Legal institution is one of the most important categories of jurisprudence. This concept is closely intertwined with almost every category of law, interconnected with norms and inextricably with the theory of states and law.
Learning the term
The institution of law is a group of existing legal norms, which, according to certain characteristics, are isolated and interconnected. They can regulate homogeneous social relations, can be united due to the subject, or can be divided into several internal subcategories. At the same time, it is important to understand that an institution is only a separate group of norms, it is inextricably linked with other elements of law.
Main directions of understanding
In the field of jurisprudence, the main directions of understanding are currently taking shape:
- The institution of law is the union of several norms into one group. A vivid example of this is the articles of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation that regulate the procedure for concluding a contract, its essence and content.
- The institution of law is a set of legal norms united bysign of regulation of the same social relations.
As you know, the division of law into branches is due to various kinds of relations. At the same time, the institution is only a certain type of interaction between people. In comparison, the institution is a smaller, but not significant, legal direction.
In the industry we have named, countless institutions can be distinguished. And yet they are qualitatively different from each other. So, for example, in criminal law, the institution of crime, the institution of punishment, the institution of criminal liability or exemption from punishment are singled out.
Signs and main features
Legal institution is one of the many legal categories that can be identified by the following features:
- One actual content.
- Legal uniformity.
- Completeness of relations subject to regulation. It is important to note here that non-compliance with this feature creates gaps in the law.
- Legislative isolation. Often institutes are combined into chapters and sections.
Institution is, in addition to what has been said, a divisible category. An example of this is civil and labor law, where, along with civil proceedings, the plaintiff and the defendant are singled out as separate institutions. Along with them, there are statute of limitations, representation, pre-trial dispute resolution, and so on.
About classification
Institutions of society is a category that consists of an ordered set of legal norms that are qualitatively homogeneous, but at the same time have some differences.
Firstly, institutions of law can be subdivided depending on the branch of regulation of public relations. So, science and practice are familiar with civil norms, criminal, constitutional, administrative, budgetary, penitentiary branches and so on.
Depending on the subject of regulation, they can be divided into material and procedural. Material - these are the provisions that establish the possibility of the origin of a legal fact. Procedural rules are those provisions that regulate the procedure for the implementation of certain actions.
Among other things, institutions can be divided into sectoral, which are focused strictly on homogeneous social relations, and complex, combining articles from various areas of law.
Simple and complex institutions as one of the bases of classification
Recently, more and more often relatively new branches of law began to form in the state and legal science. The system of institutions is a multifaceted concept, so the division into simple and complex (complex) industries is one of the main bases for classification.
Thus, a simple institution is focused strictly on the norms that govern similar social relations. Vivid examples of this are the institution of termination of marriage, which is clearly reflected in the familylegislation, the institution of pledge in civil legal relations, the institution of gambling.
A complex institution is also called a complex one. It is a set of norms that are associated with qualitatively different social relations, but at the same time they are interconnected for one reason or another. One of the clearest examples is the institution of property, which, as you can see, reflects in its essence not only the norms of civil, but also family, administrative and other branches of law. Despite the heterogeneity of the listed articles, the complex institution of law has a single subject.
Subsectors of law
All institutions of law are composed of various sub-sectors. The system of the latter is an intermediate link between the industry and the institution:
- invention right, copyright belongs to civil law;
- taxes are a sub-sector of finance;
- and municipal belongs to administrative legal relations.
A sub-sector is a set of the largest institutions that regulate several areas of homogeneous social relations. As part of the Constitution, parliamentary, electoral, presidential, and so on can be distinguished. It should be noted that, unlike the institution, this concept is not mandatory, for example, there are no sub-institutions in land law.
The significance of legal institutions, industries, sub-sectors comes down to the fact that these components determine the essence of each norm, as well as the boundaries of its operation.