Abstract.
This article is devoted to a comparative legal analysis of the two main directions of expert activities in Ukraine — judicial and extrajudicial — with an emphasis on their functional purpose, competence, legal status and the specific features of regulatory regulation. The study examines the place of expert activities in the law enforcement system and their role in ensuring the objective establishment of the actual circumstances of a case, the formation of an adequate evidentiary basis and the enhancement of the effectiveness of the implementation of legal norms.
It is substantiated that expert activities in the legal system of Ukraine have a multi-level regulatory and institutional nature and are implemented in various forms, in particular as judicial, scientific, scientific and technical expertise, as well as in the form of participation of an expert on legal matters. Each of these forms is characterized by its own specific features of legal regulation, functional purpose and place in the law enforcement mechanism. At the same time, they are united by the use of specialized knowledge aimed at establishing the factual or legal aspects of a particular situation requiring professional examination.
It was established that in modern conditions the importance of preventive instruments for ensuring the legality and stability of civil legal relations is growing. Their essence lies in preventing or resolving legal problems at the early stages of the emergence of the relevant legal relations, as well as in the pre-trial and extrajudicial order, which contributes to the minimization of legal, economic and reputational risks. The application of such instruments is based on the use of specialized legal and/or special knowledge, presupposes the independence and objectivity of establishing the actual circumstances, as well as the determination of their possible legal consequences.
One of such instruments is defined as independent professional expertise in the form of a conformity assessment, which is regarded as a promising mechanism for the legal support of the proper functioning of civil turnover. Based on the research results, the legal characteristics and functional purpose of conformity assessment, judicial, scientific and scientific and technical expertise, as well as the participation of an expert on legal matters (legal expert), were identified. A distinction was drawn between scientific-legal and scientific-juridical expertise, as well as between scientific-legal and scientific-juridical knowledge, based on the criteria of their functional purpose, content and subject composition. On the basis of the analysis conducted, the possibilities of integrating certain expert functions were substantiated and proposals for improving the current legislation in the field of expert activities were formulated.
