Typologization of legal families: rethinking classification criteria and species composition

Abstract

The scientific article is devoted to rethinking the criteria for typologization of legal families and their species composition in the modern world.
 Based on the analysis, it is concluded that when unifying different approaches to the classification criteria for dividing legal systems into legal families, it is important to compare all the main elements of legal reality, since even the commonality of the main form of law (if there are differences in the applied legal ideology or the specifics of the implementation of law) will not become the basis for assigning certain legal systems to the same legal family. That is, the universality of the construction of the legal system type (legal family) consists in the plane verification of common features of the legal ideology, system of law and legal practice of various legal systems. Although it is quite obvious that there can not be absolutely identical features in the social phenomena of different social systems (meaning, different states), but a relative meaningful and formal community is nevertheless present. And it is precisely this relative commonality of all the basic elements of the legal system classical triad that makes it possible to speak about the assignment of two or more national legal systems to the same legal family (type of legal system). This approach will avoid fragmentation in the identification of classification criteria of the legal family.
 Attention is drawn to the fact that due to the processes of legal convergence, the boundaries of even relatively well-established legal systems are "blurred". Thus, in a Romano-Germanic family, discussions about the application of legal precedent begin at the doctrinal (and sometimes practical) level. And in the countries of Anglo-Saxon law, the role of legislation is growing. Also, more and more national legal systems are gradually moving to the category of convergent (mixed) systems, sometimes revealing completely unexpected combinations of features (for example, the socialist and religious or traditional legal system). Moreover, even the systems of so-called post-Soviet law, which include the legal system of Ukraine, are nothing more than an expression of the convergence of the Romano-Germanic legal family and the family of socialist law.