Scientists have long proved the fact that a person is primarily a social being. This means that all people can exist exclusively in an environment where others like them are present. In this case, communication and psychological contact play a large role. The presented feature exists due to one key factor that people possess due to their physiological differences. This factor is consciousness. Thanks to him, each of us can think and make decisions, solve complex problems, etc. But the constant social dialogue in the human environment causes the need for regulation of emerging social relations.
For many centuries, people have tried to find the most effective way to regulate them. In the process of this search, many solutions were found, ranging from violence to public gatherings. The problem was that all such solutions were not effective enough. However, the answer was still found. Today there is no better regulator of public relations than law. The development of this social phenomenon is so great that law has become the basis of entire structures, one of which is the legal system. In the theory of state and law, there are many opinions and theoretical developments on this topic. In the article we will try to analyze, as well as provide the concept of legal systems, to characterize their structures.
What is a legal system?
It should be noted that the concept of legal systems varies depending on the scientific approach and the principles of a particular law school. In addition to this, the legal features of a particular state are of great importance. But in this article we will be based on information from the domestic school of the theory of state and law. To date, the general concept of the legal system says that it is a structure inherent in each particular state and consisting of three elements: the system of law, the right to exercise, the legal culture. The concept presented is the most “classic”, if one can say so. In other states, the understanding of this structure may be modified due to the legal characteristics of the country itself. In this article, for example, we characterize the structure and concept of the Russian legal system.
Confusion of terms
Very often, the concepts of "legal system" and "legal system" are confused. In this case, you need to be extremely careful. Despite the fact that the terms are identical, from a logical point of view, their meaning in the legal field of knowledge is absolutely the opposite. To differentiate them, you need to understand: the legal system is only one element of the legal system. Confusion also arises when the concepts of the legal system and the legal family are analyzed. The features of these structures will be discussed later in the article. But it should be noted that legal families are structures whose elements are the national legal systems of various states. Thus, in order to overcome a misunderstanding of a term, you need to know what meaning it has in science.
The concept of the legal system of society - three approaches to theoretical understanding
The legal system, a concept whose characteristics will be presented in this article below, is completely differently interpreted by various scholars in the national school of the theory of state and law. There are only three main approaches, namely:
1. Advocates of the first approach argue that the legal system of society, the concept and structure of which is presented in this article, is the totality of all, without exception, acts of state rule-making. In other words, only the form of expression and the consolidation of norms is considered. The hierarchy of normative acts and their legal force are of great importance here.
2. The second approach characterizes the legal system not only through the prism of positive law, but also through some of the accompanying elements of legal reality. As a rule, legal ideology and judicial practice are among the accompanying elements. In the vastness of the Russian Federation, this approach did not find much support.
3. The third can be called the most standard. According to him, the entire legal field of the state is included in the concept of the legal system. The main legal systems in this case are, in fact, the key features of the state. Thus, any legal elements are directly related to the legal system.
From which the conclusion follows. The presence of so many theories suggests that scientists are still trying to develop the most standard concept of legal systems.
Items
The concept and types of legal systems are completely dependent on their structural elements. There are many scientific approaches to understanding the structure of a legal structure. However, as a rule, there are three main elements that are present in absolutely all systems. These include: the system of law, legal culture and the implementation of law. Each of the presented elements has its own effect on social relations, in other words, they regulate all social processes in their own way. In addition, it should be noted that all elements, in turn, are also structured.
Concept of legal system
Earlier we pointed out that the legal system of society, the concept and structure of which is presented in this article, is highly dependent and even in some cases confused with the concept of “legal system”. It should be remembered that the latter is one of the structural elements of the national legal system. In addition, this element displays the internal structure of law in general. In other words, the legal system is a legal hierarchy of existing norms. But this hierarchy should not be confused with a system of regulations. Because the NLA is a positive right, and for the legal system, all the norms and customs authorized by the government are important. Thus, the legal system, the concept and structure of which is presented in the article, is characterized by the internal structure of the elements of legal realization, namely, the legal system.
Structure of the legal system
It should be noted that the legal system is a structure of mutually complementary elements. That is, its analysis goes "from above", from the most significant or large structures, to the smallest elements. The analysis of the system is easy to carry out because in almost any state it is the same. Thus, the following elements are distinguished: branch of law, institution and rule of law.
1. If we take into account the system of law of the Russian Federation, then the branches of law are a set of legal norms and institutions that are united by a common subject of regulation. In other words, industries govern homogeneous social relations. An example of a branch of law is civil, criminal, housing, family law, etc.
2. Law institutions are constituent elements of industries. But they, in turn, consist of similar legal norms. The need for institutions arises when a social phenomenon is regulated by a large number of norms. An excellent example of an institution is the marriage contract in family law.
3. The rule of law is the smallest element of the legal system. However, this fact does not detract from its significance. The rule of law spelled out the very subject of legal regulation.
The legal culture of society
The concept of legal systems, or rather, the structure of this category, includes such an element as the legal culture of society. It should be noted that this is one of the main structural components of the national law of any country and, in particular, the Russian Federation. Legal culture first of all testifies to the development of the population and its attitude to law in general. This is manifested in the degree of law and order. Indeed, the legal culture is manifested in specific behavioral signs. In people's faith in the effectiveness of legal norms. Thus, the legal culture of society is a certain kind of system of values, ideas of a legal nature, skills, traditions and behavioral stereotypes that are acceptable in separate social groups. As a rule, these factors are used in these groups for internal regulation of relations between its members.
The manifestation of the legal culture of society
To ensure that social relations obey the trends of certain cultural norms, specific types of their direct manifestation have been developed. Indeed, legal culture, in fact, does not mean anything if it does not have a real effect. There are four main types of its manifestation, namely:
- legal institutions, norms;
- legal ideas;
- legal institutions;
- legal misconduct.
It should be noted that the public legal culture also depends on the development of the legal infrastructure of the state, effective legal activity and legislation, which must first of all meet constitutional norms.
Exercise of law
The legal system of society, the concept and structure of which is presented in the article, contains in its composition such an important element as legal implementation. In fact, this part of the system is responsible for the actual implementation of the constitution, laws and other normative acts in the Russian Federation. In a theoretical sense, the exercise of law is the actual assignment of the norms of legal acts of the state to its citizens, for the implementation of the provisions of these acts in real life. In order to increase the effectiveness of the legal norms of a particular industry in the theory of law, special forms of legal implementation have been developed.
Forms of the implementation of national law
In the classic version, scientists distinguish three main forms of the implementation of law, namely:
1. Use, that is, the implementation by subjects of law of their capabilities. In other words, the use of personal authority.
2. Execution - this is the activity to implement binding norms when the subject of law acts according to the strict requirements of the law.
3. Compliance is a passive category. It is manifested in the preservation of the current legal regime in the state and abstention from committing offenses.
Thus, through the presented standards, citizens of Russia can, through their active or passive actions, support the legal system of the state.
Legal families
It should be noted that the legal system, the concept and structure of which is presented in the article, is unique. Therefore, in the world there are no absolutely identical structures of this type. Nevertheless, if you compare these categories, you can see some unchanging features. Thus, scientists have found that in several legal systems one can find common patterns. In order to somehow characterize a number of similar systems, such categories as legal families were invented. Thus, the legal family is a key concept of comparative law, which is a collection of similar national legal systems in a certain territory. As a rule, a single family includes systems that combine common sources, formation history, structure, functions, etc. To date, the following types of legal families are distinguished, namely:
- Anglo-Saxon;
- Romano-Germanic;
- religious legal family;
- a family of traditional law.
Conclusion
So, in the article we revealed the concept of a system of legal regulation in the Russian Federation. Today, this issue is one of the key in the theory of state and law. Because the developments in this direction will help to increase the effectiveness of law as the main regulator of legal relations in our state.