Reliability Of Evidence In Cases Arising From Money Obligations: The Challenges Of War

Abstract

The effort to ensure the proper administration of justice in the conditions of a competitive process imposes on the state the duty to ensure the responsible approach of courts to evidence as a key process of judicial knowledge. Despite in-depth investigations of the problems of proof in civil procedural law, many important factors exist. Such a criterion for assessing evidence such as reliability is insufficiently clearly regulated by the civil procedural legislation of Ukraine. It creates problems in the practice of legal regulation. An additional challenge to the reliability of evidentiary information for courts was the war, which caused numerous losses of the originals of legal documentation by large populations. The purpose of this article is to highlight legal problems related to the reliability of evidence in cases of disputes arising from monetary obligations, which arose in connection with the war in Ukraine, and to identify ways to solve them. Based on the analysis of current domestic legislation, the opinions of researchers on judicial practice in cases of disputes arising from monetary obligations, the problems of legal understanding of reliability as a criterion for evaluating evidence in civil proceedings, and the related problems of law enforcement in specific civil cases are highlighted. Special attention in the article is given to the originals, as sources of information with the highest degree of trust in their reliability. It was found that in practice the original evidence is not always relevant to reflect the circumstances of the case. The analysed judicial practice shows different understanding by the courts of the essence and features of the electronic evidence in particular such a type as a screenshot. Based on the results of the research, conclusions, and practical recommendations were made regarding the indicators that can be used to determine the reliability of this or that evidence, further research on this issue, including aspects such as the reliability of electronic evidence and the improvement of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure regarding reliability as a criterion for evaluating evidence.