In order to understand the internal processes taking place in legislative practice, you need to clearly understand what is the rule of law. This provision is equally true for all legal systems where a regulatory act is the regulator.
Definition, including the essence of the concept
Many approaches to the legal field are based on what the rule of law is and what structure it has. Therefore, the phenomenon itself should be determined.
The shortest definition that can be given is as follows: a rule of law is a basic element of an act regulating strictly differentiated relations in a country.
Such a general concept, however, requires clarification on a number of factors, which are the following:
- through the rule of law, a measure of permitted action is expressed, that is, if a person is allowed, for example, to produce certain goods, then he has the right to both use this permission and not to carry out such actions. More stringent rules apply to the prohibitions, which clearly describe the taboos;
- the rule of law is a formal consolidation of the status of persons in the country. So, through the norm, the status of each subject is formed depending on its individual qualities;
- the rule of law is binding on each entity located on the territory of a strictly defined state. However, sometimes exceptions occur, acting on the basis of agreements between countries in relation to foreigners;
- The rule of law is the behavior guaranteed and protected by the authorities of the country;
- the rule of law always has the structure necessary to regulate relations defined for the scope of action.
Accordingly, the following can be deduced as the concept of a rule of law: this is a rule of conduct for a particular
subject of law in strictly fixed relations, guaranteed by the protection of authorities at the state or local level.
In order to understand this definition, you should familiarize yourself with the structure of the rule of law.
Formative elements of a rule of law
During the existence of law, legal science has developed a kind of ideal model of the "cell" of legislation. And today it is a structure consisting of hypothesis, disposition and sanction.
The hypothesis of the rule of law is the actual condition for its application. It is fair to say that in one norm two or more of these elements can coexist. This situation is connected with the actual circumstances of life, and therefore there are three main types - simple, alternative and complex conditions.
In simple there is only one circumstance. Complex facts relate several facts, in the presence or absence of which the norm will be involved. Alternative ones are a set of conditions, the presence of one of which involves the agreed norm.
Disposition is actually the behavior that the rule of law considers. it base on which other elements are mounted. As in the previous case, three types are distinguished: blanket (general behavior common to all), direct (strictly described behavior) and alternative (represents a choice between the indicated types of actions).
Sanction - punishment for failure to fulfill the will of the authorities. It should be noted that not all norms have this element, but if it exists, then the sanction is fixed by one of the following methods:
- absolutely definitely - that is, the consequences are clearly defined;
- defined relatively - represented by a “fork” of punishment, which is classified by a competent person;
- alternative - present several options for punishment.
The structure presented above is an example of an ideal rule of law, which in real life is characteristic of the provisions of criminal or administrative law.