Living conditions in society and special measures that the state takes to ensure a regime of lasting law and stability in the rule of law are guarantees of legality. They can be general and special. The latter are divided into legal and regulatory, and general guarantees of legality can be political, socio-economic, legal, ideological and international. This is what creates a favorable social environment.
The concept of legality
The basis of the normal course of life in a civilized society, the observance of the interests of citizens and their equality before the law, a clear separation of powers in their harmonious interaction is the rule of law. The concept and guarantees of legality are in the strict and complete implementation of all the requirements of law and legal acts that are based on them by all entities.
The main features are: the universal implementation of laws, since no one has the right to evade this, including the state; the triumph of law and legal norms. That is, legal guarantees of legality are clearly developed legislation and the absolute implementation of all its requirements. Attempts to circumvent in their activities any part of any law should inevitably be identified, and those responsible should be punished.
Basic principles
To justify the concept, principles and guarantees of legality, it is necessary to clarify the basic ideas that initially express its essence and content. This is the real power of the law, its supremacy, expediency and unity.
- The rule of law - its dominant role in the content of normative acts; citizens are equal before the law in rights and obligations; unconditional observance of all points of the law by all citizens without privileges. Legal law is obliged to express the common will of all citizens without exception.
- Unity (or universality). On the vast territory of Russia there are unified federal laws, and the subjects of the federation also have them, where local specifics are reflected. However, none of them should be contrary to federal laws.
- The expediency (or optimality) of laws, that is, their conformity to social needs. Law and expediency cannot be opposed.
- The reality (or actual execution) of all legal requirements, as well as the inevitability of liability in case of non-fulfillment.
Guarantees
In addition to the above principles, it is necessary to mention the guarantees of legality mentioned throughout the educational and monographic literature, such as its connection with the general culture, public control over the observance of laws, and an effective fight against violations. Citizens have their rights without infringing on the rights of others. The requirements of legality and the guarantee of legality are closely interconnected, moreover, one follows from the other.
Requirements
Requirements are the general form of legal requirements. In line with compliance, their act, behavior or phenomenon becomes legal, that is, this is the direction of the law. Each principle is intimately connected with this orientation, since it is easily deployed into a certain set of requirements. For example, the rule of law has this focus: laws should be consistent with the Constitution; regulations should come from them; laws should be updated in a timely manner and comply with international acts; only authorized bodies have the right to issue normative acts, and many more of such requirements leading to the subsequent specifics of legal requirements.
Law Enforcement
The state must have an extensive law enforcement system. Material (socio-economic) guarantees establish relations between the consumer and the producer of material values. Political are a combination of heterogeneous elements of the existing political system. There must be democracy in the social and constitutional order, where citizens participate in government.
Legal guarantees of legality should suppress violations of law and order, provide legal protection for citizens and ensure the inevitability of punishment for crimes of the law. The ideological (moral) guarantees - a high level of spirituality and culture of citizens, their legal consciousness. Morally and psychologically, such a society is calm, the situation in it is favorable. International guarantees of legality - a reaction to events in the country by the UN organization, the right to appeal to international court the activities of human rights defenders.
Violation Examples
Examples of violations of the law include the following:
- supreme bodies of state power commit a direct violation of the Constitution (the shooting of the "White House" in 1993);
- state bodies and officials do not comply with laws and regulations (modernity provides a huge number of specific examples);
- human rights and freedoms are not respected;
- state bodies adopt unconstitutional laws that do not comply with by-laws and activities based on them;
- the right is applied incorrectly;
- officials, in the performance of official duties, commit crimes.
Violations of the law are not cases of legal order, such as: criminal and administrative offenses committed by ordinary citizens, and not officials; insignificant departures of a non-systematic nature from the code of laws that officials and state bodies commit if freedom and human rights are not affected and regulated legal relations are not violated.
Conditions for the rule of law
- Economic conditions: reverent attitude to property; the monetary system is stable; financial institutions operate stably in a developed system; the tax system is effective; high level production; distribution system is fair. The absence of any of these conditions reduces the guarantee of legality in a given society.
- Political conditions relate to the characterization of the quality state and activities of the state: power is strong and legitimate, supported by society, divided into three branches - legislative, executive and judicial; power and state bodies are constitutional; political democratic regime. Guarantees of legality cannot be respected under conditions of illegitimate power or an anti-democratic political regime.
- Ideological conditions: pluralism, a high level of morality with the freedom of thought, word and spiritual development, justice.
- Social conditions - the availability of the cost of living, material security of citizens by the state, assistance to the unemployed, employment, developed social services, support for students, children, mothers, pensioners and other categories of citizens in need of assistance.
General conditions of law and means of support
As mentioned above, the concept of legality, the guarantee of legality, the concept of law and order include primarily the legal culture of society, a high level of legal awareness of both officials and ordinary citizens. A huge role is played by legal education. Legal science must be progressive and adequate, legislation and the entire legal system are close to perfection.
Special organizational means of ensuring the rule of law include the practice of law enforcement agencies (police, court, prosecutor's office) and the level of their working organization. The main guarantees of legality are legal, having special means of ensuring: prevention, detection and suppression of offenses, protection and restoration of violated rights, control and supervision of compliance with the law, procedural guarantees, legal liability, justice.
Law Enforcement Examples
Prevention of offenses is mostly prevention: dissemination of legal knowledge as widely as possible, legal education, promotion of a law-abiding lifestyle. They will also need specific measures to prevent them: checking documents, luggage screening, operational actions - monitoring suspects, listening to negotiations, and so on.
The identification of offenses is due to law enforcement agencies, whose activity is aimed at detecting them, establishing the subjects and the objective side (participants and acts), then bringing to legal liability: from recognizance not to leave until detention, arrest or more effective decisions. Remedial measures are liquidation of consequences and restoration of damage after an offense.
The history of the concept of legality
The requirement of state authorities to comply with certain rules relating to the whole society has led to the rule of law. For many centuries since ancient times, the class coming to power created a new law and developed new legislation. Then the ruling class sought compliance and enforcement.
Roman lawyers regarded law as a counterweight to the arbitrariness of the authorities and lawlessness. And since then, people have been joking: the law is harsh, but not for everyone it is written. It turned out that it was established and served as a means of exercising the political domination of the exploiting class over the enslaved.
Currently
As mentioned above, the main signs of legality are characterized by the principles of behavior of officials and government agencies. Equal conditions must be provided for all citizens to solve legal problems. However, equality has never happened anywhere.
Even now, some amendments can be adopted in isolation from the Constitution and federal laws, and law enforcement agencies that now apply these laws are often violated by law enforcement agencies. The bureaucratic apparatus is constantly committing offenses against the people, and a real fight against this phenomenon by society is practically impossible.
