Everyone knows what the law is, but not all people have heard about the concept of a “normative legal act”. The rule of law and the structure of the law are closely related to this concept. It is not necessary to be a lawyer to be well versed in the state system. Our article will describe in detail about the structure and types of legal acts.
The concept of a legal act
A normative act is an official document adopted by an authorized state body or official. Adoption takes place by referendum, vote, discussion or any other procedure established by law. A normative act, as you might guess, contains norms - generally binding rules of conduct. They have an imperative (compulsory) character, designed for repeated use among an indefinite number of people. The structure and types of normative legal acts are determined in the order of law-making - a special procedure applied by strictly defined entities.
The normative act is characteristic of countries with a Romano-German legal system. This is the dominant, basic source of law. In Russia, it has several basic forms, although the structure of a legal act is unchanged.
Features of the act
The document under consideration is official. It contains legal norms that govern public relations. What features does a regulatory legal act have?
The structure of a regulatory document most often consists of three parts: a preamble, a main part and a conclusion. This is not a mandatory rule, although it is a frequent feature of the document in question. The second feature of a regulatory act is its official nature. The document contains special details, such as name, date of adoption, number and place of registration.
All normative acts are created by state legislative bodies in the process of lawmaking. This is the third feature of the documents under consideration. Finally, all acts are executed by the coercive power of the state. Their provisions are imperative, that is, generally binding.
The structure of the legal act
As already mentioned, all regulatory documents have approximately the same structure, consisting of three parts. At the same time, no Russian law gives clear guidelines on how a legal act should look like.
Nevertheless, absolutely in every regulatory document contains norms - rules of conduct. All of them are arranged in a certain order - by sections, chapters, sub-chapters, paragraphs, etc. An article in the law is the basic unit of a normative act. Moreover, one norm does not always coincide with one article. Often an article is a collection of rules relating to one narrow topic. This can be seen in the basic Russian law, the Constitution. For example, article 1 contains a description of the name of the country, as well as general provisions on the legal status of the state.
Constitution and FKZ
The largest and most famous form of regulatory act is the law. This is a document adopted by the Russian legislature in a strictly defined order. The supreme legal force is the Constitution - the main law of the country. It is the Constitution that determines the political system, freedoms and rights of people, civic duties and the foundations of politics.
The constitution is formed on the basis of the provisions of federal constitutional laws.Moreover, the main state law is a normative act, the structure of which consists of a number of federal laws of a constitutional type. Eight FKZ regulate the provisions recorded in the chapters of the main legal act. A number of laws regulate issues of the national flag, anthem and coat of arms.
Federal Laws and Codes
The third most important group of laws is called federal. We are talking about special legal acts regulating the foundations of social, economic, political, spiritual, family and other policies. Federal laws are large regulatory collections. Their main feature is the mandatory execution for all citizens of Russia without exception.
The group of federal laws contains a number of codes. These are large regulatory acts of the Russian Federation, the structure of which has a slightly more extensive form than that of federal laws. Moreover, the codes relate to large public sectors, not phenomena. For example, the Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" regulates one specific phenomenon - the relationship between sellers and buyers. The Civil Code, in turn, contains provisions on property and non-property relations between citizens and legal entities.
At present, there are not many codes in Russia. Among the most famous are the criminal, civil, family, administrative, labor, tax, urban, water and other codes.
Regulations
So, the Constitution and federal constitutional acts, as well as codes belong to the group of laws. The second most important industry in the system of legal acts is a group of by-laws. The main difference between a by-law (PA) and a law is less legal force. PAs are based on law. The main requirement for them is the absence of contradictions in relation to higher normative acts.
There are four groups of user agents: general, local, departmental, and corporate (local). The group of general acts includes decrees and orders of the head of state, government decrees, as well as decrees of the Supreme Court. It should be noted that not all acts of the Supreme Court are included in the legal system. In most cases, the court issues precedents that do not belong to the group of normative acts. However, orders, amendments to laws and explanations may well act as such. Why are there no representative bodies? All of them are engaged in the production of laws, and therefore cannot stand on a par with the Government and the President.
The second group of PA is local. Here it is necessary to highlight regional regulations, decisions of municipalities, decrees of the city hall and much more. A feature of local PA is distribution within only one region.
The third, departmental group of PA concerns some government ministries and departments. For example, the Ministry of Finance may issue a regulation only within its competence.
Internal organizational (local) acts are adopted by specific organizations and enterprises. They may relate to the schedule and time, dismissal and reduction, the establishment of holidays, etc. All local acts must comply with the laws, in particular, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
The difference between regulations and laws
Having understood the structure and content of legal acts, it is now necessary to identify differences between their main types. For the Romano-German legal system, the division into PA and laws is the most common classification. The first difference is the main, and therefore the most obvious. It concerns the difference in legal powers. So, laws can be issued only by representative authorities. PA are formed by executive bodies and the president.All branches of power are equal, but why are both categories of normative acts not equal in strength? Everything is simple here: lawmaking is the main competence of representative authorities. Executive bodies are only able to supplement acts adopted by "neighboring" bodies.
The second difference between PA and laws is the adoption procedure. Representative power has a complex and multi-level system of legislation. Executive bodies adopt acts much faster.
Judicial system
The structure of normative legal acts, although it does not depend on any particular model, nevertheless, must comply with the principles of paperwork, and also contain chapters, articles, title, etc. The decision on this can be made by the Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the Russian Federation), and it will be binding. It turns out that the judicial act has legal force. But will it be the source of law? After all, as already mentioned, in the Roman-German system of countries, judicial acts are not included in the legal system. The question, it should be noted, is quite controversial.
In the classical sense, judicial acts are not really sources of law. However, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation can clarify a particular act and thereby slightly “correct” it. The same goes for the Constitutional Court. By identifying inaccuracies, gaps, conflicts and other problems, the courts clarify and concretize legal norms, but do not create anything new.
Lawmaking
The concepts, types and structure of legal acts are significantly different from each other. It all depends on the form and content of the documents. Moreover, different acts are adopted differently. So, laws are formed through the legislative procedure. An initiative appears in the State Duma that is being put up for discussion. 
Three reading procedures take place, on each of which problem areas of the bill are identified. If all readings are completed successfully, the future law is sent to the Federation Council. It also examines the structure of a legal act. Articles are subject to change or liquidation. Further, the law is checked in the Constitutional Court, and then signed by the head of state - the president.
International acts
According to article 15 of the Russian Constitution, normative acts of an international nature are recognized as sources of law. Moreover, they are priority, that is, they have greater legal force than national laws and regulations.
International acts may take the form of conventions, treaties, notes, etc. Such documents may regulate relations arising from tangible and intangible goods, as well as foreign policy issues.