Review

Economic activity is extremely important for the development of any state. At the same time, economic activity, like any other sphere of social relations, can become a prerequisite for the emergence of conflict situations, which, in turn, need to be resolved. Various legal means can be used to resolve them – negotiations, mediation, arbitration, arbitration courts and, of course, commercial proceedings. However, the resolution of conflicts always requires not only the application of legal norms, but is also based on other norms that regulate behaviour or status. These are morality and virtues, which are used in commercial proceedings, and their use is permitted, but there is a lack of understanding and quality implementation. The purpose of this article is to establish the essence of morality and virtue in commercial proceedings. In accordance with the stated objective, the article sets out the task of establishing the essence of morality and virtue in commercial proceedings, as well as analysing judicial practice and providing recommendations for the effective implementation of morality and virtue at the level of commercial proceedings. The author defines economic activity as both a driver of social development and economic progress, and a factor in the emergence of offences and violations of moral norms. It has been determined that at the level of commercial justice, morality includes three main components: 1) the morality of the parties to the case; 2) the morality of the judge; 3) morality as a regulator of social relations, which has been violated in the course of economic activity or other actions falling under the jurisdiction of commercial courts. Virtues are defined as a set of key characteristics possessed by judges and participants in legal proceedings. It is noted that they are inherent in each individual; usually, the set of virtues cannot be the same, and they can directly influence the formation of legal positions and decisionmaking. The author also believes that virtues are a basic philosophical category that underlies commercial proceedings and their objectives. In order to effectively implement morality and virtues at the level of commercial justice, taking into account their role and importance, it is necessary to include them in the normative level of educational programmes of higher education institutions that train specialists in the field of law (D 8). The author also proposes to include topics related to morality in the programmes of the National School of Judges of Ukraine and in the advanced training of lawyers.