General characteristics of sources of law

The society is an integral structure that functions as a single mechanism. This aspect of life of people was established long ago. Even in times of the existence of tribal communities, each individual understood that it is possible to survive only in the environment of his own kind. However, the social structures of a particular magnitude, or rather their direct activity, are conditioned by the regulator of social relations. In other words, the coordination of human work allows the community, ethnic group and even whole states to be activated.

For several centuries in the social environment, many different regulators of social relations have been tried, ranging from religion and ending with violence. But almost all of this could not have the effect on society, which today has the right. It would seem that this structure is not an intricate one. Therefore, it can not be effective. Nevertheless, the passage of time proved not only the effectiveness, but also the exclusive effectiveness of law in the context of regulation of social relations.

To date, the category represented exists throughout the world. Its development is proved by the presence of a large number of forms and entire legal families. But for its study a great role is played by the sources of law. 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 the modern world there are many innovations. But along with this, it is possible to distinguish phenomena, structure, forms and features of which were established for several centuries. Among the similar it is necessary to rank the right. It should be noted that the characteristics of sources of law are possible only if there are statements on the initial category. The latter 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 was developed by scientists over many centuries. An invaluable contribution to the development of the category was made by practicing lawyers who existed in the times of Ancient Rome. Human activity in this sphere has generated not only a practical branch of law, but also a science with the same name, thanks to which many categories known in the jurisprudence appear today.

Key features of the phenomenon

The characteristics of the sources of law are impossible without identifying the characteristics of this category, which explain its specifics. At different times, scientists have identified many features of the phenomenon mentioned in the article. That is, the understanding of legal features varied in connection with changes in legal culture. According to the latest, the youngest theory, the right is characterized by the following aspects:

• General binding for all subjects without exception;
• Normative fixation in official state acts;
• Systemic;
• State guarantee.

A rather specific feature is the intellectual-volitional nature of the category. Its presence suggests that the right not only regulates social activity, but also comes directly from the society. That is, the category shows the will and interest of people.

So, the right is quite an interesting phenomenon to date. But the question arises in this case - what are the sources of this category and how are they related to its direct application? For the answer it is necessary to consider the concept of sources of law. Their characteristics are provided by an exhaustive number of statements. In combination, theoretical knowledge of 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 behavior. But in theory there is such an interesting category as sources of law. In most cases, the average inhabitant does not understand what it is.

General characteristics of sources of law speaks of this phenomenon as a form of expression of legalized norms, which allows them to become familiar with them to a large number of persons, 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 also a sphere of its immediate origin. For example, the normative act establishes certain rules of conduct, but at the same time it enters the legal system of the state and is its immediate basis. But in addition to terminology, the characteristics of sources of law should contain lists of their types, which are quite a lot today.

Basic forms of jurisprudence

Characterization of the main sources of law shows the development of the whole category. The bottom line is that the forms of expressing 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, the normative act is of great importance, but the Anglo-Saxon powers prefer to base their legal activity 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 sources of law, in the context of which it is necessary to distinguish the types of this category, namely:

• legal act;
• judicial precedent;
• Legal custom ;
• Normative contract;
• Doctrinal sphere or legal science.

In this case, the sources presented are of a general nature. They are the basic for all legal systems and branches without exception. The difference, as already indicated earlier, will consist in the moment of using a certain form. For example, the characterization of sources of civil law indicates that in the context of this industry, the key role is played not only by the official act, but also by customs legalized by society. Therefore, for the most objective characteristics, it is necessary to evaluate the forms from the standpoint of their theoretical existence, and not actuality for the industry or a particular legal family.

The first sources and their meaning

As we know, the law exists long ago. Of course, in its primordial form it was not as extensive and comprehensive as we used to see it today. But many features of the ancient law are relevant today. Thus, the characterization of the main sources of law is impossible without taking into account their history.

To date, the first forms of expressing legalized rules of social behavior can be recognized as the laws of Hammurabi, the code of laws of the XII tables, the laws of Solon and Cleisthenes, the codification of Justinian, the Solic Pravda,

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. In this case, each form has its own characteristic historical features. For example, customs were used already in ancient Rome, the precedent originated in Britain and was moved to America by colonists, the doctrine is still used in many countries of the East, etc. Therefore, the characteristics of forms, sources of law should be calculated with the calculation of their features, which were formed on Over a large amount of time.

The concept of a normative legal act

In any country there are laws, by-laws and other similar collections of official norms. In theory, they are all attributed to a written source of law, which has a single name - a normative legal act. Historically, it is one of the earliest forms of expressing jurisprudence, except for custom, which at the time of the emergence of the NAP was already actively used.

But if we take into account the present, then the legal acts today are the basis of many legal systems. An example is the Russian Federation, as evidenced by its theoretical and legal characteristics. 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.

Advantages of PPA

The significance of regulatory acts 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 sphere of practical jurisprudence, then the normative act also has many positive aspects. The bottom line is that this 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 regulations. Of course, the most significant advantage of NPA can be called its flexibility. The possibility of making changes allows the law to be constantly reconstructed under the relations that arise in the society. Therefore, normative acts are a sign of democracy and the progressive nature of the legal system of the state.

What is a legal precedent?

In the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family, normative acts do not enjoy such great popularity as they have in Russia. The United Kingdom, the United States and other similar powers are building their legal system on the principle of primacy of a legal precedent. But what is this category?

A legal or judicial precedent is a banal decision of the justice body on a particular issue, which becomes official and binding for implementation in all similar situations.

On the other hand, this source can be used as an interpretation to individual norms or whole 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 represented legal source were born.

Signs of judicial precedent

All sources, forms of law, the concept, which is described in the article, are quite interesting phenomena. This fact is proved by the features of each category. For example, a judicial precedent is characterized by three main features:

1. First of all, the precedent is casuistic. In other words, its occurrence is determined by a point event and is designed to solve similar issues or incidents in the future. In this issue, the precedent is different from the normative act, the provisions of which regulate a whole range of homogeneous situations.
2. It should also take into account the sign of the plurality of precedent. He speaks 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. Multiplicity also causes the possibility of applying the precedent over a significant period of time.
3. The casuistic nature of the precedent influenced the emergence of another sign, namely, inconsistency. To date, case law is one of the most extensive. This led to the emergence of a huge number of judgments in similar cases. At the same time, they quite often contradict each other. Therefore, case law is flexible, because there are several options for solving certain situations.

The features presented indicate that the precedent is the basis of only domestic legal systems. The characteristics of the sources of international law speak of the irrelevance of this form in matters of a supranational character. This is not surprising, given the frenzied development of social relations to date.

What is custom?

Characteristics of the sources of social security law, as well as civil, criminal, international, labor and other industries in most cases does not contain a description of customary norms. This is not surprising, because the presented form is used only in some industries and is not relevant today.

Nevertheless, in international and civil law custom is still used. It is an unwritten, unconstrained behavioral rule, the obligation of which is due to its repeated application. As we understand, for criminal law this form is simply impossible, because it deals with the sphere of socially dangerous acts, in the context of which decisions should be based on peremptory norms of law and precedent. And civilians quite often resort to the use of legal customs. This is not surprising, because the civil 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 treaties, as sources of law: the concept, types, characteristics

Forms presented earlier are the most popular and often met today. But very few people know that the legal sources are also the legal doctrine and normative treaties.

The first category is science. To date, it is in the context of the scientific environment that many existing legal mechanisms and institutions are being developed. To the doctrine also it is possible to rank some religious writings, after all in them there are rules of behavior which depending on ethnos and beliefs of people are obligatory. The most authoritative position of legal doctrine can be observed in the countries of Sharia or Islamic law.

As for normative treaties, it is akin to a normative 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 kinds of this legal source. These include constitutional, labor, administrative contracts, and so on.

Conclusion

So, the sources of law, the concept, the general characteristics of which are presented in the article, is a key category of all without exception jurisprudence. Moreover, they are strictly individual phenomenon for each country. After all, depending on the legal culture, history and other features of the state, one source can become more relevant than all the others. This fact is the key sign of using the category described in the article.