In each country there is a certain hierarchy of regulatory legal acts, in other words, a strict system according to which documents and laws occupy a certain place in the legal "ladder".
In the Russian Federation, some documents have the highest legal force, however, not every citizen knows the list of these documents, their functions, rules of compilation. Legal force of a document is a set of properties and features of a document that are established by the current legislation.
Of course, everyone knows that the Constitution of the Russian Federation is a law that has the highest legal force. But, in addition to the basic law, there are by-laws and other laws.
In the article, we consider which documents have the highest legal force and their various types.
Legal power
Legal power is a necessary property of each published normative act and its advantage over other documents, or, on the contrary, subordination to certain documents.
Legislative legal force consists of various provisions of the bodies that issued it. Legal force is presented as a measure of the sorting of regulatory legal acts, their division into two types:
- laws with the highest legal power;
- regulations.
Each state has its own subordination of legal documents. At the bottom level of this classification is the regulatory legal framework, which is published by local self-government in the person of authorized bodies, and local government bodies can also take part in the publication.
At the top level of this classification are normative legal acts produced by the supreme authority. Such documents have the highest legal force before other by-laws and documents. They must be published in accordance with state laws, and in no case be opposed to such.
Supreme legal power
The highest legal power of the law lies in the fact that all kinds of normative acts (government decrees, decrees of the President, orders of ministries) are made on the basis of and for the implementation of the norms of the law, and cannot be opposed to it.
The supreme legal force of the Constitutional norms is the legal qualities peculiar only to the Constitution and distinguishing it from other normative state acts.
Distinction of the Constitution
- Constitutional norms and rules always stand higher than the provisions of any laws or legal acts of the executive ruling branch.
- Laws and by-laws that are the bearers of higher legal force can be adopted only by those bodies that are provided for by constitutional norms.
- The sequence of actions in the adoption of laws, as well as by-laws, is established by the Constitution and cannot contradict it.
- If the law is opposed to the Constitution, then it is either repealed or amended in such a way as to comply with it.
Legal force of acts
According to the legal authority, normative acts are divided into the following components: laws of the Russian Federation, agreements, international treaties, by-laws.
The Constitution approved by public vote has the largest legal weight in the Russian Federation. This is not just a law, but also the legal basis of the state. Any laws or by-laws characterized by a higher legal force, agreements should in no case be opposed to the Constitution.
Laws characterized by the highest legal power in the Russian state are adopted as:
- laws amending the current Constitution;
- federal constitutional laws;
- federal laws;
- federal codes.
Regulations
They are characterized as regulatory legal acts based on laws and act in compliance with laws. They can determine the rules of the law and establish fresh regulations and rules.
By-laws provide for the implementation of legislative norms. Legislative norms are divided into some types depending on the competence of the body that the by-law issues.
The main role in the complex of by-laws is played by the acts of the President. They are published in the format of decrees and orders and cannot be opposed to constitutional norms and laws that have the highest legal power. In addition to the Constitution, by-laws also have the highest legal force in the Russian Federation.
Government acts are adopted as decrees and orders, which should not be opposed to decisions of the President, as well as the Constitution of the Russian Federation and laws of the Russian Federation. With respect to acts of federal bodies, government acts are of great weight. Normative governmental legal acts are usually adopted in the form of decrees.
Acts of federal bodies or departmental acts are adopted on the basis and pursuant to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, decrees of the President, laws of the Russian Federation and resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation. By-laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have their own classification; they are distributed to all objects and subjects of law that are located on the land of the corresponding constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
Constitution of the Russian Federation
The Constitution has the highest legal force in the Russian Federation and, as a basic law, regulates the most important social and social relations. The constitution is long-term.
The Constitution of the Russian Federation consists of three important parts: the introductory part or the preamble, two basic sections. This document contains 137 articles, which are grouped into chapters.
The first part consists of nine chapters, which deal with the general characteristics of the constitutional organization of government in the Russian Federation, the federal structure of the state, freedoms and human and civil rights, public authorities, municipal authorities, as well as the procedure for reforms and amendments in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The second part of this document contains transitional and final provisions on the termination of the old constitution, on the entry into force of the new and others.
An important property of the Constitution is its supremacy over state legislative acts. It is this property that determines all other legal components of the basic law of the Russian Federation. Article 15 states:
The Constitution of the Russian Federation has the highest legal force, direct effect and applies throughout the territory of the Russian Federation. Laws and other legal acts adopted in the Russian Federation shall not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Thus, the Constitution of the Russian Federation contains all the basic principles of various legislative norms and acts of all branches of law. The text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation includes a reference to 14 federal laws, as well as to federal laws, the number of which exceeds 40. All of the above properties attribute the Constitution the highest legal force, which is enshrined in article 15.
In the event of a conflict between the provisions of the Constitution and normative acts, the constitutional norm works, and an act that contradicts it is subject to amendment or repeal. Article 85 gives the right to the President of the Russian Federation to stop the functioning of acts of the executive bodies of subjects if they are opposed to the Constitution of the Russian Federation until this problem is resolved by the relevant court.
Constitution functions
- Constituent.This function is understood as fixing social norms and relations that already exist in the state, as well as the formation of new legal norms for subsequent new social relations. The function of the institution acts both in relation to the entire political complex, and in relation to a specific institution of law.
- Organizational. The Constitution not only consolidates the achieved provisions and norms, but also affects the social and political activity of the state and its citizens. As the most important legislative base, the Constitution improves and strengthens the productive work of legislative bodies.
- Foreign policy. This document works not only on the domestic activities of the country, but also is an important agent in the country's foreign policy mechanisms. The Constitution establishes the rights and obligations regarding international treaties and relations.
- Ideological. The Constitution is not just a binding document, but also the ideology of an individual state, the way of thinking of its population, the Government and the President. The main property of this function is not the imposition of certain rules and regulations on people, but the ability to freely choose and approve laws by voting.
- Legal The Constitution is the basis for the legal complex of the Russian Federation, it is it that acts as a regulator of social and social relations between citizens, between the population and the state. The Constitution also provides an incentive for the development, transformation and adoption of new norms, laws, codes and rules.
Legal force of law
The federal law on the process of publishing constitutional laws suggests that only officially published federal constitutional laws are used in the Russian Federation. The same rule applies to federal laws, as well as acts adopted by the chamber of the Federal Assembly. Which law has the highest legal force is also determined by this federal law.
The date of approval of the law of the Federal Assembly is considered the day of its actual adoption by the State Duma in the latest version. The date of approval of the federal constitutional law shall be the day when the chambers of the Federal Assembly adopt it in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. These laws are officially published within seven calendar days from the moment the President of the Russian Federation puts his signature on them.
Parliamentary Newspaper is the official publication of the Federal Assembly. In the "Parliamentary newspaper" published without fail: federal constitutional laws and federal laws. It is also mandatory to publish in the “Parliamentary Gazette” acts that require decisions of the Federal Chamber, which adopted these acts on their mandatory publication.
Federal laws and acts of the chambers of the Federal Assembly are published in other printed publications, as well as made public by television and radio broadcasting, and distributed to state bodies, necessary officials, institutions and organizations.
These norms begin to apply at a time in the Russian Federation ten days after the day of their official placement, unless the laws themselves provide for a different procedure for introducing them into legal activity.
"Meeting of the legislation of the Russian Federation" is also an official periodical in which the adopted norms and laws are placed.
Legal force of regulations
Normative legal acts that have the highest legal force are subject to certain peculiarities due to the federal structure of the state. If some issues are in the priority jurisdiction (territorial structure of the state, martial law, peace, defense problems, security specifics, legislation in the field of criminal procedure, as well as criminal enforcement standards),then the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation have full legal power. Such documents on these issues cannot be created in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The system of normative acts characterized by the highest legal force makes up a hierarchical structure in which each of the components occupies a specific place.
This structure consists of:
- decisions of the President;
- federal laws;
- government regulations;
- regulatory legal acts of ministries.
If, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issue is in the general jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its subjects (for example, it may be issues of nature management, ownership and disposal of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources; labor, administrative, administrative-procedural, family, land, housing, water , forestry legislation, etc.), then federal regulatory acts, as well as regional ones, can be created on this issue. In this case, federal acts will be higher than regional ones.
In a situation where any problem or issue is not included in the joint jurisdiction of the state and its territorial entities, regulatory legal acts issued in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation are in priority over federal regulatory legal acts. A separate structural element of the complex of regulatory legal acts can be characterized by a clear hierarchy of its components. It consists in the fact that normative acts have an exact place in the structural system and cannot include norms that contradict acts that are higher. Each normative act is a legal basis for normative acts, which are arranged in a hierarchical structure after it. The Constitution of the Russian Federation unites all hierarchical ranks, it also establishes the objects of jurisdiction of the Federation and territorial subjects of the Russian Federation and methods for resolving conflicts between regulatory acts.
For these purposes, the following measures are provided:
- the development and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, such a court is authorized to annul the anti-constitutional act;
- empowering the President of the Russian Federation to cancel government decisions, as well as the right to stop the activities of acts of executive bodies if they are opposed to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws;
- the possibility of canceling regulatory legal acts of executive bodies through judicial instruments of influence.
Legal force of legal acts
There is a certain dependence of the format of the act on its normative content.
Normative legal acts having the highest legal force are issued in the following forms: laws, decrees, orders, decrees, rules, orders, instructions and regulations. The process of developing normative legal acts of federal executive bodies is controlled by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
Non-normative legal acts are issued in various forms and variations. However, it is necessary to concentrate interest on some points: in a certain order, if legal acts are adopted in the form of laws, instructions, rules or regulations, then these documents are considered normative. Despite this, deviations from this rule arise. Thus, non-normative acts were created in a format that is classically inherent only in normative acts, namely, nine laws were issued that regulate the material support and medical service of some families of the deceased RF deputies. These laws are individual legal acts and are not normative in nature, as they are personalized. Legal theory negatively refers to the practice of issuing such acts in the format of laws.
Legal power of organs
Of particular legal importance are acts of the judiciary, the legal framework of which is not fully understood.The current legislation of the Russian Federation gives the right to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Courts, on the basis of a generalization of judicial practice, to provide explanations for subordinate courts in the hierarchy. These clarifications are binding and directly affect judicial practice. If this rule is not observed, a judicial act having the highest legal force may be canceled. If it was rendered without regard to the provisions contained in the explanations. They strongly influence the improvement of the quality of the entire legislative system, and are also taken into account by law-forming bodies in the development of the legislative base of the state.
Conclusion
Thus, we conclude that the Constitution has the highest legal force. Submission to the norms described in the Constitution is mandatory for every citizen and guest of the state.
This document guarantees the rights and freedoms of citizens, not a single adopted law in the Russian Federation can be opposed to the Basic Law - the Constitution. The current Constitution was adopted in 1993 and is valid to the present. It is a normative act having the highest legal force.