PRIMACY OF THE LAW AS A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE MODERN RULE OF LAW

Abstract

The scientific article reveals the content of the rule of law as a fundamental principle of the modern state. Scientific approaches to its interpretation are analyzed. The place of the principle of the rule of law among the principles of the rule of law is determined, in particular its connection with the principle of the reality of the rights and freedoms of citizens. The study emphasizes that Ukraine is in the process of comprehensive reform and renewal of the national legal system in order to approximate national legislation to European principles and standards of law. The irreversibility of the European course and the implementation of Ukraine’s strategic course for full membership in the European Union is enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine as one of the main priorities of state policy. Thus, in accordance with the first part of Article 8 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the principle of the rule of law is recognized and operates in Ukraine. The rule of law is the rule of law in society. The rule of law requires the state to implement it in law-making and law enforcement activities, in particular in laws, which in their content should be permeated primarily by the ideas of social justice, freedom, equality and so on. One of the manifestations of the rule of law is that law is not limited to legislation as one of its forms, but also includes other social regulators, including norms of morality, traditions, customs, etc., which are legitimized by society and determined by the historically achieved cultural level of society. All these elements of law are united by a quality that corresponds to the ideology of justice, the idea of law, which is largely reflected in the Constitution of Ukraine. Such an understanding of the law does not give grounds for its identification with the law, which can sometimes be unjust, including restricting the freedom and equality of the individual. Justice – one of the basic principles of law, is crucial in defining it as a regulator of social relations, one of the universal dimensions of law. Justice is usually seen as a property of law, expressed, in particular, in the equal legal scale of behavior and in the proportionality of legal responsibility for the offense.