Annotation

Objective. To derive the concept of law required for governing society from the laws governing the functioning of this social organism, demonstrate the possibilities of its implementation in the presence of other understandings of law, and demonstrate the relationship between such understandings and this conception. Methodology. Use of general scientific research methods necessary for revealing the topic, analysis of legal dogma, and a comparative legal approach. Conclusions. From the laws governing the functioning of society, it follows that an understanding of law that meets its purpose in governance is reduced to a system of social norms established in society by the sovereign authority acting there. It is logically inconsistent to assert that, under the noted understanding of law, the last is not directed at the individual and is detached from the person and the world of his life. The narrower and broader understanding of law that is characteristic of some scholars essentially implies a demand for the sovereign power to change the law that it has created. However, it does not challenge the understanding of law as norms established by the sovereign power. Both broad and narrow understandings of law presuppose recognition of the concept of law as a system of norms generated by sovereign authority as essential to jurisprudence. They are not intended to replace it, nor are they prepared to do so. Their function is merely to modify the normative "content," so to speak, of law as rules emanating from sovereign authority. Academic views on the broad understanding of law include theoretical positions that, when implemented, assume the enforcement of only the system of norms established by sovereign authority. Scientific and practical significance. The conclusions reached deepen the grasping of law. Therefore, they create the preconditions for improving legal regulation in Russia and abroad