Establishment of Facts Having Legal Relevance

in Soviet law, the establishment of facts on which depend the creation, alteration, or termination of personal or property rights of citizens or organizations; the facts are established by competent bodies, usually by a court in special proceedings.

In accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure of the RSFSR (art. 247), the court hears cases to establish the following: blood relationships of persons; the fact of the dependence of one person on another; the fact of the registration of birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, or death; the fact of possession of a building by right of ownership; the fact of an accident; the fact of acceptance of an estate; and other facts having legal relevance, if no other procedure for their establishment is prescribed by statute.

The court establishes facts only when it is impossible for the interested person to obtain documents attesting to the facts by any other procedure, or when it is impossible to replace lost documents. The judgment of the court establishing facts that are subject to registration in agencies of registration of acts of civil status (ZAGS) or other agencies serves as the basis for such registration or formalization, but it does not in itself take the place of the documents issued by such bodies (art. 251 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the RSFSR).