Russia is not a common law country. Every court abides by the
law and is guided by its understanding of the law. In practice,
however, opposing judgments in similar situations do occasionally
happen.
These cases, although rare, create uncertainty in the
application of the law, so the judiciary worked out a remedy to
bring judicial practice in line.
As time goes on and court judgments pile up, so does material
for analysis. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation monitors
what is going on in courts all over the country and periodically
issues so-called "resolutions".
The resolutions analyse judicial practice of various courts and
work out instructions in respect of categories of cases. These
instructions are obligatory for all the courts and should be
followed without fail.
