Karamyan S.A. Stability of Law as a Key Element of the Legal System: An Empirical Study
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2025.1.2
Svetlana A. Karamyan, Postgraduate Student, University of Humanities, Zheleznodorozhnikov St, 3, 620041 Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7824-5866
Introduction: the stability of law is an important aspect of the legal system, which is manifested in the uniform and consistent regulation of public relations, which is carried out taking into account public requirements for its content and is aimed at preserving the structure of the legal system itself, its key elements, and their interrelationships. The paper provides a reflection of the stability of law in the most significant sources of law for the Russian legal system: the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the main sectoral codified federal laws, and judicial acts of the higher courts. The Constitution of the Russian Federation declares itself to be an invariant of the legal system, pointing to the immutability of the most significant provisions. The codified federal laws containing provisions on the basic principles of the sectoral legislation do not specify stability as a principle; however, as a result of the study, provisions that provide stability of sectoral legislation are established, such as limitation of the retroactive force of the law, the restriction of the adoption, and the entry into force of new laws. The decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation show the transformation of the use of the term “stability,” the expansion of the context of its application, and the integration of stability into the hierarchy of legal principles: from the axiomatization of the stability of the law due to the special order of its adoption to the formulation of the principle of stability of citizens’ rights as constitutional along with the constitutional principles of equality, proportionality, and guarantee of citizens’ rights. In its practice, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation proclaims the stability of legal relations as a value that must be respected in court proceedings. The results of the study demonstrate the importance of stability of law for the Russian legal system. Stability, as a legal principle, is not only implied by the current norms of the main sectoral codes but is also supported by judicial constitutional control. The consistent positions of the higher courts help clarify the content of stability as a legal principle and determine its place in the hierarchy of other legal values.
Key words: stability of law, source of law, operation of law in time, stability of legal regulation, principle of stability of citizens’ rights, stability of legal relations.
Citation. Karamyan S.A. Stability of Law as a Key Element of the Legal System: An Empirical Study. Legal Concept = Pravovaya paradigma, 2025, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 14-20. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2025.1.2
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