Together with other sources of law, custom and precedent, a normative legal act is considered a relatively late fruit of the formation of jurisprudence as a separate institution of social relations. Today it is gaining more importance even in those countries where religious views have served as the foundation of the political system for more than one century. In our country, a normative legal act has been given a significant role for a long time. Laws and presidential decrees, administrative documents of the executive branch of government are the foundation of the rule of law and the supremacy of decisions in all areas of public relations.
The role of laws and regulations as legal sources
History remembers several legal forms that are used directly on the territory of the modern Russian state: this is a voluntary agreement, directly a legislative document and custom. Each of them has a different meaning, has a separate scope. Domestic judicial practice has never officially served as a direct source for the application of previously adopted decisions in case-law cases.
And although normative acts are the most characteristic form of law for the Russian Federation, only the highest state structures are empowered to issue laws. In our country, representative bodies and the executive branch are allowed to engage in law-making activities. In addition, each state agency is competent in issuing normative acts on exceptional issues, that is, under its jurisdiction.
Speaking of legal acts as sources of law, first it would be necessary to determine the features of their action. From the moment it enters into legal force until its loss, they operate in a limited territory. After the announcement (publication), the requirements of the law are applicable until a document has been adopted that repeals, suspends its effect or allows certain changes to be made to it.
What are the legal acts in the Russian Federation?
A legal act as a source of Russian law can be classified according to several parameters. If its requirements are intended for a separate circle of persons, the approval of a special decision is implied. Documents that do not have a specific indication are binding on all citizens.
In addition, decisions of state bodies may be of federal or regional significance. In the hierarchical system, each document adopted at the state level has its own level depending on legal force. They can be conditionally distributed in the following order:
- Constitution of the Russian Federation;
- federal laws, including those with constitutional status;
- presidential decrees.
Among the normative legal acts relating to the sources of law in Russia, it is worth noting administrative documents of the Government of the Russian Federation, decisions of central departments and services, ministries and state structures subordinate to them.
A separate group includes international agreements, treaties and resolutions ratified in the Russian Federation, as well as documents adopted by authorities in individual entities. Such normative legal acts as sources of law are valid exclusively in the territory of the region that approved this decision.
The Constitution is the foundation in the legal system of the state
At the top of the system is the Constitution of the Russian Federation - this is a basic law in force in all parts of the state. His supremacy is explained by the following points:
- Firstly, the Constitution is a consequence of the free and democratic will of the population permanently residing in the territory of the Russian Federation.
- Secondly, this law sets the framework for the formation of the conceptual apparatus, principles, and public order.
- Thirdly, the Constitution defines and guarantees the protection of human and civil rights, establishes the boundaries of competence of each individual element in the system of higher state structure.
Amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation in the same way as in another regulatory source of law, which has less legal significance, is not easy. The law-making procedure implies the observance of a number of conditions, and the text of the document contains more than 130 articles, the norms of which apply to all legal sectors.
Lawmaking of legislators: who makes laws in Russia?
The State Duma is the highest body entrusted with the function of adopting legislative acts. After all the readings of the bill, the document is sent for review and consideration to the Federation Council. In case of a positive vote for the draft, the predominant number of participants in the meeting of the total number of members of the chamber, the law is considered adopted. The role of the President of the Russian Federation at this stage is, in fact, formal: to acquire a regulatory act as the main source of legal force, he needs to sign and make it public. However, if necessary, the head of state may return the document for revision.
For any laws, including federal and constitutional, publication is mandatory. Decisions that have passed all the necessary procedures and adopted at the highest level are printed in the editorial office of the “Assembly of the Legislation of the Russian Federation” or “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”. According to the constitutional order, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation independently create a legal framework governing legal relations in all areas of public life in the region.
Presidential and Government Decisions
Decrees of the head of the Russian Federation almost on a par with federal laws determine the mechanism for the implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms, the interests of citizens. The regulatory legal acts issued by the president of the country in the system of sources of law are mandatory to be implemented throughout the country. Most often, the subject of regulation is the issues of domestic and interstate policy of Russia.
Given that the government has been entrusted with the function of exercising executive power in the state, these structures are not able to carry out the task without implementing law-making activities. For example, the Government of the Russian Federation issues orders necessary for the implementation of tasks in the current order, and the decisions it adopts are normative in nature and have greater significance.
Features and main differences of laws from legal custom
What is the difference between other forms of sources of law from regulatory legal acts? The difference is this:
- Laws and by-laws adopted at the highest state level are united by the need to comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and therefore do not contradict it.
- In contrast to custom and precedent, normative documents are clearly fixed, written sources.
- It is impossible to legally express the norms of custom or precedent, since such an embodiment will acquire a purely casuistic indefinite nature.
Thus, normative legal acts as the main sources of law come from a single regulatory center, which allows them to be applied in order to develop society in one direction, in a single channel.
In addition, laws and regulations issued by senior government agencies serve as an integral mechanism for establishing the rule of law. The certainty of the norms that make up the documents is, to a greater extent, an obstacle to decentralization and a way to bring the principles of the rule of law in line.
Why, in comparison with custom, does regulatory law have greater legal force?
The following should also be said about a regulatory act as a source of Russian law. Being an official written document issued by competent governing structures, the law establishes, makes changes, and also cancels the existing legal norms. From this it is not difficult to conclude that any law or subordinate document is an act of law-making, and its purpose is to be universally applied for an unlimited number of cases. Presidential and governmental acts are in force continuously, having sufficient significance for entry into force on the territory of all subjects of the country.
Laws and by-laws have many advantages over all types of sources of law. Regulations:
- have significant subordination and coordination capabilities for the establishment of certain norms, rules, instructions;
- are able to draw up standards that have been established up to a certain time, subject to the basic rules of presentation;
- They are a convenient tool for resolving cases - they are easy to refer to, requiring compliance with rights or obligations.
The history of the emergence of the law as the main legal source
As already mentioned, a normative legal act is a source of law, taking a dominant position over custom and precedent. The transition to the appropriate type of regulation of social relations took place gradually. The history of the “introduction” of legal acts into the system of legal sources is very interesting: initially, documents were applied only in areas directly related to the implementation of state power. Legal relationships of a private, non-property nature remained for a long time under the regulation of custom and case-law court decisions.
Over time, the influence of laws as written sources has expanded significantly. Normative legal acts on labor law, including the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, civil law (Civil Code of the Russian Federation, LCD of the RF, IC of the Russian Federation) are used in the relevant sectors of public relations. Codified legal and by-laws have long been adopted outside the framework of the standard regulation of legal relations.
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation acts as a striking example - this is the main act that embodies the norms of private property and non-property law, including those regulating entrepreneurial activity. Despite the fact that this document is referred to as the branch of civil legal relations, it is used, if necessary, to establish legal actions in the economic sphere.
Varieties of federal laws: what is the difference?
An interesting feature of normative legal acts issued by domestic legislators is their division into federal and federal constitutional ones. The latter undoubtedly have greater legal significance for the sectors of public relations regulated with their help. Depending on the scope and territory of distribution of such documents, they are usually divided into:
- normative acts of centralized regulation - adopted by state structures or the municipality;
- local regulations - adopted at the local level to solve the current problems of the region.
The authorities and local governments issue regulatory legal acts of federal and republican significance. Some documents are valid exclusively on the territory of autonomous okrugs, territories, and individual regions. To coordinate a specific sphere of legal relations in Moscow or St. Petersburg - cities with a special status, the authorities adopt separate by-laws. With the help of this classification, it is possible to distribute competence in the matter of regulating relations between specific state bodies.
Law as an exemplary source of the legal system
As a source of law, a normative legal act is the most widespread and effective, since it is intended to regulate rules of conduct, establish the rights and obligations of both representatives of federal subjects of the Russian Federation and ordinary citizens. Laws, decrees, decrees and orders include fundamental provisions that determine the subordination of objects that take effect of a specific document. In addition, any of the above normative legal acts is written, which means it is guaranteed and binding on all who it concerns. Any document used in the sphere of regulation of the sphere of relations contains general rules, establishes, amends or repeals certain legal norms.
In fact, the main difference between regulatory legal acts and other elements of the source system is its repeated use. Individual prescriptions or decisions of a mixed nature adopted by government bodies are found in practice at least, but often do not apply more than once.
In the regulatory system, all elements are closely related, have significant legal force, and some of them are subordinate relative to each other. The value and role of the document is determined by the property of the document itself. The legal force of the decision made depends primarily on the competence of the body that made it. A normative legal act is a connecting element between law and the state, mediating objectively existing relations in society.