DOCTRINAL APPROACHES TO DEFINING THE CONCEPT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL STATUS OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGES

The article reveals the essential characteristics of the concept of «constitutional and legal status of professional judges", based on doctrinal approaches to its consideration. It is established that the legal basis of the constitutional and legal status of judges is regulated by the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges», the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. It is determined that the constitutional and legal status of professional judges is revealed as the formation of understanding and perception of the essence of such status, based on the foundations of constitutional and legal science. It was found that the main structural elements of the constitutional and legal status of professional judges are: 1) legal personality as a special and at the same time qualitative feature of a judge, as a subject authorized to exercise the function of justice; 2) the grounds for bringing a judge to legal responsibility; 3) the rights and duties of a judge, which are regulated by the provisions of Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges»; 4) oath, according to which a person appointed to the position of a judge guarantees compliance with the basic principles of legal conduct, which must be followed by a professional judge not only in judicial but also in extrajudicial activities and regulated by Article 57 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges»; 5) requirements for the position of a judge, which are regulated by the provisions of Article 127 of the Constitution of Ukraine and the provisions of Article 69 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges» to judges of courts of general jurisdiction, for example, to judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, then the provisions of Article 148 of the Constitution of Ukraine; 7) constitutional and legal guarantees, which are enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges» and the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this area are the study of the legal basis for the independence of professional judges as one of the constitutional principles of their legal status.