Justice as a Part of the Idea of Law and its Place in the System of Legal Values

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the nature and essence of the concept of justice as an element of the idea of law, determining the trend of development of the category of justice in different periods of formation of legal thought and to the present. Emphasis is placed on the leading role of justice in the system of legal values. Methodology. The methodological basis of the work are philosophical and general scientific methods of scientific knowledge. The main methodological approach is axiological, because it allowed to reveal the meaning of justice as a legal value. A significant place is given to the phenomenological approach, which contributed to the consideration of justice both at the level of individual subjective experiences and at the level of law enforcement. Due to the historical approach, the peculiarities of the formation and development of the understanding of justice as an element of the idea of law are considered. The systems approach allowed us to explore justice as a holistic multifaceted phenomenon. Formal-logical and system-functional methods were used to analyze the conceptual foundations of justice in the context of legal relations. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is that the essence of justice as a product of cultural, historical, political, legal development of society and a catalyst for ensuring the rights and interests of the individual is defined. Today, it is quite common for the state to issue norms that violate the rights of individuals or are unfairly applied in the process of regulating public relations. Therefore, there is a need to study justice as the foundation of the entire system of moral and ethical values in the legal system and society as a whole. Conclusions. The analysis allows us to conclude that it is the order of coexistence of people on the basis of mutual recognition of rights and freedoms can be called fair or «justice». The law is based on the idea of justice and is a normatively enshrined justice. It is justice that is the basis of the idea of law, expresses its essence, and a special act of recognition determines both justice and the phenomenon of law in general. Justice is a special mechanism that maintains a balance of legal values, and at the same time is a determining factor in the dominance of their conflict.

Keywords: justice; the idea of law; legal values; public relations; constitutional state; rule of law.