THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUALS IN COURT PROCEEDINGS

The article focuses on defining the concept and historical roots of ritual. The ritual component of justice is analysed. The characteristics and role of rituals in modern justice are identified.The contemporary judiciary is becoming more and more isolated, its structure more complex and branched out, each of which serves as a safeguard against the errors of the previous one. However, above the last instance, there is still something that guarantees justice and inspires confidence in the human court. This is reminded by the judicial rituals that continue to accompany the judicial process. Court rituals are not only an accepted way of doing things; they also convey information that contains the answers to many of the questions that people subconsciously ask themselves when they come into contact with the courts in particular situations. The deeper one understands the origins and traditions of the judiciary, the greater is the trust in the court, which is so necessary in the modern conditions of the development of our society, when the very idea of justice and guarantees of judicial protection is proclaimed as one of the main legal values.Today, some part, perhaps a significant one, of this functional purpose of rituals has been irrevocably lost and one can speak of the end of the era of a society of sacred traditions. Rather, we can talk about the transformation of a number of ritual forms into legal forms by reducing their religious significance, and about the transfer of sacral significance to the values of modern secular civilisation – the independence of judges, free access to justice, etc. Today’s judicial rituals are as necessary for participants in the process as they were a thousand years ago, despite the fact that not many people think of them as such, perceiving them precisely from a legal perspective. The traditions of court rituals should not only be observed as a tribute to the past, but their performance should be conscious and filled with meaning in keeping with today’s demands, for trust in a court that looks and acts beyond the perceptions and expectations of observers is hardly possible.The court, both in the Middle Ages and today, differs from various pseudo-judicial organizations (such as the emergency courts, which are based on arbitrariness) precisely in judicial rituals – the attributes of a real judicial process. Just as rituals were important in times when the court was trusted by virtue of their observance, so today the court needs rituals when the very idea of justice and guarantees of judicial protection is proclaimed to be one of the most important legal values. The court today more than ever must conform to modern ideals which are hardly more sacred values than the divine justice in the medieval court.