The place of legal obligations in the system of social obligations

Abstract

The emergence and gradual development of human society, as well as the need to regulate relations between individuals within such a society, lead to the emergence of the first elementary rules of behavior. Undoubtedly, such rules arise spontaneously in the process of living together, have an oral form of expression and are supported by early traditions and customs. Gradually, the dynamic development of society causes complications and branching of ties between its members, giving impetus to the appearance of more regulated and established rules of behavior, namely, a system of social norms. The system of social norms is created and developed throughout the history of mankind, adapting to the emergence of new needs and interests of society. That is why this system is characterized by objectivity, as it expresses the laws of the development of society, its specificity, fixing stable and repeated social connections. At the same time, it is worth taking into account the subjective factor in the formation of social norms, since they cannot arise without the participation of public consciousness. The subjective nature of social norms is determined by the possibility of individuals and social groups to realize the needs of society in establishing value guidelines for behavior and to establish them in various rules or prescriptions, having formed a certain level of legal consciousness that would correspond to the level of development of society. So, on the one hand, social norms are created by people and have a conscious-volitional character, and on the other hand, they are determined by the action of objective laws that do not depend on a person. Thus, social norms can be defined as rules of behavior of a general nature existing in society, determined by objective laws, which express the will of a certain part of the population or the entire society and are provided by various means of social influence. At the nascent stage of the system of social norms, most of it consisted of social obligations and sanctions for their non-compliance, which were determined by the system of society at that time. Social duties arise together with the appearance in human society of the germs of morality and a person's awareness of his responsibility to his family and tribe. Accordingly, with the development of humanity and the diversification of social interactions, the institution of duty was modified, acquiring new features and giving impetus to the emergence of moral, religious, and later legal duties. A legal obligation arises and develops in a close relationship with other types of social obligations, in particular - moral, religious, corporate, so we consider it expedient to compare and compare them.