The society is a holistic structure that functions as a single mechanism. This aspect of human life has been established long ago. Even during the existence of tribal communities, each individual understood that it was possible to survive only among 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, coordination of human work allows you to put in place a community, ethnic group, and even entire states.
Over the course of several centuries, many different regulators of social relations have been tried in the social environment, ranging from religion to violence. But almost all of this could not have the effect on society as it has today the right. It would seem that this structure is not intricate. Therefore, it cannot be effective. Nevertheless, the passage of time has proved not only the effectiveness, but also the exceptional effectiveness of law in the context of the regulation of public relations.
To date, 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 for its study, the sources of law play a large 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
In today's world, there are many innovations. But along with this, it is possible to distinguish the phenomena, structure, forms and features of which have been established over several centuries. Among these must be ranked right. It should be noted that the characterization of sources of law is possible only if there are statements about the source category. The last element, in turn, is a system of moral standards 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 back in ancient Rome. Human activity in this area has given rise not only to the practical branch of law, but also to the science of the same name, thanks to which many categories are known today in jurisprudence.
Key features of the phenomenon
Characterization of sources of law is impossible without highlighting the characteristics of this category, which explain its specificity. At different times, scientists identified many features of the phenomenon mentioned in the article. That is, the understanding of legal features varied due to changes in the legal culture. According to the latest, most recent theory, law is characterized by the following aspects:
- a general obligation for all entities without exception;
- normative consolidation in official state acts;
- consistency;
- state guarantee.
A rather specific sign is the intellectual-volitional nature of the category. Its presence suggests that the 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.
Thus, law is a rather interesting phenomenon today. But the question arises in this case - what are the sources of this category and how are they related to its direct application? For an answer you need to consider the concept of sources of law. Their characteristic provides an exhaustive number of statements. In aggregate, theoretical knowledge of sources allows us to draw our 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.
A general description of the sources of law speaks of this phenomenon as a form of expressiveness of legalized norms, which allows them to become familiar with a large circle of people, and, 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 simultaneously the sphere of its direct 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 direct basis. But in addition to terminology, the characteristics of the sources of law should contain statements about their types, which today are many.
The main forms of jurisprudence
The characteristic 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 countries of the Romano-German legal family, a normative act is of great importance, but the Anglo-Saxon powers prefer to base their legal activity only on a precedent. In this case, it all depends on the territorial location of the state, its history, traditions, ethnic composition, etc. The issue of using certain forms is a historical issue. We are interested in the characteristics of the sources of law, in the context of which it is necessary to highlight the types of this category, namely:
- legal act;
- judicial precedent;
- legal custom;
- regulatory agreement;
- doctrinal field or legal science.
In this case, the sources presented are of a general nature. They are fundamental to all, without exception, legal systems and industries. The difference, as mentioned earlier, will be in the moment of using a certain form. For example, the characterization of the sources of civil law indicates that in the context of this industry, not only the official act plays a key role, but also the customs legalized by society. Therefore, for the most objective characterization, it is necessary to evaluate forms from the position of their theoretical existence, and not relevance to the industry or a specific legal family.
First sources and their meaning
As we know, law has existed for a long time. Of course, in its original form, it was not as vast and comprehensive as we used to see it today. But many features of ancient law are relevant today. Thus, the characteristic of the main sources of law is impossible without taking into account their history.
To date, the first forms of expression of the legalized rules of public behavior can be recognized as the laws of Hammurabi, the code of laws of the XII tables, the laws of Solon and Klisfen, the codification of Justinian, Solic Truths, etc.
For a long time, people have issued increasingly sophisticated legal sources that have 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 used already in Ancient Rome, precedent originated in Britain and was transferred to America by colonists, doctrine is still used in many countries of the East, etc. Therefore, the characterization of forms, sources of law should be carried out with the calculation of their features, which were formed on for a lot of time.
The concept of a legal act
In any country there are laws, by-laws and other similar collections of official norms. In theory, they are all ranked as a written source of law, which has a single name - a regulatory act. Historically, it is one of the very first forms of expression of jurisprudence, with the exception of the custom that was already actively used at the time of the appearance of the legal acts.
But if we take into account the present, then regulatory 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 completely formed around the official basis, which is represented by legally relevant documents, namely: Federal laws, acts of the President and the Government, regulatory documents of ministries, and other authorities.
Advantages of NPA
The value of legal acts is quite large. They allow you to coordinate the activities of a large number of people. In addition, the norms spelled out in them rarely need additional interpretation.
If we are talking about the field of practical jurisprudence, then the normative act also has many positive aspects. The bottom line is that such a form of law is convenient for people who apply legalized norms in certain situations. No less significant factor is the speed of change or the elimination of regulatory legal acts. Of course, the most significant advantage of the legal acts can be called its flexibility. The possibility of making changes allows the law to be constantly restructured to the relationships that arise in society. Therefore, normative acts are a sign of democratic and progressive legal system of the state.
What is a legal precedent?
In the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family, regulations are not as popular as they are in Russia. Great Britain, the USA and other similar powers are building their legal system on the principle of supremacy of legal precedent. But what is this category?
A legal or judicial precedent is a trivial decision of the judicial authority 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 rules or whole laws. The existence of such a form is due to the history of England, which has become 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, 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, judicial precedent 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 solve similar problems or incidents in the future. In this issue, the precedent differs from a normative act, the provisions of which govern a whole range of homogeneous situations.
- You should also consider the sign of the multiplicity of precedent. He talks about the possibility of creating this form of law by a large number of different authorities. That is, not only courts can set precedents. Plurality also makes it possible to use a precedent over a considerable period of time.
- The casuistic precedent influenced the emergence of another sign, namely, inconsistency. Today, case law is one of the most extensive. This has led to the emergence of a huge number of court decisions in similar cases. Moreover, they often contradict each other. Therefore, case law is flexible, because there are several options for resolving certain situations.
The presented features indicate that precedent is the basis of only domestic legal systems. The characteristics of the sources of international law indicate the irrelevance of this form in matters of a supranational nature. This is not surprising, given the frenzied development of public relations today.
What is custom?
The characteristics of the sources of social security law, as well as civil, criminal, international, labor and other industries in most cases do not contain a description of the norms-customs. This is not surprising, because the presented form is used only in some industries and today is not relevant.
However, custom is still used in international and civil law. It is an unwritten, non-fixed behavioral rule, the binding of which is due to its repeated use. As we understand it, such a form is simply impossible for criminal law, because the matter concerns the sphere of socially dangerous acts, in the context of which decisions should be based on peremptory norms of law and precedent. And civilists quite often resort to the use of legal customs. This is not surprising, because the civilian industry is open to innovation.
In international law, custom is dictated by the very specifics of the regulatory sphere, because its subjects are states with different legal systems. In addition, most international relations were formed many centuries ago.
Doctrine and regulatory agreements as sources of law: concept, types, characteristics
The previously presented forms are the most popular and common today. But few people know that legal doctrine and regulatory agreements are also legal sources.
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 writings can also be added to the doctrine, because they contain rules of behavior that, depending on the ethnic group and people's beliefs, are generally binding. The most authoritative position of the legal doctrine can be observed in the countries of Sharia or Muslim law.
As regards regulatory agreements, it is a semblance of a regulatory act. But if the latter is issued by authorized bodies of the state, then the agreement is an agreement of several parties on any issue.
There are many types of this legal source. These include constitutional, labor, administrative contracts, etc.
Output
So, the sources of law, a concept whose general characteristics are presented in the article, are a key category of jurisprudence without exception. Moreover, they are a strictly individual phenomenon for each country. Indeed, depending on the legal culture, history and other features of the state, one source may become more relevant than all others. This fact is a key sign of the use of the category described in the article.