Standards of Proof and Evaluation of Evidence in the Civil Procedure

A citizen's right to a fair trial is guaranteed in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It is enshrined not only at the national but also at the international level and is established by the universal Declaration of human rights of 1948. Ensuring the legality of the court decision on the case, the implementation by the party of the guarantee of a fair trial and the right to protect violated or disputed interests is impossible without a sufficiently developed evidentiary law. The process of evaluating evidence, as an institution, plays a key role in the exercise by citizens of these fundamental rights. In modern civil proceedings in Russia, as in many countries of continental Europe, evidence is evaluated on the basis of the judge's subjective inner conviction, which is practically unlimited. In common law courts, however, objective criteria are used in evaluating evidence – different standards of proof. In recent years, the term "standard of proof" has increasingly appeared in the rulings of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, mainly on bankruptcy disputes. However, to date, neither legislation nor legal science has a unified approach to defining the concept and essence of this institution, the expediency of its use and the need for its legal regulation. In addition, in civil proceedings in Russia, in addition to the absence of a normative standard, an extremely high unspoken standard has spontaneously developed, which determines the degree of internal conviction of the judge for recognizing a particular fact as proven. This paper examines the concept and meaning of evidence assessment in Russia, analyzes the attitude of scientists, judges and lawyers to the criterion of "internal conviction of a judge", examines the significance of the development, concept and types of standards of proof in England and the United States, and analyzes the current practice of Russian courts on the application of standards of proof. In addition, an attempt was made to study the approaches of Russian scientists to the need to implement standards of proof in Russian civil proceeding. In conclusion, we present our recommendations on the need to amend the Russian procedural legislation in the field of evidentiary law.