Constitutional Legal Relations Constructs in the Law of Germany, Great Britain and France

The science of constitutional law lacks universal theoretical approach to constitutional legal relations; each state independently determines the goals, object and subject of constitutional legal relations. At the same time, the same subjects in different conditions existing in different national legal systems can act as objects and subjects of legal relations. The constitutional legal relations constructs under consideration do not consider a nation as an equal participant in these legal relations. Their role in all of the presented constructs is limited both in terms of the circle of persons and the possibilities to enter into constitutional legal relations as a subject. It can be argued that, despite the difference in approaches to the object and subject composition of legal relations, in Germany, Great Britain and France, such legal relations between public authorities can exist only in a normally developing state (a state that is not under pressure from any crisis or epidemic).

The author draws her conclusion based on an analysis of the basic constructs of legal relations, which in Russian legal science are usually referred to as constitutional legal relations. The author’s choice of constructs developed in Germany, Great Britain and France is due to the wide spread in the world of scientific views formed within the framework of the national scientific schools of these states, as well as the influence of the philosophy of law of Germany and France on the formation of constitutional legal relations in Russia.

The author pays special attention to the prevalence of Karl Schmitt’s views on the formation of constitutional legal relations in Europe and North America in terms of intolerance of dissent, the assumption of constitutional dictatorship, the strengthening of executive power at the expense of the legislature.

1. Akhtenberg N, Badura P, et al. Gosudarstvennoe pravo Germanii [State law of Germany]. Vol. 1. Moscow: Institut gosudarstva i prava RAN Publ.; 1994. (In Russ.).

2. Daysi AV. Osnovy gosudarstvennogo prava Anglii. Vvedenie v izuchenie angliyskoy konstitutsii [Fundamentals of the state law of England. Introduction to the study of the English Constitution]. Transl. by Poltoratskiy OV. Edited by prof. Vinogradov PG. Moscow; 1905. (In Russ.).

3. Diesenhaus D. Zakonnost i legitimnost: Karl Shmitt, Gans Kelzen i German Kheller v Veymare [Legality and legitimacy: Karl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen and Hermann Heller in Weimar]. Oxford University Publishing House, Great Britain. (In Russ.).

4. Jacquet JP. Konstitutsionnoe pravo i politicheskie instituty: uchebnoe posobie [Constitutional law and political institutions: A textbook]. Trans. from Fr. Moscow: Yurist Publ.; 2002. (In Russ.).

5. Kandrina NA. Konstitutsionno-pravovaya priroda pravootnosheniya po predostavleniyu gosudarstvennykh uslug naseleniyu [The constitutional and legal nature of the legal relationship for the provision of public services to the population]. Vestnik Barnaulskogo yuridicheskogo instituta MVD Rossii. 2018;2(35):11-15. (In Russ.).

6. Lungu EV. Pandemiya COVID 19. Novyy vyzov konstitutsionnym pravootnosheniyam [The COVID 19 pandemic. A new challenge to constitutional legal relations]. Pravoprimenenie [Law enforcement]. 2020; 4(3):69-75. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.24147/2542-1514.2020.4(3).69-75.

7. Lusher F. Konstitutsionnaya zashchita prav i svobod lichnosti [Constitutional protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual]. Transl. from Fr. by Bobotova SV, Vasiliev DI; foreword by Bobotov SV, editor. Moscow: Progress: Univers Publ.; 1993. (In Russ.).

8. Oriu M. Osnovy publichnogo prava: monografiya. [Fundamentals of Public Law: A monograph]. Moscow: Infra M Publ.; 2021. (In Russ.).

9. Pozner EA, Vermel A. Osvobozhdennaya ispolnitelnaya vlast: posle Madisonskoy respubliki [The Liberated Executive Branch: After the Madison Republic]. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011. DOI: 10.1017 / S1537592713002351.

10. Politicheskaya teologiya. Chetyre glavy k ucheniyu o suverenitete [1922] [Political theology. Four Chapters to the Doctrine of Sovereignty [1922]. In: Ponyatie politicheskogo [The concept of the political]. St. Petersburg: Nauka Publ.; 2016. (In Russ.).

11. Romanov AK. Pravo i pravovaya sistema Velikobritanii: uchebnoe posobie. [Law and the legal system of Great Britain: A textbook]. Moscow: Forum Pibl.; 2012. (In Russ.).

12. Serkov PP. Pravootnoshenie (Teoriya i praktika sovremennogo pravovogo regulirovaniya): monografiya: v 3 ch. [Legal relationship (Theory and practice of modern legal regulation): A monograph: In 3 parts]. Moscow: Norma Publ.; 2016. (In Russ.). Part 1: Grani pravovogo nevedomogo [Facets of the legal unknown]; Part 2: Ochertaniya pravovoy universalnosti [Outlines of legal universality]; Part 3: Zakonomernost pravovykh zakonomernostey [Regularity of legal regularities].

13. Frantsiya: gosudarstvennaya sistema [France: The state system]. Trans. from Fr. by Ardan F; foreword by Entin LM. Moscow: Yurid. lit. Publ.; 1994. (In Russ.).

14. Böckenförde E. W. Constitutional and Political Theory. Selected Writings. Oxford University Press; 2017.

15. Bradley AW, Ewing KD. Constitutional and administrative law. 14th edition. C. Pearson Education Limited; 2007.

16. Falaah Shamsul. Theocratic Constitutionalism: A Discourse on the Political System, Democracy, Judiciary and Human Rights Under Islamic Theocratic Constitutionalism (September 1, 2016). Waikato Islamic Studies Review. 2016;2(2). Available from: SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2849671 [cited 2022 November 11].

17. Mikhaylenko A. Double Standards in the Modern World Politics (July 9, 2015). Available from SSRN: https:// ssrn.com/abstract=2628578 [cited 2022 November 11].

18. Scheuerman WE. The End of Law Carl Schmitt in the Twenty-First Century Second Edition. Rowman & Littlefield International Ltd; 2020.

19. Schmitt C. Constitutional theory. Transl. and ed. by J. Seitzer; foreword by E. Kennedy. Duke University Press; 2008.

20. Schmitt K. Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus. Berlin; 1926.

21. Taylor ChW. Consitutional and administrative law. Logman: LawExpress; 2008.

22. Vedel G. Manuel élémentaire de droit constitutionnel. Réimpression de l’édition de 1949. Paperback Paris: Dalloz; 2022.

23. Versteeg M. Unpopular Constitutionalism (January 11, 2013). Indiana Law Journal. 2014;89. Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2013-17. Available from SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2267320 [cited 2022 November 11].