An important aspect of the development of any country is the interaction of local self-government and state power. The subjects of the Federation have a large set of powers in the field of legal regulation of self-government at the local level.
The role of the Constitution in the legal regulation of local government at the local level
The Constitution as the main law of the Russian Federation contains the following provisions:
- recognition and guarantee of self-government at the local level as a separate level of power in the country, a specific way to exercise the power of the people, the definition of self-government as the basis of the constitutional system;
- determination of the limits of legal regulation in relation to the organization of local self-government for state federal authorities in the form of establishing general provisions for the construction and operation of power at the municipal level;
- consolidation of the principles of local self-government in the European Charter as the most important principles for organizing the power of the subjects that make up the legal basis for the development of a municipality in Russia;
- establishing the most important guarantees of local government rights.
Key safeguards include the following principles:
- Independence of the establishment of the structure of local authorities.
- Taking into account and fixing the opinions of citizens when changing the territorial boundaries of a municipal district.
- Mandatory transfer of the necessary financial and material resources to local authorities when they are vested with separate powers.
- Compensation for additional expenses incurred as a result of government decisions.
- The ban on infringement of the rights of self-government at the local level, enshrined in the norms of the Constitution
The establishment of basic principles for the construction of local authorities refers to the joint subject of reference at the federal and subject level. The interaction of local government and state power is carried out on the basis of their charters and constitutions.
Legal basis for the organization and work of local government
The basis for the interaction of local self-government and state power is documents, the basis for the adoption of which is the direct will of citizens and the decision of the authorized bodies of the municipality and their officials. The main act is the charter of the relevant entity.
The charter is a constituent type document with a comprehensive character for a specific territory. This act is considered the basis of lawmaking at the municipal level and is characterized by a special process of adoption and amendment.
The separation of powers of state power and local government at the local level is made according to the rules of the charter by decision by an elected representative body (from 70 percent), a gathering of citizens (from 8%) or a local referendum (from 2%).
Charters should be registered by the relevant authorities in Russian entities.
The document should contain the following information:
- composition and boundaries of the territory;
- issues related to the jurisdiction of the municipal district;
- determining the procedure for the participation of local citizens in solving key issues;
- structure and features of the formation of local authorities and their officials;
- name of subjects of power and their employees;
- term of office of officials;
- types of regulatory acts of local governments, the procedure for their adoption, entry into force;
- legal guarantees, types and grounds of responsibility of employees of authorized authorities;
- issues of service of the municipal type;
- the procedure for using, owning, disposing of local property;
- features of building the structure and functioning of municipal bodies in the areas of residence of ethnic subgroups, Cossacks, etc.
In addition to the charters, local authorities adopt other acts of a regulatory nature, which regulate the issues of construction and operation of municipal bodies and its departments.
The following types of documents are included in the legal framework in local type territories:
- Regulations of the activity of municipal representative bodies of authority.
- Decisions of government representative entities on the establishment of fees and taxes at the local level.
- Regulations on the municipal service, public territorial administration, etc.
Basics of local government at the territorial level
Local government and state power are two links of territorial power. As an institution of law of the municipal type, they represent a set of legal norms that enshrine and regulate the organization of local authorities at the territorial level.
The specified norms record the formation, boundaries and composition of the territory of a particular municipal district. In addition, these provisions contain information on the procedure for establishing terrain limits and its changes.
The issues of building power are directly related to the arrangement of the territory of the state, since the limits of the powers of authorities extend only within a certain area.
The entire area in the country is divided into administrative-territorial units. This distinction is presented in two forms: artificial territories and natural ones.
Territorial natural units
Natural territorial units include cities or settlements in which citizens have settled since ancient times to live together. Population management was carried out by leaders, councils or elders elected by the population, as well as by holding meetings.
Later, such territorial entities became known as communities and links of the country's division. In municipal districts there are elected local bodies and their officials (deputies of the city duma). At the same time, there are no officials appointed from outside with general competence.
Territorial Artificial Units
Territorial artificial units are created by acts of state power. There are no City Duma deputies elected by the people. These areas, as well as naturally occurring, are divided into levels, which determines the subordination and hierarchy of the system of power bodies that operate at different levels of government.
The development of local self-government in Russia allowed expanding, concretizing and sharing the concepts of territory and settlement. The territory may be a part of the district that is not an independent entity (for example, an urban microdistrict).
Principles of Local Government Organization
The principles of the organization of municipal authority are the following provisions:
- self-government at the local level in the country, regardless of the population of the region;
- ensuring organizational and economic conditions;
- the integrity of municipal territories and the possibility of their connection in the presence of common borders;
- taking into account socio-ethnic, historical and other local customs and traditions;
- taking into account the position of the population living in the specified territory.
The issues of organizing the work of local authorities are closely interrelated with the features of the subjects of competence and separation of powers. The following entities have the right to put forward an initiative regarding changes in territorial boundaries: the population, local self-government bodies, and state-type authorities in the constituent entities.
Features of passing the boundaries of the municipal district
The boundaries of the territory are determined in four directions:
- On land - along relief lines, characteristic marks, and other clearly visible landmarks.
- On water - in the center of the main fairway of navigable rivers, in the middle of non-navigable rivers, along an equally spaced straight median line of lakes and other bodies of water.
- On hydroelectric reservoirs and reservoirs of an artificial type - along the borders passing to the place of flooding.
- On dams, bridges, other structures that pass through streams, rivers and other bodies of water - in the center of the object.
The description of decals and installation procedures are governed by acts of the Government of Russia.
The composition of the municipal district includes all land within the territory, regardless of the form of ownership or purpose (purpose) of use: residential, general, public-business, industrial, infrastructural, recreational, agricultural, special, etc.
Self-government at the local level in municipal districts is carried out in places of population. The territorial base of power is the organization of the district. In our country, four models of terrain distribution are used: single-level, three-level, two-level, mixed.
Organizational framework for local government
The organizational basis and forms of local self-government are a set of legal norms. They consolidate the structure of the authorities of the municipal territory, the forms, the order and principles of their work. In addition to the specified provisions, these norms consolidate the features of work in departments of the sphere (for example, in the law on municipal service).
At all stages of the development of local authorities, the territory was managed by representative bodies, other entities, and citizens (at meetings and gatherings).
Features of the formation and development of the structure of local government in the organizational sphere are as follows. Forms of local government are expressed in three versions:
- The combination of representative and direct democracy, individual and collegial principles, appointment and election in the process of filling municipal-type posts.
- Implementation of control measures by representative elected bodies over the activities of other local self-government bodies.
- Establishment of forms and grounds for the responsibility of authorized bodies and their employees to the public.
The interaction of state authorities and local self-government is carried out in all of the above options.
Protection of local government rights by the judiciary
Another form of interaction between state authorities and local self-government is a guarantee of legal regulation of the work of these entities by the judicial authorities.
Local authorities and officials of these entities, as well as citizens who live in the municipal territory, have the right to appeal to the court.
The subject of appeal to courts of general jurisdiction or courts of arbitration may, as a general rule, comprise acts (decisions) of state authorities and officials of relevant entities, local authorities with their employees, institutions, enterprises, organizations, public associations and any other entities that violate local government rights.
In addition to considering claims for invalidating illegal acts (decisions) of these bodies and their officials, courts of all levels should consider complaints filed by local authorities regarding the refusal of the relevant state authorities, if the negative decision concerns the registration of the charter of the municipal territory.
Another object of the trial is disputes regarding the legality of interference of a particular body in the affairs of power at the local level. This intervention can be expressed in the issuance of a binding act, the commission of an action, etc.
Compensation of expenses incurred by the injured person of an additional nature, if such arose as a result of unlawful decisions by the government authorities, shall be reimbursed to the local government on the basis of a decision of the judicial authority.
When submitting a statement of claim for payment of compensation to the municipality by state authorities that caused damage by their actions, the following should be remembered. The plaintiff has the right to write a statement regardless of whether the decision made by the violator was in compliance with federal regulations or not. In addition, when filing a claim, it does not take into account whether the damage was caused by the commission of certain actions by the offender or his inaction.
The essence of establishing a ban on restricting the powers of local government
The prohibition on restricting the powers of the municipality's constituent entities consists in the fact that no state bodies are entitled to intervene in the work of local government bodies and their officials.
Intervention can be expressed both in relation to the adoption of any decisions in their place, and in relation to the imposition of prohibitions on their exercise of any powers.
The administrative and legal status of local governments secures full independence in decision-making. Acts issued by municipal authorities and their written wills are binding on all institutions, enterprises and organizations of any organizational legal form and subordination located within the boundaries of the territory of the specified area, as well as citizens.
The guarantees of self-government at the local level include the responsibility of authorized bodies and their employees, established by the norms of federal law.
This responsibility is established in relation to power entities to citizens living in the specified territory, the state as a whole, all legal and physical persons.
The grounds for liability may be various legally relevant facts. For example, if as a result of any action by local self-government bodies, the population has lost confidence in the authorities, sanctions are applied to the specified entity. The procedure and conditions for holding liable are established by the norms of the charters of the respective territories of the municipal type.
The grounds for the responsibility of self-government at the local level to the Russian Federation are violation of the provisions of the Constitution, charters (constitutions) of the country's subjects, laws of the federal level, acts of subjects, charters of municipalities.
Municipal authorities are responsible for the violations identified if the relevant facts were established by a court decision. If the court has established that this or that body in its activity violated the provisions of the Constitution or other regulatory legal acts, this may serve as the basis for raising the issue of terminating the powers of the relevant bodies and officials.
The interaction of federal and local authorities is ongoing. State control over the activities of municipalities is carried out on a par with the provision by the latter of freedom of action within their powers, which is enshrined in the relevant regulatory legal acts.