Legal procedure of official interpretation of legal texts

Abstract

The scientific article is devoted to the substantiation of the procedural nature of the official interpretation of legal texts. The author emphasizes that it is on the official interpretation that legally significant decisions are based, which establish the specific rights and obligations of the subjects. However, today there are no systematized methodological recommendations, requirements, officially established legal procedure and principles of interpretive activity, which could determine common standards of official interpretation. The procedure of interpretation consists in the sequence of actions of the authorized subjects within separate stages.The article formulates the author’s definition of legal interpretation procedure as a system of successive legally significant actions of authorized entities, which are aimed at clarifying, constructing and explaining to other legal entities the meaning and scope of legal norms formulated in legal texts. Taking into account the latest methodological approaches to interpretation and the requirements of the rule of law,the author reveals the content of legal interpretation, which consists of separate stages, which in turn include a number of successive procedures. In particular, the stage of clarifying the content of the legal text involves the following procedures: initial study of the legal text and the form of its consolidation in the provisions of the legal act, comprehensive analysis of the legal text, analysis of the received interpretation in terms of justice, human rights, rule of law, design normative rule. The explanation, according to the author, includes the following procedures: preparation of a draft interpretative act, namely a legal document that contains an explanation of the content and application of the legal norm, formulated by the authorized body within its competence; adoption of a legal interpretation act, making it universally binding for all those who apply the clarified rules of law; promulgation of an interpretative act, namely, bringing its content to the attention of society or law enforcement agencies; control over the use of the act of interpretation of the law by the subjects of its application; generalization of legal interpretative acts in order to systematize them. Given the importance of official interpretation of legal texts, the feasibility of determining at least the general principles of legal interpretation at the regulatory level is considered. Keywords: interpretation of law, official interpretation, legal procedure, legal interpretation activity.