U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter will join several Russian judges and Russian and American legal scholars to discuss the Russian and American legal systems in a two-day conference that begins today.
The public conference will compare the Russian and American legal systems as well as examine the development of law and the courts in Russia -- a country in the process of creating its own democratic institutions. The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding is sponsoring the conference, titled "Law, the Courts and Society: Russia and America." Justice Souter will deliver his address at 4 p.m. today in Cook Auditorium.
"By comparing developments in Russia with the U.S. legal system, we can also learn from each other in dealing with difficult problems in the administration of justice," Dickey Center Acting Director Gene Lyons said in a statement released by the College.
In a press conference at the Hanover Inn on Monday, Lyons and Visiting Dickey Center Fellow Weyman Lundquist introduced five Russian judges and scholars who will be speaking at the conference.
At the press conference, Lyons said the meeting this week will be a "series of conversations with our colleagues from Russia" to discuss how similar cases are handled in each country. Several of the guests at the press conference generalized about the politicization of the American and Russian courts.
Venyamin Yakovlev, chairman of the Russian Court of Arbitration, said through a translator that one problem with the Russian legal system is the lack of accordance between legislation and the constitution. He also said Russia needs to develop better ways to implement laws.
Vasiliy Vlasihin, the director of legal studies of the Institute of the United States and Canadian Studies in Moscow and Special Counsel to the American Bar Association, said many of the laws in Russia are contradictory and people do not know which ones are applicable.
Mikhail Marchenko, vice rector of the Moscow State University and former dean of the School of Law of Moscow State University said the relation between politics and law is more of a problem in American courts than in Russian courts. Marchenko also spoke with the aid of a translator.
Tamara Morshakova, deputy chair of the Russian Constitutional Court said Russian courts are less politicized than their American counterparts.
But Morshakova, whose remarks were translated, said the Russian Constitutional Court is fairly politicized, or affected by partisan politics, because it has the responsibility to verify the constitutionality of legislative acts.
"Legislation always takes into account political goals," she said.
However, she said, it is not "the politicians influencing the court, it is the court influencing the politicians."
Lundquist said he thought one thing the American court system could learn from the Russians is specialization of courts.
In Russia, besides the general court there are three separate court branches -- criminal, arbitration and constitutional.
He also said he admired the way Russian citizens can have close contact with judges so they can seek advice.
"This may not work in our system," Lundquist said. "But it works in theirs."
He said in the hierarchy of the American court system makes judges less accessible.
Ekaterina Mishina, assistant to the chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court who has done legal research in the U.S., helped to translate the remarks of others at the conference.
Marchenko,Mishina, Morshakova, Vlasihin and Yakovlev will expand on their comments about the Russian legal system during today's conference.
Seven American legal scholars and justices will also participate in the conference, including College President James Freedman and Provost Lee Bollinger.
