Impact of COVID-19 epidemic on court proceedings in civil cases – legal and psychological aspects

The year of 2020 will be accentuated in the history of the world and Latvia by spread of the Covid 19 epidemic, which led to countless sicknesses and deaths, rapid development and adoption of regulatory enactments, significant restrictions of rights, splitting of society and lowering of psychological stability.Objective: Through the analysis of spread of the Covid 19 epidemic, to reflect its impact on court proceedings in civil cases from the viewpoint of legal and psychological aspect, to make conclusions and provide recommendations. Used scientific research methods – descriptive, analytical, inductive and deductive and interpretation of legal norms – historical, grammatical, systemic and teleological. During the emergency situation, courts provide to the maximum extent examination of cases in the written procedure or remotely. If it is not possible, onsite court hearings are held in all the cases related to a significant infringement of rights of a person and objective urgency. Unfortunately, the cases regarding establishing right of way are basically postponed, since they are not related either to a significant infringement of rights of a person or urgency. However, the lingering examination of cases prevents the owner of the immovable property to enter his/her property. Problems in circulation of documents have also been established. Besides, the persons involved in the proceedings become psychologically unstable. Although a number of regulatory enactments aimed at the protection of the public health and safety interests and effective operation of public and municipal authorities has been adopted in Latvia, it has not led to the desired result in practice. Therefore, when adopting urgent decisions, the legislator must rely also on the recommendations provided by specialists of the relevant sector.