Fundamental Legal Concepts: Objective Law and Legal Norms
Introduction to Law Concepts
Etymology and Definition
The term ‘Law’ (or ‘Right’) relates to the Latin words directum (meaning straight or direct) and dirigere (meaning to direct or set straight).
Law is defined as a set of norms, rules, precepts, or mandatory legal principles created to regulate the conduct of citizens within a legally organized society.
Key aspects include:
- Imperative: Law imposes obligations, orders, and commands.
- Attributive: Law assigns rights and privileges to individuals.
Main Meanings of ‘Law’
The word ‘Law’ is an analogous term with several distinct meanings:
- Objective Law / Positive Law: The entire body of enacted legal rules that constitute the current legal system. All components making up the law are considered positive law.
- Subjective Law: The power or faculty granted to an individual (the subject) by a legal norm to act, demand something, refrain from acting, or possess something.
- Law as a Science: Law is considered a social science because it is a product of human activity and studies societal structures and behavior related to legal rules.
- Law as a Moral or Ethical Ideal of Justice: Justice represents a core ethical ideal within the law. Achieving justice requires prioritizing it above personal interests.
Purpose of Law
The primary purposes of law include:
- The Common Good
- Legal Security
- Justice
Characteristics of Legal Norms
Legal norms generally possess the following characteristics:
- Mandatory / Obligatory: Compliance is required, irrespective of the individual’s will.
- Bilateral / Reciprocal: They regulate interactions involving reciprocity between subjects (e.g., rights and duties).
- Permanent / Stable: They imply a degree of permanence and are intended to be enforced over time.
- Autarchic / Autonomous: The legal system possesses mechanisms for its own enforcement.
Objective Law Explained
Definition and Subjects
Objective Law (from Latin: obiectum) refers to the set of legal rules comprising the current legal system.
Within a legal relationship defined by objective law:
- Active Subject: The individual or entity granted the right to demand something under the norm.
- Passive Subject (Debtor): The individual or entity obligated to comply with the norm’s requirements.
Characteristics of Objective Law
Objective law is characterized by:
- Bilaterality: It always involves at least two subjects (active and passive) as defined by the legal rule.
- Heteronomy: Legal norms are typically created by an external authority (e.g., a legislator), not by the individuals to whom they apply.
- Imperativity: The law imposes obligations and commands compliance.
- Autarchy: The legal system has inherent mechanisms to ensure its enforcement.
- Obligatoriness: It is mandatory for all subjects falling under its scope.
- Enforceability: The potential to demand compliance through legal means, often involving state power.
- Generality: Legal norms apply generally to all subjects under specified conditions, regardless of personal attributes like race, sex, religion, or social status.
- Coercion: The actual use or threat of force by the state to ensure compliance when necessary.
- Coercibility: The inherent potential for the law to be enforced through coercion, even if force is not actively applied in every instance. This potential underpins enforceability.
Classifications of Law
Substantive vs. Adjective Law
- Substantive Law: Comprises the branches of law that define the rights and duties of individuals. Examples include the Civil Code and Penal Code.
- Adjective Law (Procedural Law): Consists of the legal instruments and procedures used to enforce the rights and duties established by substantive law. Examples include the Code of Civil Procedure and Code of Criminal Procedure. It is also referred to as Litigation Law.
Public vs. Private Law
- Public Law: Governs the relationships between the state (acting in its sovereign capacity) and individuals, or between different state entities. In public law, the state often holds a position of authority (imperium). Examples include Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Tax Law.
- Private Law: Regulates relationships between private individuals or entities. It is largely based on the principle of the autonomy of will, allowing parties to create their own legal arrangements within the framework set by law.
Attributes of Legal Norms (Positive Law)
Legal norms are evaluated based on several key attributes:
Validity
Validity relates to whether a norm is considered a legitimate part of the legal system. It has several aspects:
- Social Validity: Determined by the degree of acceptance and observance by the community it addresses. Citizens recognize its necessity for the common good.
- Formal Validity: Achieved when the norm has been created, promulgated, and brought into force according to all the procedural requirements established by higher law (e.g., constitutional procedures, such as Articles 202 to 210 of a specific Constitution).
- Intrinsic Validity (Material Justice): Relates to whether the norm aligns with fundamental principles of justice and fairness.
- Material Validity (Hierarchical Consistency): Refers to the norm’s content being consistent with higher-ranking norms within the legal hierarchy (e.g., a regulation must not contradict the statute it implements).
Efficacy (Effectiveness)
Efficacy concerns the actual application and observance of the legal norm in society. A norm is effective if it generally achieves its intended purpose and is followed in practice.
Vigor (Force)
Vigor refers to the period during which a legal norm is legally binding and enforceable. This is often determined by specific legal provisions regarding when laws come into effect and when they cease to be valid (e.g., as potentially specified in Article 1 of a Civil Code).