THE CONCEPT AND ESSENCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC FOUNDATIONS OF THE FORMATION OF THE CORPS OF JUDGES

The article presents the essential features of the democratic foundations of the formation of the corps of judges in Ukraine. It has been established that the peculiarities of the democratic foundations of the formation of the corps of judges in Ukraine are regulated by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges», and the Law of Ukraine «On the High Council of Justice». It has been established that the theory of democracy today does not have a single integral conceptualization, therefore, most often the category of «democracy» is interpreted in two aspects – as a policy tool and as a scientific category. It is determined that the democratic system is currently in four dimensions: 1) constitutional; 2) electoral; 3) institutional; 4) measuring the state of provision of human rights and freedoms. It has been proven that the judiciary should work within the framework of popular control and the prevention of any kind or form of outside influence in the process of administering justice. It was revealed that the democratic process of filling the posts of judges consists of a number of stages, the main one of which is that persons who have a high level of confidence in themselves from the voters and are capable of administering justice at a high level in the future should be elected to the post of judge. It has been established that the democratic principles of the formation of the corps of judges (judges) in Ukraine are clearly expressed in the legislation in the form of fundamental and at the same time fundamental ideas, guidelines that determine the democratic development of both the state and society, and also represent an integral complex of ideas, tasks and principles that enshrine or follow from the essence of the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine and other laws. It was found that professional judges, first of all, must be citizens of Ukraine, appointed and hold positions in accordance with the requirements provided for by law. It has been determined that before taking up the office of a judge, a potential candidate must be a citizen of Ukraine, not younger than thirty or older than sixty-five years, have a higher legal education, have at least five years of professional experience in the field of law, be virtuous, competent and fluent in state language. It is proved that the democratic principles of the formation of the corps of judges in Ukraine are divided into two special categories – the normative and value foundations and the institutional foundations. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this direction are the study of foreign experience in the recruitment of the judiciary (the corps of judges).