Sources of law

Historically, Russia belongs to the continental legal system, and a written law,which was passed under the established legislative procedure, is the main legal source. About 10,000 laws, regulations, and other legal acts are passed in Russia annually.

The Constitution is the supreme Russian law and major legislative instrument. It establishes the principle of superiority of law in the system of legal sources. The law cannot contradict the Constitution. All other legal acts, such as decrees of the President, Governmental regulations, acts of Ministries and other federal executive agencies, as well as legislation passed by the constituent components of the Russian Federation cannot contradict laws. All laws are passed exclusively by the Federal Assembly (legislature). Delegation of the legislative power is prohibited.

Federal Constitutional Laws establish the group of most important legislative acts. They are passed in regards to the jurisdiction encompassed by the authority of the Russian Federation only. The federal constitutional law is adopted if it has been approved by at least three-quarters of the total number of the Federation Council members and by at least two-thirds of the total number of the State Duma members. The president of Russia cannot veto federal constitutional laws. The list of federal constitutional laws is prescribed by the Constitution. It includes laws on the state of emergency, the change of the status of a constituent component of the federation, on constitutional amendments, on government, on referendum, on the judiciary, on the Constitutional Court, and some other.

Federal laws constitute the second category of legal sources. They regulate issues included into executive authority of the Russian Federation and its components. The Constitution protects priority and direct effect of federal laws throughout the territory of Russia. In case of a conflict between federal law and another act issued in Russia, the law will prevail.

Classification of law

Law is a system of rules established by the state.

Civil law concerns disputes among a citizens within a country, and public law concerns disputes between citizens and the state, or between one state and another.

The system of law in our country consists of different categories of law.

Constitutional law is the leading category of the whole system of law. Its principal source is the country’s Constitution. It deals with social structure, the state system, organization of state power and the legal status of citizens.

Administrative law is closely connected with constitutional law but it deals with the legal forms of concrete executive and administrative activity of a government and ministries.

Criminal law defines the general principles of criminal responsibility, individual types of crimes and punishment applied to criminals. Crimes are wrongs which, even committed against an individual are considered to harm the well-being of society in general. Criminal law takes the form of a criminal code.