Questioning the Issue of Interpretation Priority

Abstract

The central contentual characteristic of the legal principle is that it is a value measure directing the definition (creation) of legal rules as to their contents, the understanding of the rules, and the manner of their application. In relation to legal rules, the fundamental difference between the two categories is that the principles are operationalised and applied via legal rules. Legal principles live through the rules, which are the reasons for decisions in concrete cases. A new case can be resolved by a new operationalisation of legal principles or by analogous application of precedents if in their essential elements the new cases correspond to cases that have already been decided. The task of legal argumentation is to give the ground and the direction where one must go. If such direction is not available, one gets lost in the woods.