Legal security and legal certainty of the individual: constitutional and legal aspect

Abstract

In this article doctrinal approaches to the concept of legal safety are analyzed. In domestic jurisprudence legal safety, as a rule, is considered, first, as safety is right (a legal system, positive law) and, secondly, as legal security (security the right) from the most various threats. Meanwhile, in the first case the subject approach to a problem is almost completely ignored, and legal safety is presented in the form of set of certain requirements to quality of the law. In the second - the concept of legal safety excessively extends as practically all spheres of public life are to a degree covered by legal regulation. From this point of view the subnotion of legal safety gets, for example, ensuring labor protection or criminal protection of interests of society and the person. At the same time both approaches don’t consider “a human factor”: the person in this case is considered only as subject to protection. In this regard legal safety is considered as “part” or “component” of national security. At the same time, there is also an alternative point of view which was developed mainly in the foreign doctrine. According to her legal safety is considered as security of the personality from legal risks. From this point of view legal safety assumes lack of retroactive effect of the law, maintenance of legitimate trust, etc. In this sense legal safety approaches a concept of legal definiteness. On the basis of the analysis of the scientific points of view and legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation the authors come to a conclusion that legal safety represents the requirement of the actual or material legal definiteness. The fundamental principle of such material definiteness - maintenance of trust to the law and actions of public authorities that assumes not only formal aspect of lack of retroactive effect of the law, but also verification of the positive legislation of the rights which are rather affirmed by the constitution and freedoms of the person and citizen.