Measures of constitutional legal responsibility can be used to solve many problems, the most relevant of which can be considered the protection of the constitutional system, ensuring the effectiveness of legal norms, and strengthening the impact of constitutional law on public practice.
Existing types of constitutional legal responsibility contribute to the development of subjects involved in various legal relations, respect for the law in general and the Constitution in particular, as well as improving the efficiency of the work of government institutions. They act as tools to maintain order, protect the freedoms and rights of citizens, and establish the rule of law. This, in turn, is one of the necessary conditions for the strengthening and development of democracy. Let us further consider the features of constitutional responsibility.
General information
Constitutional and legal provisions require an independent system of protection. Otherwise, all requirements will be only declarative in nature. In domestic legislation, unlike a number of foreign ones, the concept of "constitutional legal responsibility" is absent. Recently, however, the question of its introduction has become increasingly relevant.
In recent years, various forms of constitutional responsibility have been more actively established and applied. The ever-increasing number of legal relations requires new grounds for applying sanctions.
Signs
Constitutional legal responsibility is an independent type of legal responsibility. It follows from this that both common features and specific features are inherent in it, indicating the uniqueness of this relatively independent legal phenomenon. In this regard, the concept of constitutional responsibility should be considered in two aspects: general and highly specialized.
Legal responsibility is a public relation regulated by law that arises between the state on behalf of which special structures act and the violator, who is charged with the obligation to endure deprivation for a misconduct. The common features of constitutional responsibility, respectively, should include:
- Inextricable connection with the state mechanism of coercion.
- Coercive nature of sanctions.
Constitutional legal responsibility, like any other form of responsibility, occurs only in the event of an offense. Here it should be said about a certain specificity of the manifestation of common signs. For example, the coercive nature of constitutional legal responsibility in constitutional law is expressed not only in state, but also in other public (public) coercion. Of course, it should be carried out in accordance with the norms of the Constitution and under state control.
The following features are considered specific:
- Provisions for liability are enshrined in constitutional norms.
- The grounds, authorities, subjects of constitutional legal responsibility are more diverse than in other types of responsibility. This is due to the specifics of the subject of regulation.
- Constitutional legal responsibility is closely linked to political coercion.
Given the above symptoms, we can give the following definition. The constitutional legal responsibility should be called the obligation of the subject enshrined in constitutional law to be responsible for the non-compliance of his legally significant behavior with the requirements enshrined in these norms. The fulfillment of this obligation by the violator is ensured by the possibility of application by the authorized body of measures of state or other public influence equivalent to it.
Nuances
Legal editions, both foreign and domestic, give different points of view on the nature and grounds of constitutional responsibility. However, most authors recognize the presence of two aspects: negative (retrospective) and positive. They have a very close relationship.
In some cases, the positive aspect acts as a necessary condition for the onset of the retrospective and to some extent continues to be realized in it. The negative aspect strengthens the law enforcement and educational significance of responsibility, increases the effectiveness of its stimulating role in the process of formation of social activity of participants in constitutional legal relations.
Delineation from political responsibility
It should be noted that, as a rule, subjects of public authority are brought to constitutional legal responsibility. Consequently, the measures envisaged should contribute to the high social efficiency of the administrative system. Of course, it is necessary at the same time to ensure a balance between the volume of powers and responsibility of the subjects of power.
Since the object of constitutional legal regulation is political relations, therefore, responsibility also has a certain political content, and, therefore, its measures are endowed with a political nature.
Meanwhile, not every publicly-coercive measure of influence (organizational, including), although endowed with political content, can be considered as an instrument of constitutional responsibility. The feature here is as follows. The fact is that one measure of coercion, depending on the basis of application, can carry different contents. It can be applied as a sanction or implemented as an organizational procedure. All this allows us to draw the most important conclusion that constitutional responsibility is a political responsibility, but not any, but only one that takes on a constitutional form.
Functions
Constitutional legal measures of responsibility carry out the following functions:
- Restorative - they correct the behavior of subjects of legal relations.
- Punitive (in relation to participants who committed unlawful behavior).
- Stimulating - encourage subjects to choose appropriate patterns of behavior.
- Preventive and educational - contribute to the prevention of violations in the future.
Structure
The type of liability under consideration can be considered established if all of the following elements are present:
- Subject (violator).
- Grounds.
- Instance.
- Sanctions.
It should be said that in some cases the imposition of constitutional legal measures precludes the imposition of penalties for any other branch of law.
Subjects
They can be individuals and their groups. The first group includes citizens, foreign, including persons without citizenship; the second includes state and non-state bodies, associations and other entities.
One of the most important features of the subject of responsibility should be considered its independence.
Separation from disciplinary liability
The constitutional and legal measures provided for in the current legislation are applied by authorized bodies to entities that are not subordinate to or accountable to them. This is their difference from disciplinary action. In practice, difficulties often arise when delimiting them. The fact is that disciplinary action can be very similar in appearance to the means of constitutional responsibility. For example, the dismissal provided for in Article 192 of the Labor Code, and the removal from office, enshrined in Art. 19 Federal Law No. 184. The difference between these measures is the basis for their application and the procedures necessary for their implementation.
Grounds
They act as key distinguishing features of constitutional responsibility. The factual basis is the constitutional tort. It will take place if there is a negative deviation in the behavior of participants in the relevant legal relations from the requirements contained in the disposition of the constitutional rule.
You need to understand one crucial point. Indication of “vague”, vague grounds for applying measures can lead to various problems. In such cases, interested parties can use the constitutional legal responsibility as one of the tools to achieve selfish goals. It is unacceptable.
Constitutional tort
It is an act of a participant in constitutional-legal relations that does not correspond to the proper behavior enshrined in constitutional norms and entails the application of liability measures established by law. Some of these tricks are complex legal in nature. In constitutional norms, the basis of liability may be associated with violations committed in other legal areas. In some situations, constitutional-tort legal relations arise in violation of the provisions of the Criminal Code. In such cases, the acts are recognized at the same time as not complying with both constitutional and criminal norms. Consequently, they entail consequences provided by both branches of law.
Composition specifics
Violation of constitutional norms can be considered almost any constitutional tort. Meanwhile, individual acts distinguish tort as an independent basis of constitutional responsibility.
In modern legal science, the determination of the composition of the offense is developed and successfully applied in practice . It can also be used to describe the grounds of the type of responsibility under consideration. In their pure form, the norms of the Constitution do not contain signs of the composition of the tort (with very rare exceptions). In this regard, in practice, there is a need for their "completion", that is, in bringing it into line with the general model of unlawful acts / omissions.
The composition of the tort must be considered as a logical construction, which reflects the essential properties of specific antisocial acts. The content of one act, fixing constitutional legal responsibility, rarely contains an exhaustive list of compositional signs. For its correct understanding and clarification of the content, it is necessary to study a specific article of a legal act fixing a tort in conjunction with other constitutional and legal provisions.
Characterization of the elements of the composition
As mentioned above, the constitutional tort is characterized by all the signs of a common offense. The composition distinguishes 4 mandatory elements:
- An object.
- Subject.
- The subjective aspect of the act.
- The objective side of the tort.
Each component has a set of features. The object of tort is the sphere of public legal relations regulated and protected by constitutional and legal norms.
The objective aspect of the tort reflects its external side. It is considered one of the most important elements of the composition. The objective side is characterized by:
- Immediate unlawful inaction / action.
- Illegality.
- Public danger.
- Negative consequences.
- Time, way the place of the act.
This list is certainly not exhaustive.
The subject of tort is a participant in constitutional-legal relations, who is charged with the responsibility to be responsible for his behavior. It should be noted that neither the state nor the people can act as a subject. The fact is that it is impossible to apply constitutional legal measures to them.
According to part 2 of article 15 of the Constitution, all subjects of constitutional tort can be divided into the following groups:
- Subjects of the Russian Federation.
- State bodies.
- Officials.
- Foreigners, citizens of the Russian Federation, stateless persons.
- Non-governmental associations.
- Election commissions.
As you can see, an extensive list of subjects can be brought to constitutional responsibility, unlike any other type of legal entity. responsibility.
The subjective aspect is formed by guilt, purpose, motive for the commission of the act. The key sign is wine. In constitutional law, this element of the subjective part of the composition of the tort is very specific. In the framework of the traditional approach, guilt is considered as a person’s mental attitude to unlawful acts (inaction) committed by him. This option is fully justified for other branches of law. As an analysis of constitutional norms shows, guilt is far from always being a prerequisite for holding one accountable. Meanwhile, in practice, this is more an exception than a rule. The fact is that constitutional norms extremely rarely establish the possibility of objective prosecution.
Special cases
Constitutional law also allows liability in the event that the subject did not directly commit an unlawful act. Moreover, measures can be applied for the action (inaction) of another person. For example, this type of responsibility is provided for candidates or election associations for the unlawful behavior of their authorized representatives, political parties - for the actions / inactions of their members, etc. Accordingly, in some cases, the norms allow imputation of guilt. However, it is permissible under certain conditions.
It is possible to blame the behavior of only those persons who are in a certain legal relationship with the subject of responsibility, have a specific amount of authority (rights) and obligations associated with representation.
Sanction
In constitutional law, it is a measure of state or other, equivalent to it, the impact applied to the subject who allowed a deviation in his behavior from the disposition of the constitutional norm. The sanction reflects the final assessment of the committed act. This measure is the possibility of coercion, enshrined in the norms, a kind of reaction of the state to the behavior of the subject.
Sanctions are a mandatory element of constitutional law. However, despite this, she does not play a leading role. The fact is that coercion is not considered as the dominant method of constitutional influence on public relations.