Justice and a Court Ruling Using WhatsApp: Admissible Civil Procedure Reality?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the subject of admissibility of the consideration and resolution of the case by the court by video call using the WhatsApp messenger. This study is relevant in view of the presence of common problems of legal regulation of procedural rights and obligations that are implemented by various participants in legal proceedings in electronic form. In order to form a comprehensive understanding of e-justice and e-justice, general scientific and private law (historical-legal, formal-legal, comparative-legal) methods are used. The question is being examined whether the court’s decision, taken as a result of the consideration of the case by video call using the WhatsApp messenger, is a procedural act, which was decided in a well-known procedural form. It is substantiated that such a decision is any other law enforcement document, but not a procedural one, since, as a general rule, for remote participation in a court session of all interested parties, only video-conferencing systems of the courts at the place of residence, stay or location of these persons are used. It is concluded that in order to transform the existing order of participation in the court session by means of video-conferencing, it is necessary to make amendments and additions to the current procedural law, allowing the presence of interested subjects anywhere outside the court, thereby legitimizing such a procedure.