Judicial Discretion and Judicial Precedent: A Legal Linguistic Context

Introduction: in modern science, there is an interest in legal linguistics, which is aimed at solving various problems. Starting from linguistic expertise and ending with methodological recommendations for the development of texts of draft laws. The issue of recognizing judicial precedent as a source of Russian law is relevant. At the heart of the legal linguistic context, judicial discretion and judicial precedent are concepts that require analysis. The paper discusses the concepts of judicial discretion and judicial precedent. Their specifics and characteristic features are defined, and the place of judicial precedent in the system of Russian law is highlighted. The role of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the differences between the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the judicial precedent are analyzed. The study highlighted the distinctive features that distinguished judicial discretion from other types of law enforcement discretion. Methods: the methodological framework is based on the methods of historicism, systematicity, and comparative law. Results: the author’s position justified in the work is based on knowledge in the criminal process. Conclusions: as a result of the study, it is revealed that the study of the discretion of the court includes an analysis of the relationship with judicial precedent. It is one of the sources of law, so its analysis and mutual influence on judicial discretion seem to be important aspects. It is established that the judicial precedent is a decision of the higher courts. The discretion of the court is able to ensure the legality of the law-application and law enforcement discretion of other bodies, organizations, citizens, and officials.