consent; b) unilateral consent. The procedural forms of reconciliation of the parties to the Civil Procedure of Ukraine have been studied. It has been established that reconciliation of the parties can take four procedural forms: settlement of the claim; dismissal of the claim; recognition of the claim; and recognition of the complaint; withdrawal of the application(s) or abandonment of the claim without consideration on the initiative of the plaintiff. It has been established that the settlement agreement is the agreement between the parties to settle a dispute on the basis of mutual concessions; therefore, the settlement agreement is the transaction, i.e. the contract by its legal nature. The plaintiff’s waiver of the claim as the unilateral administrative procedural action of the plaintiff, which is characterized by the unconditional waiver of judicial protection of his (her) subjective right, freedom or interest and is aimed at terminating the proceedings and recognition of the claim that should be considered as the unilateral administrative procedural action of the defendant, which is manifested in his (her) unconditional agreement with the material and legal requirements of the plaintiff and is aimed at terminating the proceedings. The definition of the withdrawal of the statement of the claim has been improved; it is the unilateral procedural administrative action of the plaintiff, aiming at refraining from continuing the judicial process, which does not exclude the possibility of a new application to the court for the protection of an identical claim. The scientific view on the relationship between withdrawal of the statement of claim and withdrawal of the claimant has been substantiated. It has been proven that dropping the suit is aimed at completion of civil proceedings without court decision due to the existence of statutory grounds that prevent further consideration of the case and could potentially be eliminated in the future. At the same time, filing an application to drop the suit can be not only a procedural form of reconciliation of the parties, but also a way for the plaintiff to abuse his (her) procedural rights. Therefore, it is advisable for the court to apply the legal rules concerning the inadmissibility of abuse of procedural rights (Art. 44 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine of Ukraine) in order to prevent such situations. It has been substantiated that withdrawal of appeals and cassation appeals and the withdrawal of such appeals, as well as applications for judicial review of newly discovered or exceptional cases can be considered as procedural forms of reconciliation in civil proceedings subject to the submission of such applications or complaints by one of the parties to the civil case. Besides, the provisions on the relationship between the procedural form of reconciliation of the parties and the stage of civil proceedings have been argued, as a result of which procedural forms have been established, in which conciliation between the parties is permitted.