Conciliation in Civil Proceedings: Concept, Features, Procedural Forms

Where it is necessary to protect violated, unrecognized or contested rights, freedoms and interests and the legal recourse is chosen for it, each person hopes to receive effective protection in the near future. Unfortunately, such expectations are not always justified because of different objective and subjective factors. A variety of conciliation procedures, through which the dispute is settled by mutual agreement of its parties, are therefore widely available. Similar procedures did not go unnoticed in civil proceedings. However, despite the increased attention to various forms of conciliation at the international level, by the state and in research, today there is no clear definition of the concept, understanding the characteristics of conciliation in the process, as well there is no unanimity on its procedural forms. Such circumstances cause problems in the application of conciliation regulations in civil proceedings. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to define the concept of conciliation in civil proceedings, highlighting and analysis of its characteristics, on the basis of which the existence of procedural forms of conciliation, which can be used by the parties to civil case, is justified. Based on the features of procedural conciliation identified in the research, it is concluded that it is the procedure for the settlement of private law disputes referred to the courts, regulated by the rules of Civil Procedure and applied by the parties for their free will with a view to reaching mutually advantageous agreements between them, which are recorded in the procedural act. At the same time, the Civil Procedural legislation of Ukraine regulates two procedural forms of conciliation nowadays: settlement by a judge (it is the procedure provided by procedural law, conducted by a judge with proceedings in the relevant case) and conclusion and approval of a settlement agreement, which means an agreement reached by the parties to a civil case to settle a dispute referred to court on the basis of mutual concessions, which concerns only the rights and obligations of the parties.