The modern judicial system is the result of many judicial and legal reforms, which were determined by the search for its optimal model, the need to ensure the quality of justice and access to it. The question of the need for administrative courts gave rise to numerous scientific discussions, and the attitude to administrative justice had an extremely opposite nature: from denying the expediency of its existence in the Soviet period of Ukraine's history to recognizing its necessity after Ukraine gained independence.
The introduction of administrative courts is justified by the task of the judiciary to ensure a fair, impartial and timely resolution of disputes in the field of public-legal relations. The proper performance of this task presupposes the definition of basic, fundamental, key and interrelated ideas – conceptual foundations on which the activities of judicial authorities, which administer justice in administrative disputes, and which affect all aspects of their organization and functioning are based.
Conceptual bases as the foundation of the strategy for the development of administrative justice acquire special importance in the modern period, when the law develops, the system of values is changing, old approaches are disappearing and new priorities are emerging. The emergence of new challenges for the justice system is associated with the rapid introduction of the latest technologies, digitization, including administrative courts: with the development of electronic justice, the conceptual foundations of their activity require their understanding.
The basic ideas of the activity of administrative courts need to be studied also in the context of martial law conditions. In the most difficult period for independent Ukraine, administrative courts continue to administer justice in the field of public-legal relations, facing the specific problems of wartime conditions.
Ukraine's acquisition of the status of a candidate country for membership of the European Union brings to the fore new issues and priorities in ensuring effective justice, which actualizes the study of conceptual provisions designed to ensure the development of administrative justice the legal system as a whole in accordance with European realities.
The purpose of the research is the formulation of scientifically based conclusions, theoretical provisions and practical recommendations regarding the improvement of the conceptual foundations of the activity of administrative courts in Ukraine.
As a result of the study, the definition of the concept of "conceptual foundations of the activity of administrative courts" is proposed as the basic ideas that make up the system of goals and principles that form the basis of legal support for the activity of administrative courts. Influencing all aspects of the functioning of administrative courts and the activities of administrative court judges, conceptual principles create the necessary balance of the said influence and determine the patterns of development of administrative courts.The characteristic features of the conceptual foundations of the activity of administrative courts are that they: 1) are broader in their content than the bases and principles relating to the activity of courts and defined by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" and in no case should be identified; 2) are contained not only in legal acts, but also in scientific views on the activity of administrative courts; 3) are a dynamic phenomenon and change taking into account the challenges of modern life.
