ABSTRACT
For most of Soviet history courts had a highly restricted role in assessing the legality of administrative actions; they had no significant constitutional jurisdiction; and they played a limited role in commercial disputes and the management of criminal investigations. In this chapter the authors examine and assess a number of areas of new or widened jurisdiction of the courts in Russia; the quality and strength of the new institutions of the judicial community; and, finally, the way that public and government officials alike regard and use the courts. It is difficult for courts anywhere to have power and prestige without also possessing institutional independence and a separate corporate identity. The courts' new jurisdiction in the commercial and civil realms had considerable potential for raising the status of the courts and the attitudes of the public toward them.
