Society is an integral structure that functions as a single mechanism. This aspect of human life has been established for a long time. Even at the time of the existence of tribal communities, each individual understood that it was possible to survive only in an environment of his own kind. However, social structures of one size or another, or rather, their direct activity, are determined by the regulator of social relations. In other words, the coordination of human work makes it possible to bring into action a community, an ethnic group, and even entire states.
For several centuries, many different regulators of social relations have been tried in the social environment, ranging from religion to violence. But practically all this could not have such an effect on society as the law has today. It would seem that this structure is not something intricate. Therefore, it cannot be effective. Nevertheless, the course of time has proved not only the effectiveness, but also the exceptional effectiveness of law in the context of regulating social relations.
Today, the presented category exists all over the world. Its development is proved by the presence of a large number of forms and entire legal families. But to study itsources of law play an important role. Depending on the specific legal system, the sources may be different, which determines their specificity and other interesting points.
General concept of legal category
There are many innovations in today's world. But along with this, one can single out phenomena whose structure, forms and features have been established over several centuries. Law must be included among these. It should be noted that the characterization of the sources of law is possible only if there is information about the original category. The last element, in turn, is a system of moral norms that are legalized by the state and recognized as generally binding.
In other words, behavioral rules become official in the state, which gives them a certain legal force. The very essence of law has been developed by scientists for many centuries. An invaluable contribution to the development of the category was made by practicing lawyers who existed in the days of Ancient Rome. Human activity in this area gave rise not only to the practical branch of law, but also to the science of the same name, thanks to which many categories known today in jurisprudence appear.
Key features of the phenomenon
Characterization of the sources of law is impossible without highlighting the features of this category, which explain its specificity. At different times, scientists have identified many features of the phenomenon mentioned in the article. That is, the understanding of legal features varied due tolegal culture changes. According to the latest, youngest theory, law is characterized by the following aspects:
- general obligation for all subjects without exception;
- regulatory fixation in official state acts;
- systematic;
- State guaranteed.
A rather specific feature is the intellectual-volitional nature of the category. Its presence suggests that law not only regulates social activities, but also comes directly from society. That is, the will and interest of people is manifested in the category.
So the law is quite an interesting phenomenon today. But in this case, the question arises - what are the sources of this category and how are they related to its direct application? To answer this, we need to consider the concept of sources of law. Their characterization provides an exhaustive number of statements. Together, theoretical knowledge about the sources allows you to draw your own conclusions about their popularity.
General characteristics of sources of law
So, we found out that all jurisprudence is nothing but a system of legalized rules of conduct. But in theory there is such an interesting category as sources of law. In most cases, the average layman does not understand what it is.
The general characteristics of the sources of law speaks of this phenomenon as a form of expression of legalized norms, which allowsfamiliarize themselves with them to a large circle of people, and also, depending on the specific situation, apply them. That is, in this case, the concept of "form" and "source" of the legal industry are identified. The bottom line is that the expression of law is at the same time the sphere of its immediate origin. For example, a normative act establishes certain rules of conduct, but along with this, it is included in the legal system of the state and is its immediate basis. But in addition to terminology, the description of sources of law should contain information about their types, which today are quite numerous.
Basic forms of jurisprudence
Characteristics of the main sources of law shows the development of the entire category. The bottom line is that the forms of expression of jurisprudence are the same for all countries without exception. The difference can be traced only in the relevance of a particular source in a particular state. For example, for the countries of the Romano-Germanic legal family, a normative act is of great importance, but the Anglo-Saxon powers prefer to base their legal activities only on precedent. In this case, everything depends on the territorial location of the state, its history, traditions, ethnic composition, etc. The question of the use of certain forms is a problematic of history. We are interested in the characteristics of the sources of law, in the context of which it is necessary to single out the types of this category, namely:
- legal act;
- judicial precedent;
- legal custom;
- regulatory contract;
- doctrinal sphere or legal science.
In this case, the sources presented are of a general nature. They are basic for all legal systems and industries without exception. The difference, as mentioned earlier, will be in the moment of using a certain form. For example, the characteristics of the sources of civil law indicate that in the context of this industry, not only an official act, but also customs legalized by society play a key role. Therefore, for the most objective characterization, it is necessary to evaluate the forms from the standpoint of their theoretical existence, and not their relevance to the industry or a particular legal family.
First sources and their significance
As we know, law has been around for a long time. Of course, in its original form it was not as extensive and comprehensive as we are used to seeing it today. But many features of ancient law are relevant today. Thus, the characterization of the main sources of law is impossible without taking into account their history.
Today, the laws of Hammurabi, the code of laws of the XII tables, the laws of Solon and Cleisthenes, Justinian's codifications, Solic Truths, etc. can be recognized as the first forms of expression of the legalized rules of social behavior.
For a long time, people have issued more and more improved legal sources, which led to the evolution of the entire legal system in the world. Moreover, each form has its own characteristic historical features. For example, customs were already used in ancient Rome, the precedent originated in Britainand was transferred to America by the colonists, the doctrine is still used in many countries of the East, etc. Therefore, the characteristics of the forms, sources of law should be carried out with the calculation of their features, which were formed over a large amount of time.
The concept of a legal act
In any country there are laws, by-laws and other similar collections of official regulations. In theory, they are all classified as a written source of law, which has a single name - a legal act. Historically, it is one of the earliest forms of expression of jurisprudence, with the exception of the custom, which was already actively used at the time of the advent of the NLA.
But if we take into account modernity, then legal acts today are the basis of many legal systems. An example is the Russian Federation, as evidenced by its theoretical and legal characteristics. The sources of Russian law are entirely formed around the official basis, which is represented by legally significant documents, namely: Federal laws, acts of the President and the Government, regulatory papers of ministries, and other authorities.
Benefits of NBOs
The importance of regulations is quite large. They allow you to coordinate the activities of a large number of people. In addition, the norms prescribed in them rarely need additional interpretation.
If we are talking about the field of practical jurisprudence, then here the normative act also has manypositive moments. The bottom line is that this form of law is convenient for persons who apply legalized norms in certain situations. An equally significant factor is the speed of changing or eliminating regulatory legal acts. Of course, the most significant advantage of the NPA can be called its flexibility. The possibility of making changes allows the legislation to be constantly rebuilt under the relations that arise in society. Therefore, normative acts are a sign of democracy and progressiveness of the legal system of the state.
What is a legal precedent?
In the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family, normative acts are not as popular as they are in Russia. Great Britain, the USA and other similar powers build their legal system on the principle of the primacy of legal precedent. But what is this category?
Legal or judicial precedent is a banal decision of the judiciary on a specific issue, which becomes official and binding in all similar situations.
On the other hand, this source can be used as an interpretation of individual norms or entire laws. The existence of such a form is due to the history of England, which became the cradle of parliamentarism and precedent. It was in this state that the key features of the presented legal source were born.
Signs of judicial precedent
All sources, forms of law,the concept, the characteristics of which are presented in the article, are quite interesting phenomena. This fact is proved by the features of each category. For example, a case law is characterized by three main features:
- First of all, the precedent is casuistic. In other words, its appearance is determined by a point event and is designed to resolve similar issues or incidents in the future. In this issue, there is a difference between a precedent and a normative act, the provisions of which regulate a whole range of homogeneous situations.
- You should also take into account the sign of the plurality of the precedent. He talks about the possibility of creating this form of law by a large number of different instances. That is, not only the courts can approve precedents. The plurality also makes it possible for a precedent to apply over a significant period of time.
- The casuistry of the precedent influenced the emergence of another feature, namely inconsistency. To date, case law is one of the most extensive. This has led to a huge number of judgments in similar cases. However, they quite often contradict each other. Therefore, case law is flexible, as there are several options for dealing with certain situations.
The presented features indicate that the precedent is the basis of only domestic legal systems. The characterization of the sources of international law indicates the irrelevance of this form in cases of a supranational nature. This is not surprising given the rapid developmentpublic relations to date.
What is the custom
Characteristics of the sources of social security law, as well as civil, criminal, international, labor and other branches in most cases does not contain a description of the norms and customs. This is not surprising, because the presented form is used only in some industries and is not relevant today.
However, in international and civil law, the custom is still used. It is an unwritten, unfixed behavioral rule, the obligatory nature of which is due to its repeated application. As we understand, such a form is simply impossible for criminal law, because the case concerns the sphere of socially dangerous acts, in the context of which decisions must be based on the imperative norms of law and precedent. And civilists quite often resort to the use of legal customs. This is not surprising, since the civilian industry is open to innovation.
In international law, custom is dictated by the very specifics of the sphere of regulation, because its subjects are states with different legal systems. In addition, most international relations were formed many centuries ago.
Doctrine and normative agreements as sources of law: concept, types, characteristics
The previously presented forms are the most popular and frequently encountered today. But few people know that legal sources are alsolegal doctrine and statutory treaties.
The first category is science. Today, it is in the context of the scientific environment that many existing legal mechanisms and institutions are being developed. Some religious scriptures can also be classified as a doctrine, because they contain rules of conduct that, depending on the ethnic group and beliefs of people, are generally binding. The most authoritative position of legal doctrine can be observed in the countries of Sharia or Muslim law.
As for normative contracts, it is a semblance of a normative act. But if the latter is issued by authorized bodies of the state, then the contract is an agreement between several parties on any issue.
There are many types of this legal source. These include constitutional, labor, administrative contracts, etc.
Conclusion
So, the sources of law, the concept, the general characteristics of which are presented in the article, is the key category of all jurisprudence without exception. Moreover, they are a strictly individual phenomenon for each country. After all, depending on the legal culture, history and other features of the power, one source may become more relevant than all the others. This fact is a key sign of the use of the category described in the article.
