Principles of law in the continental legal family (problematic aspects of determining the essence and classification)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the essence of the principles of law in the countries of the continental (Romano-Germanic) legal family from the standpoint of various scientific approaches, as well as the classification of the principles of law. The sources that form the basis of the study are the normative legal acts of the states that are part of the Romano-Germanic legal family. The article proposes a positivist classification of the principles of law, the criterion of which is the source of fixing the principle. This classification has not only theoretical but also practical significance, as it allows determining the place of each principle in the system of principles of the branch of law and its role in the system of legal regulation. It allows identifying the nature, advantages, and disadvantages of ways to consolidate principles in the texts of regulatory legal acts, unifying and optimizing these methods.