The judicial system of Ukraine is outlined in the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine. Before this there was no notion of judicial review nor any Supreme court since 1991's Ukrainian independence when it started being slowly restructured.
Although judicial independence exists in principle, there is little separation of juridical and political powers in practice. Judges are subjected to pressure from political and business interests. Ukraine's court system is widely regarded as corrupt.
Although there are still problems with the performance of the system, it is considered to have been much improved since the last judicial reform introduced in 2016. The Supreme Court is regarded as being an independent and impartial body. It has on several occasions ruled against the Ukrainian government.
Since 2014, Ukraine has allowed videotaping of court sessions without obtaining the specific permission of the judge, within the limitations established by law. In 2015 the Open Court Project was launched to videotape civil, commercial, and administrative court proceedings. The Open Court Project has videotaped over 7000 court cases in courts at different levels. The videos are stored, indexed and published in the public domain. In 2017 NGO Open Ukraine has launched the VR Court Project aimed at videotaping court sessions with 3D 360 degree portable video cameras to create VR video records of court sessions.
Courts
Ukrainian courts enjoy legal, financial and constitutional freedom guaranteed by measures adopted in Ukrainian law in 2010.
The judicial system of Ukraine consists of three levels of courts of general jurisdiction.
Prior to the judicial reform introduced in 2016 the system consists of four levels. The Cassation Court of Ukraine existed until 2003. Those courts were recognized as unconstitutional by the Constitution Court of Ukraine.
Local courts
Ukraine has 74 district courts. In 2018 they replaced the 142 local general courts. For example, in Kyiv ten district courts were eliminated and six district courts created. The Pechersky District Court is a particularly active one, as it rules over most of the business community of Kyiv.
Courts of appeal
Courts of Appeal (combining criminal and civil jurisdiction), consisting of: regional courts of appeal; courts of appeal of the cities of Kyiv.
Prior to the judicial reform introduced in 2016, there were parallel Specialized Courts of Appeal (either commercial or administrative jurisdiction) consisting of the commercial courts of appeal and the administrative courts of appeal.
The Supreme Court
Supreme Court is the highest court within the system of courts of general jurisdiction, conducting the review regarding unequal application of the rules of substantive law by the cassation courts and subject to cases when international judicial institution the jurisdiction of which is recognized by Ukraine has established the violation of international obligations by Ukraine.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is a special body with authority to assess whether legislative acts of the Parliament, President, Cabinet or Crimean Parliament are in line with the Constitution of Ukraine. This court also gives commentaries to certain norms of the constitution or laws of Ukraine (superior acts of Parliament).
The High Anti-Corruption Court
the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine is to be established before the end of 2018. Cases concerning corruption in Ukraine will be bought directly to this court. Appeals will be considered by a completely separate Appeal Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court. The law on the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine came into force on 14 June 2018.
Abolished high courts with specialized jurisdiction
In the judicial reform introduced in 2016 the following three courts were abolished and its tasks transferred to special chambers of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. The High Specialized Court on Civil and Criminal Cases, covering civil and criminal cases; The High Administrative Court of Ukraine, covering administrative cases; The High Commercial Court of Ukraine, covering commercial cases.
The rulings of the High (sometimes translated as Supreme) Administrative Court of Ukraine could not be appealed.