Application of V. Pareto’s economic efficiency criterion in Russian judicial practice

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to justify the productivity of the application of one of the two most common criteria of economic efficiency (V. Pareto principle) in Russian judicial practice. Justification is carried out by identifying the content of the Pareto criterion, assessing examples of its application by Russian courts and determining the conditions and limitations of such application. The methodological basis of work was the formal-legal method, which allowed to analyze the texts of judicial decisions on the use by the court of normative economic analysis of law; the comparative method, which was used to compare the theoretical foundations and practical features of the criterion of economic efficiency by the Russian judiciary. The results of the research were the author’s conclusions about the applicability of the Pareto criterion in the Russian reality and the formulation of the most likely areas of its use by the courts. Law as an object of scientific knowledge cannot be studied in isolation from its social, cultural, political and economic assumptions, as it is a central tool by which the state affects the economic well-being of society. To improve the practice of using this tool, it seems necessary to evaluate it from the standpoint of economic efficiency. In this regard, the further vector of evolution of Russian law will be more and more active use of methodological developments of economic theory, the application of the economic analysis of law developed in the United States in law enforcement practice. This leads to the need for interdisciplinary research on the conceptual and practical problems of using this direction in Russia. The novelty of the research lies in a comprehensive approach, to the problem of applicability of normative economic analysis of law in the judicial practice of the Russian Federation.