Financial Law in the System of Public and Private Law

Abstract

The article is devoted to the place of financial law in the system of public and private law. The author thoroughly examines the question concerning dividing the system of law into legal sectors of public and private law, as well as the objective nature of such a division. Meanwhile the author highlights different approaches: division of private and public law on the basis of substantive and formal criteria. The author scrutinizes an interest as the material basis of dividing law into public and private. Public law is seen as a set of rules designed to protect values aimed at protecting values associated with the mere existence of the State, and private law is seen as a block of legal norms ensuring the ongoing vitality of the citizen. Along with this, the article contains criticism of dividing law into public and private based on the definition of a public interest as public interests recognized by the state and expressed in the regulatory rules and enforced by the state; division of law into public and private based on the primary role of the State in protection of the interests of an individual, which makes law private. The article substantiates the fallacy of the conclusions. The author notes the inadequacy of the material criterion used to divide law into public and private. The paper analyses the formal criteria of dividing law into public and private depending on the way the right is protected, by way of regulating relations. The author draws a conclusion with regard to the need to apply both substantive and formal criteria to divide law into public and private. In the light of identified criteria, financial law is referred to branches of public law. The article notes the impossibility of making an extremely strict classification of legal material into public and private law, the process of convergence of these two legal categories. The author raises a problem of providing a balance between the public interest of the State and private interests while organizing financial and legal regulation. The author stresses that detailed regulation of the rights and obligations of natural and legal entities in the sphere of public finance activities will contribute to balancing public and private interests in financial law. In the end, the author concludes that public grounds dominate in financial and legal regulation, as well as individual elements of private regulation still can be found.