РУАЭСТ (RUAEST)
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: NOTION AND SOURCES
This paper consists of two main parts. The first one gives an understanding of the term “Constitutional Law” and its different meanings: as a system of legal regulations, legal studies, and an academic discipline. It’s worth mentioning that some scholars define Constitutional Law as a Political Law. This is also correct, even if nowadays, some constitutions tend to include certain issues that seem to be absolutely irrelevant; for example, the ones concerning the institutions of marriage and family. This results from the fact that a constitution-maker considers those issues to have a political meaning. Regarding methods of legal regulation, they are not much different from the ones used in other branches of law, which are: obliging, permitting (authorizing), and prohibiting. At the same time, the author also mentions the method of general principles declaring. Constitutional Law as legal studies is a result of its norms and social relations research, which elaborates recommendations for lawmakers and relevant state bodies concerning the proper development and interpretation of Constitutional Law norms. Most of the law universities in Russia include Constitutional Law of the Russian Federation and Foreign Countries, as well as Comparative Constitutional Law, as a part of scholar program. The second part of this paper defines the sources of Constitutional Law. There are also some ideas of constitutionalism.