Most of the settlements in Russia have local authorities that have a fairly wide range of powers in terms of implementing areas of socio-economic development. There is a separate branch of legislation that regulates this process - municipal law. What are its features and structure?
Definition
Before talking about what are the methods of municipal law, we will decide on the main subject of the topic we are studying. The term in question is quite new for Russian legal science. And therefore, in order to understand its nature, it will first be useful to find out what the word "municipal" means. It has a Latin origin: municipium is, if you follow a common interpretation, a community that governs itself. Thus, the municipality is a kind of socio-political entity (city, rural settlement, district), endowed with the functions of self-government.
The concept of a municipality was practically not widespread in Soviet legal science. One way or another, local self-government was carried out within the framework of a system of councils, which was rather strictly verticalized. There were not so many local powers in cities and districts. Therefore, municipal law of the Russian Federation, as many researchers believe, is still undergoing a stage of formation. Although, as many experts note, our country - if we talk about the development of relevant political institutions - is making significant progress in this direction. In Russia there are municipal budgets and legislation. Local socio-political entities in the Russian Federation as a whole have significant independence in making key decisions in the aspect of self-government.
What is municipal law? We note right away that you can understand this term in several interpretations. In the framework of the first, it can be understood as a branch of law regulating the relations of subjects at local levels, that is, in processes that reflect self-government mechanisms. Another interpretation of the term implies an understanding of academic discipline under it. The third - respectively, of a scientific direction - in jurisprudence. However, all three interpretations are interconnected. The fact is that they are united by the main subject of municipal law - public relations that arise during the implementation by an administrative unit of the function of self-government. In each of the interpretations, this aspect is somehow affected.
Subject
We are faced with the task of studying municipal law in detail in the first interpretation. How does it differ from other branches of legislative regulation? First of all, there is a special subject and specific methods of municipal law as a branch of law. Consider the relevant categories in more detail.
We, in principle, have stated the essence of the subject above - this is a complex of social relations arising in the process of implementing the functions of local self-government. However, this definition can be structured somewhat. The fact is that the concept of “subject”, “method of municipal law” are complex phenomena. How is it shown? On the example of an object, we can say that it is formed by several basic structural units. Firstly, these are subjects of municipal law - people, officials, collectives, organizations, etc. Secondly, it is the actions of persons involved in the process of self-government. Thirdly, these are subjects of mutual relations of subjects of municipal law. Some experts also highlight the fourth structural element of the subject of the relevant branch of law - social events, which form the factors of the emergence of relationships at the local government level.
Method
The method of the branch of municipal law, as well as the similar component of other areas of legislative regulation, is a way by which a certain subject acts on an object controlled by him or interacts on a structural unit similar to himself. Thus, as such, there are a lot of individual methods involved in municipal law. Therefore, listing them all is not too advisable. We will highlight only their main categories.
Dispositive and imperative methods
In particular, the basic methods of municipal law are imperative, dispositive. Which one prevails in the relevant branch of legislative regulation? There is an opinion that, since local self-government as a whole is a public institution, imperative methods are more characteristic of it. Their essence lies in the fact that, firstly, inequality is assumed between the subjects that form the relationship, and secondly, there are rules and norms that are binding - usually at the level of laws.
As a rule, the municipal law system includes the following basic imperative methods. Firstly, this is a prescription. Its essence lies in the establishment of norms and algorithms of actions addressed to the subjects of legal relations, the violation of which (or a noticeable deviation) will be contrary to the law. Secondly, it is a ban. Its essence is to establish restrictions on the actions that the subject of legal relations can carry out in the presence of liability mechanisms.
Dispositive methods of municipal law, in turn, are also divided into several varieties. Firstly, it is permissible. Its essence is that the subjects of legal relations are endowed with equal opportunities in the aspect of performing certain actions (as well as making decisions on not making any activities). Permission may be of a certain nature. In this case, the subject can choose an action from the proposed spectrum. It is also possible and indefinite permission - when the subject can do what he wants. Secondly, this is agreement. This method of legal regulation of municipal law suggests that two entities should come to a common understanding on some issue. Thirdly, these are recommendations. This method implies that the subjects of legal relations have some desirable behavior models from the point of view of the legislator. Fourth, this is an encouragement. Its essence: if the subject of legal relations chooses a certain model of behavior, then he can count on certain preferences and benefits from the legislator.
According to some experts, there is also another method that contains municipal law as a branch of law. This is a guarantee mechanism. But the essence of this method, mainly, characterizes the relationship not only of the entities localized within the municipality, but of the socio-political unit involved in self-government and the state. The main idea here is that the federal or national authority guarantees the municipality the right to exercise the respective powers.
Municipal law as a system
According to modern lawyers, municipal law forms a separate system of norms and relations. Even with a relatively young configuration of the structure of the state system in the Russian Federation, this pattern also exists in our country. The system of municipal law is a complex phenomenon. The following main components are distinguished in its structure.
Firstly, these are democratic mechanisms that shape the process of local self-government. At this level, the main subjects of legal relations are determined. Secondly, these are the resources of local self-government - budget, territorial, personnel, etc. At this level, as a rule, the potential for carrying out certain activities by subjects of legal relations is determined. Thirdly, it is the authority of local authorities. At this level, it is determined to a large extent what methods of municipal law can be applied preferentially.
Legislative sources
Municipal law as a branch of law implies the availability of relevant legislative sources that form the totality of norms that fix and regulate relations between subjects of self-government. These may include constitutional sources, federal, regional and local laws of the Russian Federation, decrees of the President, and government decrees.
Sources of local law are classified by lawyers into two main groups.
Types of regulations
Firstly, these are normative acts as such, which are unilateral, volitional orders addressed to all or some subjects of legal relations, officials. This type of source, in turn, is divided into systematized, representing a set of legal norms that affect key issues common to most subjects, as well as industry ones - those that regulate processes in individual segments. Some lawyers prefer to subdivide regulatory acts based on their legal nature. In particular, the sources may be issued by the parliaments of the municipalities or may be subordinate legal acts issued by executive bodies. There is another criterion for the classification of legal acts - the level at which they are adopted. The source of law can be published by the federal government, regional, municipal or through one of the direct democratic institutions - a referendum, a popular assembly.
Secondly, these are municipal legal agreements. They are agreements that regulate the level of authority of municipalities in relation to governance at the level of state power. Of course, the nature of regulatory acts of the second type largely determines the essence of the first. In order to effectively manage an area, the municipality must have the appropriate authority. If, say, a power is taken away from a city or region, the right to decide issues related, for example, to the education sector, then the municipality will not develop local regulations governing the industry, in principle.
There is a criterion for the classification of norms proposed by some researchers depending on the level of their impact on processes. Within this concept, regulation is carried out at the following main levels.
Firstly, these are legal norms that record the position of municipal authorities in the national political system, determine the structure of authorities in local socio-political units. These may be constitutional sources, federal laws and regulations. Also experts refer to this category of regulatory acts those that reveal the essence of terms related to municipal law.
Secondly, these are legal norms that record how key government institutions should be formed within the municipalities - through elections or appointments, how long officials perform their functions, what powers they have, what their subjects are.
Thirdly, these are the norms of the guaranteeing type. We said above that such a method of legal regulation of municipal law as a guarantee. We are talking here in most cases of norms at the national or regional level, which reflect the independence of local authorities in terms of the functioning of key local political institutions - parliament, executive bodies, and courts.
There are also norms fixing the responsibility of local authorities and officials. Municipalities can be accountable to both their own citizens and the state as a whole. In some cases, the law defines the mechanisms of responsibility of local authorities also to organizations.
Goals of municipal law
The essence and basic methods of municipal law we have studied. Let us now consider a different nuance - the goals that determine the need for the functioning of institutions of legislative regulation of local self-government. And also the tasks corresponding to them.
To begin with, we will examine what the main goal of creating the institution of municipal government is. According to a common point of view, it consists in increasing the standard of living of citizens living within the framework of a local socio-political unit - a city, district, rural settlement. Correspondingly, there are a number of key tasks, such as, for example, the development of social infrastructure, the local economy, the protection of nature, the improvement of the employment system, etc. In order to fulfill these tasks and achieve the goals, local authorities management mechanisms. Actually, their legal support is determined by the specifics of the municipal law system. Thus, the main goal of municipal law is the legislative support of the activities of local authorities, the legitimization of management procedures.
Municipal law and other areas of regulation
How does municipal law relate to other segments of the law? According to many lawyers, the industry in question is classified as additional. The subject and method of municipal law are thus secondary to similar phenomena for other segments of the law. They appeared as a result of evolutionary changes in the mechanisms of local self-government. Interacting with the municipal branch of law - constitutional (it defines the key principles that affect the mechanisms of self-government), administrative, civil, labor, financial and others.
If we talk about constitutional law, it is largely responsible for the level of authority that local authorities have. Above we named, listing the methods of municipal law, the method of guarantees. It is largely based on the operation of constitutional provisions. Administrative law is also among the closest branches in relation to municipal. What is the reason for this? The fact is that one of the key features of local authorities is administrative legal personality. That is, city halls, city councils and other structures of power at the municipal level can use administrative legislation in their work, impose appropriate penalties on citizens or officials. Civil law, in turn, also works closely with municipal law. The main area of their relationship is the regulatory provisions of laws that determine the civil status of a socio-political unit, as well as the specific governing bodies established in it.
Municipal law as a science
We have indicated above that the term “municipal law” can also be understood as a scientific discipline. We will also study this aspect. Municipal law is a field of legal science. In Russia, according to many experts, it stood out as an independent segment in the 90s. Although the problems associated with the processes of local self-government have a long history. The prototypes of modern municipalities existed even in the Russian Empire, some councils under the USSR also had some kind of similarity - the corresponding historical experience by modern law scholars is also taken into consideration. Moreover, the key sources reflecting the essence of the relevant industry, which influenced the criteria that allowed modern researchers to highlight the subject and method of municipal law, are books published in the Russian Empire in many Russian law schools. At the same time, scientists of the pre-revolutionary time, as experts believe, did not distinguish the industry in question as an independent scientific discipline. Relevant issues were raised mainly when using the methods of state as well as administrative law.
As we said at the beginning of the article, in the USSR, municipal processes in the modern sense were virtually absent. However, Soviet scientists also formed valuable experience for Russian researchers in the aspect of studying problems related to the activities of subjects of legal relations at the local level. What methods of municipal law as a science are used by modern Russian scientists? As a rule, they are divided into general scientific ones - such as dialectics, concretization, systemic method, and special ones - such as statistics, historical and legal analysis, normative and logical research, etc. The corresponding toolkit of Russian researchers is constantly being improved.