Individual and Authorities: Principle of Sustaining Citizens’ Trust to the Law and Actions of the State

Abstract

The paper analyzes the principle of sustaining citizen’s trust to the law and actions of the state in the system of individual / authorities relations. This principle is introduced into the Russian legal system by rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation possessing the legal force of the Russian Constitution. However, the Supreme Law itself does not feature this property in the text. It is accordingly required – which is the purpose of this paper – to study this principle’s notion, content, nature, character, scope and place in the system of other legal principles, including those established in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, some of which are referenced by the Court in its rulings to justify the identification of the analyzed principle. To solve the above tasks, methods of interpreting official legal texts were applied (systemic, special legal and logical methods), as well as the anthropological approach. It is established that the researched principle is a general legal (universal) principle that stands on its own in the system of principles and is associated with the need for the whole state’s activity to comply with the established value, moral and ideological beliefs, generally accepted social conventions, etc., i.e. society’s legitimate expectations, which defines its scope and applicability. The recognition and respect of human dignity is central in society’s legitimate expectations from the state as it implements its activities. The latter requirement is fundamental for this principle and the public trust to state’s activities that is shaped during its realization; at the same time, such requirement is a criterion of how aligned state’s actions are with the society’s legitimate expectations. The novelty of this approach rests on identifying closely interconnected grounds, features, content and scope of the researched principle.