• Theory of state and law as a science and academic discipline
  • Theory of state and law as a science
  • Subject of science: theory of state and law
  • The structure of the science of the theory of state and law
  • Methodology of science, theory of state and law
  • Theory of state and law in the system of humanities
  • Theory of state and law in the system of legal sciences
  • Functions of science, theory of state and law
• Origin of state and law
  • Basic theories of the origin of the state and government
  • Social structure, power and management in primitive society
  • Origin of the state (modern interpretations)
  • Origin of law
• Concept, essence, typology and functions of the state
  • Concept of state
  • The essence of the state
  • Social purpose and functions of the state
• State power and its mechanism
  • The concept of state power
  • Structure of government
  • Mechanism of state power
  • Principles of organization and activity of the state apparatus
  • Concept and classification of state bodies
  • Public administration and self-government
• Forms of state
  • Concept and elements of the form of state
  • Forms of government
  • Form of government
  • State legal regime
• Law in the system of normative regulation of public relations
  • Concept, signs and general characteristics of social norms
  • Technical and legal-technical standards
• Essence of law
  • Concept and signs of law
  • Principles of law
  • Functions of law
• Rules of law
  • Concept and characteristics of the rule of law
  • Structure of the rule of law
  • The relationship between the rule of law and the article of the normative legal act
  • Types of law
• Sources (forms) of law
  • The concept of form and source of law
  • Types of sources (forms) of law
• Legal system
  • Concept and structural elements of the legal system
  • The subject and method of legal regulation as the basis for dividing the legal system into branches
  • Private and public law
  • General characteristics of branches of Russian law
• Lawmaking
  • Lawmaking: concept, principles and types
  • The concept and stages of lawmaking in the Russian Federation
  • Systematization of legislation
  • The relationship between the legal system and the legislative system
• Realization of the right
  • Concept and forms of implementation of law
  • Application of law as a special form of its implementation
  • The concept of an act of application of law and its types
• Interpretation of law
  • Concept of interpretation of law
  • Ways to interpret the law
  • Types of interpretation of law
  • Analogy in law
  • Acts of interpretation of law
• Legal relations
  • Legal relationship: concept, characteristics and structure
  • Subjects of legal relations
  • Subjective right and legal obligation as the content of a legal relationship
  • Types of legal relations
  • Legal facts
• Lawful Conduct
  • Concept and signs of lawful behavior
  • Composition of lawful behavior
  • Types of lawful behavior
• Offense
  • Concept and signs of an offense
  • Legal structure of the offense
  • Types of offenses
• Legal liability
  • Concept, signs and grounds of legal liability
  • Goals and functions of legal responsibility
  • General characteristics of types of legal liability
• Legal awareness and legal culture
  • Concept, structure and types of legal consciousness
  • The concept and general characteristics of the legal culture of society and the individual
  • Legal nihilism
• Law and order
  • Concept and principles of legality
  • Guarantees of legality
  • Legal order: concept and structure

Private and public law

The last decade has been characterized by revitalized discussions about the legal system and its classifying criteria, and the issue of dividing law into public and private has become relevant. The emerging interest in such a classification among Russian legal scholars is explained by the fact that during the Soviet period of development of legal sciences the existence of private law was completely rejected, although outside the socialist system its recognition was very popular. In the structure of law, legal norms can be divided into two large groups: private and public law.

Private law is an ordered set of legal norms that protect and regulate the relations of private individuals. Public law forms norms that establish the procedure for the activities of public authorities and management. If private law is the area of ​​freedom and private initiative, then public law is the area of ​​power and subordination.

Private and public law relate to each other as two interacting systems. Art. 2 of the Russian Constitution defines the rights and freedoms of man and citizen as the highest value of the state. However, the interests of social development, ensuring law and order and protecting society from crime require, in order to protect public interests, the presence of a mechanism for limiting human rights, i.e. the rights of society and the state in relation to a specific person are determined (Part 3 of Article 55 of the Constitution). Therefore, the entire system of norms can be divided into two groups: norms defining the rights of private entities and the relationships between them, and norms defining the status of public entities and the exercise of their powers.

In modern Russia, only bodies exercising state power or municipal powers can act as public subjects. Accordingly, those branches of law that “serve” these legal relations are public. These are constitutional, administrative, financial, criminal, penal law, etc., as well as all procedural branches of law. The remaining branches of law that regulate public relations with the participation of private entities acting in their own interests form a block of so-called private branches of law: civil, family and partly labor law.

Of course, there are no absolutely public or absolutely private branches of law. In any branch of law related to the public law block, there are individual elements and mechanisms based on the method of power and subordination and expressing the interests not of individual subjects, but of society as a whole and state interests. For example, in family law there is the institution of deprivation and limitation of parental rights and the collection of alimony. In labor law, the institution of disciplinary liability, and indeed all labor discipline, is based on the imperative method of legal regulation, which is reasonably combined with the incentive method.

Scientists identify the following criteria, depending on which certain norms of law are classified as private or public law: 1) interest (if private law is intended to regulate personal interests, then public law - public, state); 2) the subject of legal regulation (if private law is characterized by rules regulating property relations, then public law is characterized by non-property ones); 3) the method of legal regulation (if in private law the method of coordination dominates, then in public law it is subordination); 4) subject composition (if private law regulates the relations of private individuals among themselves, then public law regulates the relations of private individuals with the state or government bodies with each other).

Currently, such institutions of private law as the right of inherited lifelong ownership, intellectual property, private property, compensation for moral damage, etc. are increasingly being established in the Russian legal system.

Recognizing the importance and significance of such a classification, it should be noted that the distinction between private and public law is rather conditional and is focused primarily on determining the place and role of private law in the general mechanism of legal regulation. The rules of private law, consolidating the rights and obligations of a person, are provided with an appropriate mechanism for coercion to comply with rights and obligations, however, unlike public law, the use of coercion depends on the will of the injured party.

A system of law is a hierarchically organized set of interrelated and interacting branches of law, sub-sectors, legal institutions and norms, reflecting, on the one hand, the unity of legal norms, and on the other, their specialization.

The following principles underlie the construction of a legal system:

· The principle of the supremacy of human rights and freedoms;

· The principle of legality;

· The principle of competence;

· The principle of formality;

· The principle of accessibility;

· The principle of priority of international legal sources;

· The principle of prospective action of the norm;

And a number of others.

In this case, the main thing is the hierarchical organization of legal norms by legal force. Let us also note the principle of combining unity and specialization of legal norms.

The term “system of law” is not identical to the term “legal system”. The last category is broader, since it includes the totality of all legal phenomena in society, and not just legal norms.

One should also distinguish legal system(division of legal norms into industries and institutions) and legislative system, i.e. division of normative legal acts into certain parts. This is the result of the purposeful activity of the legislator, the formation by him of the entire array of acts regulating social relations. The legal system serves as the basis for dividing legislation into branches and institutions, encourages the legislator to issue regulations, adhering, first of all, to the established division of law into branches and institutions. Branches of legislation, for example, are constitutional, civil, labor law, etc.

However, in the modern legal system there are also complex areas of legislation, which consist of norms of various branches of law (legislation on health care, education, transport, communications, forestry law, etc.). In recent years, new complex branches of legislation have been actively formed in the Russian Federation (tax, customs law, privatization legislation, etc.).

Legal system consists of five levels: norms, legal institutions, sub-branches of law, branches, and the legal system as a whole.

Rule of law- this is a generally binding, formally defined rule of a general nature formulated by the state and provided with state protection, acting as a model of lawful behavior. A norm is a primary element, a “brick” of a legal system from which a given legal system is built.

Law Institute- this is a set of legal norms regulating a group of interconnected, homogeneous social relations isolated within the industry. For example, inheritance law, property law, contracts, purchase and sale, legal entities - all these are legal institutions of the civil law branch. Criminal liability of minors, compulsory measures of a medical nature, the head of the special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - these are the legal institutions of the branch of criminal law. Sometimes a legal institution is split into sub-institutions. For example, in the institute of civil service, which belongs to the branch of administrative law, there are such sub-institutions as the concept and principles of civil service, public position, legal status of an employee, etc.

Sub-branch of law is a large legal institution striving to become an independent branch of law. In financial law, tax and budget law are experiencing serious centrifugal trends today, in constitutional law - electoral law, in civil law - business, copyright, and housing law. The very concept of “sub-branch” enshrines its peculiar duality: it is no longer an institution, but also not yet a branch of law.

Branch of law- is a separate set of legal norms that regulates a certain area of ​​social relations using a specific legal method. The industry is formed by various norms - definitions and norms-principles, general and special, regulatory and protective, prohibiting, obliging and permissive. Taken together, they constitute a self-sufficient, autonomous, relatively isolated normative complex.

As a rule, in each legal branch, general and special parts are conventionally distinguished. The general part establishes the definitions, principles, and legal foundations of industry regulation; the special part establishes specialized legal institutions.

Legal branches- this is the central link of the legal system, determining the development of current legislation. In this regard, the study of all legal sciences is generally of a sectoral nature. Traditionally, there are two criteria for dividing norms into branches - the subject and method of the branch of law.

Subject of branch of law- is a set of homogeneous social relations regulated by one or another group of norms. The branch of law unites norms regulating homogeneous social relations. The diversity of social relations determines the specialization of norms and their distribution among industries, sub-sectors, and legal institutions. The subject shows what area of ​​public relations this industry regulates. Thus, land law regulates relations in the field of land use and land protection, labor law - in the field of labor relations between employee and employer, etc.

Method of regulating the branch of law- is a set of techniques, methods, and means of legal influence on social relations. If the subject of an industry shows what the industry regulates, then the method shows how this regulation is carried out.

In addition to the subject and method in Romano-Germanic legal systems, an important branch feature is corresponding codification. The presence or absence of a codified act, as a rule, indicates the presence or absence of a branch of law. Although there are also non-codified areas - for example, environmental law, business law, information law, etc.

The legal system reflects the structure of actually existing social relations, which predetermine the legal system. It is significantly influenced by historical, religious, national-ethnic factors, and the way of life of the population.

Some branches of Russian law are complex in nature, combining the norms of various branches and institutions. As examples, we can cite such special sectors as economic, natural resources, trade, banking, maritime, and customs law.

Branches of law are divided into public and private, material and procedural.

Private and public.

Very relevant for the life of modern Russian society is the division of the legal system into branches of private law and public law. Even in ancient Rome, there was a distinction between private law (“jus privatum”) and public law (“jus publicum”). This distinction is associated with the name of the ancient Roman lawyer Ulpian (170-228), who substantiated it for the first time. He expressed the opinion that public law is that which relates to the position of the Roman state, while private law relates to the benefit of individuals. That is subject of public law is the sphere public interests (the interests of society, the state as a whole), and subject of private law- sphere private affairs and interests.

The division of law into private and public was paid attention to by Montesquieu (“On the Spirit of Laws”), Hobbes, Hegel, and Russian jurists D. D. Grimm, K. D. Kavelin, N. M. Korkunov, D. I. Meyer, P. I Novgorodtsev, L. I. Petrazhitsky, G. F. Shershenevich.

In modern domestic legal literature to branches of public law include state, administrative, financial, criminal, branches of procedural law, branches of private law- civil, labor, family, as well as such complex sectors as trade, cooperative, entrepreneurial, banking, etc.

Soviet legal doctrine rejected the concept of private law as incompatible with the nature of the socialist system. In connection with the preparation of the first Soviet Civil Code, Lenin in 1922 expressed his position as follows: “We do not recognize anything “private”; for us, everything in the field of economics is public law, not private.” Initially, this position is due to the totalitarian nature of the socialist state, the nationalization of public and private life, the absence of private property and freedom of private entrepreneurship. Thus, it should be noted that Russia has accumulated experience in regulating the social sphere using public legal methods, which are characterized by legal centralization (vertical regulation from a single center - the state) and imperativeness, leaving no room for the discretion of subjects.

On the contrary, the sphere of private law presupposes decentralization of legal regulation (when legally significant decisions are made by participants in civil transactions independently) and discretion (freedom of choice of legal decisions).

Thus, the main meaning of the distinction between private and public law is to establish the limits of state intervention in the sphere of property and other interests of individuals and their associations. The state in this area should act only as an arbiter and a reliable defender of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in civil transactions.

Currently, a market economy is emerging in Russia, and private property is legally enshrined, and therefore great importance is attached to the development of private law. In December 1991, by order of the President of the Russian Federation, the Research Center for Private Law was created. A new Civil Code of the Russian Federation has been adopted, the content of which is permeated with the ideas of private law.

Despite the importance and principle of dividing law into private and public, the criteria for such division are ambiguous, and the boundaries are quite arbitrary and blurred. Russian civil expert Mikhail Mikhailovich Agarkov (1890-1947) noted that combinations of public law and private law elements, mixed public law and private law institutions, can arise. MM. Agarkov emphasized that public law is the area of ​​power and subordination, private (civil) law is the area of ​​freedom and private initiative. Sometimes the criterion for classifying relations as public law is participation in them as one of the parties to the state. However, both the state as a whole and its bodies can act as legal entities as participants in private law relations.

Related information.

The legal system consists of two large groups of branches: private and public law.

The division into private (jus privatum) and public (jus publicum) law has its roots in Roman law. The objective nature of such a division is associated with the natural difference between private interests and the interests of society and the state.

Public law, according to the Roman jurist Ulpian, is that which relates to the position of the Roman state; private, which refers to the benefit of individuals. In the subsequent criteria for classifying law as private or public, they were clarified and received more detailed characteristics, but the recognition of the scientific and practical value of dividing law into public and private remained unchanged.

A different situation was typical for the Russian legal system, which for a long time did not know the division of law into private and public. The reasons for this were not the peculiarities of the legal system, but mainly the absence of the institution of private property.

Soviet official legal doctrine had a negative attitude towards the idea of ​​dividing law into private and public, considering it artificial and designed to disguise the essence of the bourgeois system.

The essence of private law is expressed in its principles - independence and autonomy of the individual, recognition of the protection of private property, freedom of contract. Private law is the law that protects the interests of a person in his relationships with other persons. It regulates areas in which direct government regulatory intervention is limited. In the scope of private law, an individual independently decides whether to use his rights or refrain from permitted actions, enter into an agreement with other persons, or act in another way.

The scope of public law is a different matter. In public legal relations of the state, the parties act as legally unequal. One of these parties is always the state or its body (official) vested with authority. In the sphere of public law, relations are regulated exclusively from a single center, which is state power.

Private law is an area of ​​freedom, not necessity, decentralization, not centralized regulation. Public law is the sphere of dominance of imperative principles, necessity, and not of autonomy of will and private initiative.

The system of public and private law is determined by the nature of public and private law, the characteristics of the national legal system. Taking this into account, the public legal and private legal systems can be presented as follows.

Public law - this is a set of branches of law, the norms of which ensure interests of a public nature (constitutional, criminal, administrative, state, financial, currency, environmental, public international law, etc.). Public international law (or, what is the same thing, international law) is included in the national system of law not by the entire set of international legal norms, but by that part of them that serves as the source of Russian law (clause 4 of article 115 of the Constitution RF).

Private right unites industries that contain rules governing the sphere of personal interests and needs (civil, family, labor, land, copyright, business, international private law).

There is no absolute public or private law sector. Public legal elements are present in branches of private law, as well as vice versa. For example, in family law, public law elements include the judicial procedure for divorce, deprivation of parental rights, and collection of alimony. In relation to each specific branch of law, a combination of these legal techniques takes place.

The boundaries between private and public law are historically fluid and changeable. Thus, the change in the forms of land ownership in the Russian Federation fundamentally influenced the nature of land law, which came under the “jurisdiction” of private law (although retaining public law elements).

The legal system is under significant influence of the subjective factor - the rule-making activity of the state. Accordingly, this factor will also have a significant impact on the relationship between private and public law.

Dynamics of development of the legal system and main directions of legal development:

1. Development of private law.
2. Narrowing the sphere of influence of elements of public law on private life.
3. Coverage by law of new areas of public life that previously remained outside the legal field.
4. Development of law through the emergence of new legal institutions, sub-sectors and industries.
5. Revision, change of many rules of law, taking into account fundamental changes in public institutions (constitutional, civil, criminal, financial, banking, stock exchange, business, agricultural, etc.).
6. Activation and development of subsystems of law, which begin to penetrate into various areas of application of substantive law.

Legal system - totality internally consistent, interconnected, legal means, with the help of which public authority influences social relations. Includes law itself, legal practice, and legal science.

Legal system– part of the legal system is internal structure of law, showing its division into industries, institutions and individual norms. Consistency is the most important quality of law and means consistency, consistency, and complementarity of legal norms.
The structural elements of the legal system are:
1) rule of law, the primary element of the legal system.
2) branch of law, a set of homogeneous legal norms regulating a certain area of ​​social relations
3) sub-branch of law, regulates certain social relations (in civil law - copyright, housing; in land law - mountain, water)
4) Institute of Law, a small group of legal norms regulating a certain type of social relations (the institution of marriage, family)

The grouping of branches of law into two categories - branches of public private law dates back to the era of Ancient Rome. Roman lawyer Ulpian(II–III centuries) believed that public law protects the general interests of the state, private law protects the interests of individuals.

Classification criteria legal norms on the norms of public and private law are the ones they carry out in society the role and nature of the interests protected by certain norms.

Public right– a set of norms that ensure the protection of generally significant (public) interests - the interests of society and the state; it establishes the procedure for the activities of public authorities. Public law consists of branches that are related to the powers and functioning of the state - constitutional, administrative, financial, criminal, criminal procedural, public international law.

Public law is characterized by the following features:

1) Orientation to satisfy the public, public interest;

2) Dominance mandatory norms authority subordination

3) Subordination of subjects and legal acts;

4) Unilateral expression of will of subjects;

5) Sanctions predominantly penalty (punitive) character;

6) Large degree centralized settlement.

Private right - This is a set of legal norms that protect and regulate the relations of private individuals. Private right serves the needs of people arising on the basis of property and personal non-property relations - civil, family, international private law.

Private law has the following features:

1) Focus on satisfaction of private, personal interests;

2) The predominance of dispositive norms;

3) Equality of subjects legal relations;

4) Freebilateralexpression of will subjects, the use of a contractual form of regulation;

5) Legal restoration sanctions;

6) Decentralization, since subjects can, by their own will, determine the conditions of their own behavior (for example, a marriage contract in family law, the terms of an author’s contract)

The problem of distinguishing between public and private law is controversial in legal science. This is explained by the fact that in various branches of law there is interpenetration and close cooperation of public and private principles.

Ticket number 7. The concept of the political system of society. Elements of the political system. The role of the state in the political system.

Ticket No. 8. The political system of the Russian Federation, formed on the basis of the Russian Constitution of 1993.

Ticket number 9. Concept and signs of law. Diversity of approaches to the concept and definition of law. Types of legal understanding.

Ticket number 10. The essence of law. Social purpose and functions of law

Ticket No. 11. Social value of law

Ticket number 12. The concept of the legal system, its main elements.

Ticket number 13. Basic legal systems of our time.

Ticket number 14. Social regulation and its types.

Ticket number 15. Legal regulation and legal impact. Mechanism of legal regulation.

Legal regulation mechanism

Ticket number 16. Types of social norms. (System of social norms. Classification of social norms).

Ticket number 17. The relationship between law and morality.

Ticket No. 18: The relationship between law and custom.

Ticket number 19. The relationship between law and corporate norms.

Ticket number 20. The relationship between law and technical standards

Ticket number 26. Law: concept and types. The principle of the rule of law.

Ticket number 27. Subordinate legal acts: concept and types.

Ticket number 28. Action of NPA in time.

Ticket number 29. The concept of a legal system. Private and public law.

Ticket number 30. Branch of law: concept and types. Grounds for dividing law into branches.

Ticket number 31. Substantive and procedural law, their relationship and interaction.

Ticket number 33. The relationship between the legal system and the legislative system.

Ticket number 34. Modern trends in the development of the legislative system.

Ticket number 37. The concept of legal relations. Classification of legal relations. Composition of the legal relationship.

Ticket number 38. Subjects of legal relations. Legal personality. Legal capacity, legal capacity, delictual capacity.

Ticket number 39. Contents of the legal relationship. Subjective right and legal obligation.

Ticket number 40. Objects of legal relations.

Ticket number 41. Legal facts, their types. Actual composition.

Ticket number 42. The concept of implementation of rights. Forms of implementation.

Ticket number 43. Lawful behavior, types of lawful actions.

Ticket number 44. The concept of legal procedure and legal process.

Ticket number 45. Application of legal norms.

Ticket number 46. Gaps in the law, ways to fill them.

Ticket number 47. Conflicts in law and principles for their resolution.

Ticket number 48. Concept and meaning of interpretation.

Ticket number 49. Concept and signs of an offense.

1) According to the degree of public danger:

2) By the nature of the guilt:

3) According to the generic object of the encroachment:

Ticket number 50. Causes of offenses, ways to overcome them

Ticket number 51. Ensuring legality in the activities of law enforcement agencies, promoting the legal policy of the state.

Ticket number 52. The concept of legal responsibility.

Ticket number 53. Ensuring legality in the activities of law enforcement agencies

Ticket number 54. Legal education and lawmaking. Legislative process. Stages of the legislative process

1. Legislative initiative

Ticket number 55. Subjects of lawmaking. Participation of citizens, public organizations and people in the law-making process. The right of legislative initiative.

Ticket number 56. Preparation of a bill for consideration and the procedure for making a decision.

Ticket number 57. Publication and entry into force of laws.

Ticket number 58. Problems of improving the legislative process in the Russian Federation.

Ticket number 59. The concept and forms of systematization of normative legal acts.

Ticket number 60. Clearing (revision) of legislation and incorporation as forms of systematization of legislation.

Ticket number 61. Codification as a form of systematization of legislation. Codified normative legal act, its structure.

Ticket number 62. Code of laws as the highest form of systematization

Ticket number 63. The Constitution of the Russian Federation as the basis for the development of Russian legislation, the entire legal system of the Russian Federation.

Ticket No. 64. Electronic legal databases as a means of recording and systematizing legislation, a way of informing citizens.

Ticket No. 66. Features of legal technology of normative legal acts and individual legal acts.

5. Methods of procedural design of legal practice. Ticket number 67. Legal status of the individual: concept and structure.

Ticket number 68. The emergence and development of the category “rights and freedoms of man and citizen.”

Ticket number 69. Constitutional rights, freedoms and duties of a citizen of Russia, their development in current legislation.

Ticket number 70. National (intrastate) mechanism for the protection of human rights.

Ticket number 71. International legal mechanism for the protection of human rights.

Ticket number 72. Human rights activities in civil society.

Ticket No. 73. The concept and characteristics of the rule of law. The emergence and historical development of the idea of ​​the rule of law.

Ticket number 74. The concept and characteristics of civil society. State and law in civil society.

Ticket No. 75. Problems of forming the rule of law and civil society in the conditions of modern Russia.

Ticket number 76. Concept and characteristics of a welfare state. Current problems of social policy in the Russian Federation.

Ticket number 77. Main features of the interaction of economics, state and law. State legal regulation and objective laws of economics.

Ticket No. 78. Forms and methods of state regulation of economic relations.

Ticket number 79. The place and role of the state and law in a modern market economy. The relationship between state regulation and economic self-regulation.

Ticket number 80. Concept and distinctive features of the information society.

Ticket No. 81. Problems of creating an information society in Russia: new opportunities, new threats.

Ticket No. 82. The right of citizens to information, its content, limits and forms of protection.

Ticket No. 83. The system of state bodies in the Russian Federation.

Ticket No. 84. Features of the implementation of the principle of separation of powers in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993

Ticket No. 85. Principles of organization and activity of the state apparatus.

Ticket No. 86. Civil service, status of a civil servant

Ticket No. 87. Criteria for the efficiency of the state apparatus and ways to improve it. The problem of fighting corruption and bureaucracy.

Ticket No. 88. Problems of development and improvement of the federal form of government in the Russian Federation

Ticket number 90. The concept and content of legality. Legality and justice. Legality and expediency

Ticket number 91. Principles and guarantees of legality.

Ticket number 92. The concept of law and order and ways to improve it.

Ticket number 93. Concept, types and structure of legal consciousness.

Ticket number 94. Legal culture: concept, forms and elements. The meaning of legal culture.

Ticket No. 95. Ways to improve legal culture in Russian society. Legal education and upbringing.

Ticket number 97. Interaction of international law and the national legal system. Generally recognized principles and norms of international law as an integral part of the legal system of the Russian Federation.

Ticket number 98. International cooperation of states in the field of economics, ecology, politics, science and culture, the fight against crime and terrorism.

Ticket No. 99. Concept and methodology of comparative legal research.

2.1 The theory of imperialism

2.2 Dependency theory

Ticket number 29. The concept of a legal system. Private and public law.

Legal system is a hierarchically organized set of interrelated and interacting branches of law, sub-sectors, legal institutions and norms, reflecting, on the one hand, the unity of legal norms, and on the other, their specialization.

The following principles underlie the construction of a legal system:

· The principle of the supremacy of human rights and freedoms;

· The principle of legality;

· The principle of competence;

· The principle of formality;

· The principle of accessibility;

· The principle of priority of international legal sources;

· The principle of prospective action of the norm;

And a number of others.

In this case, the main thing is the hierarchical organization of legal norms by legal force. Let us also note the principle of combining unity and specialization of legal norms.

Term "system of law" not identical to the term "legal system".Last category wider, since it includes the totality of all legal phenomena in society, and not just legal norms.

One should also distinguish legal system(division of legal norms into industries and institutions) Andlegislative system, i.e. division of normative legal acts into certain parts. This is the result of the purposeful activity of the legislator, the formation by him of the entire array of acts regulating social relations. The legal system serves as the basis for dividing legislation into branches and institutions, encourages the legislator to issue regulations, adhering, first of all, to the established division of law into branches and institutions. Branches of legislation, for example, are constitutional, civil, labor law, etc.

However, in the modern legal system there are also complex areas of legislation, which consist of norms of various branches of law (legislation on health care, education, transport, communications, forestry law, etc.). In recent years, new complex branches of legislation have been actively formed in the Russian Federation (tax, customs law, privatization legislation, etc.).

Legal system consists of five levels: norms, legal institutions, sub-branches of law, branches, and the legal system as a whole.

Rule of law- this is a generally binding, formally defined rule of a general nature formulated by the state and provided with state protection, acting as a model of lawful behavior. A norm is a primary element, a “brick” of a legal system from which a given legal system is built.

Law Institute- this is a set of legal norms regulating a group of interconnected, homogeneous social relations isolated within the industry. For example, inheritance law, property law, contracts, purchase and sale, legal entities - all these are legal institutions of the civil law branch. Criminal liability of minors, compulsory measures of a medical nature, the head of the special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - these are the legal institutions of the branch of criminal law. Sometimes a legal institution is split into sub-institutions. For example, in the institute of civil service, which belongs to the branch of administrative law, there are such sub-institutions as the concept and principles of civil service, public position, legal status of an employee, etc.

Sub-branch of law is a large legal institution striving to become an independent branch of law. In financial law, tax and budget law are experiencing serious centrifugal trends today, in constitutional law - electoral law, in civil law - business, copyright, and housing law. The very concept of “sub-branch” enshrines its peculiar duality: it is no longer an institution, but also not yet a branch of law.

Branch of law- is a separate set of legal norms that regulates a certain area of ​​social relations using a specific legal method. The industry is formed by various norms - definitions and norms-principles, general and special, regulatory and protective, prohibiting, obliging and permissive. Taken together, they constitute a self-sufficient, autonomous, relatively isolated normative complex.

As a rule, in each legal branch, general and special parts are conventionally distinguished. The general part establishes the definitions, principles, and legal foundations of industry regulation; the special part establishes specialized legal institutions.

Legal branches- this is the central link of the legal system, determining the development of current legislation. In this regard, the study of all legal sciences is generally of a sectoral nature. Traditionally, there are two criteria for dividing norms into branches - the subject and method of the branch of law.

Subject of branch of law- is a set of homogeneous social relations regulated by one or another group of norms. The branch of law unites norms regulating homogeneous social relations. The diversity of social relations determines the specialization of norms and their distribution among industries, sub-sectors, and legal institutions. The subject shows what area of ​​public relations this industry regulates. Thus, land law regulates relations in the field of land use and land protection, labor law - in the field of labor relations between employee and employer, etc.

Method of regulating the branch of law- is a set of techniques, methods, and means of legal influence on social relations. If the subject of an industry shows what the industry regulates, then the method shows how this regulation is carried out.

In addition to the subject and method in Romano-Germanic legal systems, an important branch feature is corresponding codification. The presence or absence of a codified act, as a rule, indicates the presence or absence of a branch of law. Although there are also non-codified areas - for example, environmental law, business law, information law, etc.

The legal system reflects the structure of actually existing social relations, which predetermine the legal system. It is significantly influenced by historical, religious, national-ethnic factors, and the way of life of the population.

Some branches of Russian law are complex in nature, combining the norms of various branches and institutions. As examples, we can cite such special sectors as economic, natural resources, trade, banking, maritime, and customs law.

Branches of law are divided into public and private, material and procedural.

Private and public.

Very relevant for the life of modern Russian society is the division of the legal system into branches of private law and public law. Even in ancient Rome, there was a distinction between private law (“jusprivatum”) and public law (“juspublicum”). This distinction is associated with the name of the ancient Roman lawyer Ulpian (170-228), who substantiated it for the first time. He expressed the opinion that public law is that which relates to the position of the Roman state, while private law relates to the benefit of individuals. That is subject of public law is the sphere public interests (the interests of society, the state as a whole), and subject of private law- sphere private affairs and interests.

The division of law into private and public was paid attention to by Montesquieu (“On the Spirit of Laws”), Hobbes, Hegel, and Russian jurists D. D. Grimm, K. D. Kavelin, N. M. Korkunov, D. I. Meyer, P. I Novgorodtsev, L. I. Petrazhitsky, G. F. Shershenevich.

In modern domestic legal literature to branches of public law include state, administrative, financial, criminal, branches of procedural law, branches of private law- civil, labor, family, as well as such complex sectors as trade, cooperative, entrepreneurial, banking, etc.

Soviet legal doctrine rejected the concept of private law as incompatible with the nature of the socialist system. In connection with the preparation of the first Soviet Civil Code, Lenin in 1922 expressed his position as follows: “We do not recognize anything “private”; for us, everything in the field of economics is public law, not private.” Initially, this position is due to the totalitarian nature of the socialist state, the nationalization of public and private life, the absence of private property and freedom of private entrepreneurship. Thus, it should be noted that Russia has accumulated experience in regulating the social sphere using public legal methods, which are characterized by legal centralization (vertical regulation from a single center - the state) and imperativeness, leaving no room for the discretion of subjects.

On the contrary, the sphere of private law presupposes decentralization of legal regulation (when legally significant decisions are made by participants in civil transactions independently) and discretion (freedom of choice of legal decisions).

Thus, the main meaning of the distinction between private and public law is to establish the limits of state intervention in the sphere of property and other interests of individuals and their associations. The state in this area should act only as an arbiter and a reliable defender of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in civil transactions.

Currently, a market economy is emerging in Russia, and private property is legally enshrined, and therefore great importance is attached to the development of private law. In December 1991, by order of the President of the Russian Federation, the Research Center for Private Law was created. A new Civil Code of the Russian Federation has been adopted, the content of which is permeated with the ideas of private law.

Despite the importance and principle of dividing law into private and public, the criteria for such division are ambiguous, and the boundaries are quite arbitrary and blurred. Russian civil expert Mikhail Mikhailovich Agarkov (1890-1947) noted that combinations of public law and private law elements, mixed public law and private law institutions, can arise. MM. Agarkov emphasized that public law is the area of ​​power and subordination, private (civil) law is the area of ​​freedom and private initiative. Sometimes the criterion for classifying relations as public law is participation in them as one of the parties to the state. However, both the state as a whole and its bodies can act as legal entities as participants in private law relations.

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