General Principles of Law

Daiga Rezevska, Dr.iur. (2004), University of Latvia, is Professor, former justice of the Constitutional Court, and ad hoc judge of the European Court of Human Rights. Her most recent publication is Legislation in Latvia. In: Karpen U., Xanthaki H. Eds. Legislation in Europe: Country by Country Guide (Hart Publishing, 2021).

Foreword

Ineta Ziemele



1 Introduction

 1 Conclusions




2 Understanding and Types of General Principles of Law

 1 Definition


 2 The Origin of General Principles of Law and Basic Groups of Meaning of Law

 2.1 The Origin of the Understanding of General Principles of Law


 2.2 The Doctrine of Legal Positivism and General Principles of Law


 2.3 The Doctrine of Natural Law and General Principles of Law


 2.4 Contemporary Legal Theory Pertaining to Democratic States Based on the Rule of Law and General Principles of Law




 3 General Principles of Law and Legal Norms


 4 Types of General Principles of Law

 4.1 Positivisation of General Principles of Law


 4.2 Derived and Discovered General Principles of Law




 5 Conclusions




3 The Axiological Meaning of General Principles of Law

 1 Meaning of General Principles of Law in the Variety of Sources of Law

 1.1 Significance of the Variety of Sources of Law in the Western Legal System


 1.2 Normative Legal Regulation of Sources of Law in Latvia


 1.3 Division of Sources of Law in Latvia


 1.4 Hierarchy of Independent Sources of Law in Latvia




 2 Importance of the General Principles of Law in Drafting Normative Legal Acts


 3 The Role of General Principles of Law in the Application of Legal Norms


 4 Conclusions




4 The Functional Effect of General Principles of Law

 1 Application of General Principles of Law

 1.1 Deriving, Discovering and Concretization


 1.2 Solving of Mutual Collisions


 1.3 Evaluative Subsumption




 2 The Impact of General Principles of Law on the Application of Written Legal Norms

 2.1 Collisions and Validity


 2.2 Interpretation


 2.3 Further Development of Law


 2.4 Elaboration of Decision




 3 Conclusions




Bibliography


Index