| Abstract [eng] |
SUMMARY Collisions of Legal Norms and the Rules for Their Settlement The subject „Collisions of Legal Norms and the Rules for Their Settlement” is urgent, original and new. An urgency of the subject expresses itself by an opportunity of a new attitude towards the problem; an originality of the problem expresses itself by its novelty. In the Paper, collisions of legal norms, including their definition, causes of their appearance and the rules for their settlement (liquidation), are discussed upon. Because of absence of a uniform opinion on collisions in law, several most important opinions on the definition of collisions are provided in the Paper. It should be noted that contradictions – between legal norms or between the legal order and striving to alter it – as an element that unites all definitions is presented in each of them. In the Paper, a polysemy of the definition „a collision of law” is emphasized; this definition includes contradictions between principles of law and legal norms, between individual legal norms, between values, between legal norms and their interpretations, between definitions of law as well as collisions related to legal conscience. A need in effective law encourages looking for it; a legal regulation of public relations and processes not always ensures expected results. Finally, it is impossible to develop legal norms upon rapid changing of public relations when the public life and social behavior to be impacted by them are permanently altering. This circumstance causes contradictions in the public life. Undoubtedly, they are reflected in law as well. In the Paper, the issues related to the proportion between collisions of legal norms and the competition of legal norms are analyzed. It is concluded that the Lithuanian doctrine of law does not provide a possibility to delimit collisions of legal norms from their competence, because some rules (such as the rule of a priority of a special norm), in the opinion of theorists of law, are attributable to the category of the rules for settlement of collisions, while practicians of law attribute this rule to the category of overcoming the competition. The task of the Paper was analyzing the rules for a settlement of collisions. These rules are preconditions for settlement of the appeared collisions; the rules are formulated by the theory of legal argumentation. The following rules for collision settlement were singled out: hierarchical, chronological, the rule of a priority of a special norm, the rule of a priority of a subsequent precedent, the rule of the most authoritative opinion; however, a subsequent general norm does not cause an annulment of an earlier special norm. The contents of the rules are disclosed as well. In the Paper, the issues related to an application of collision settlement rules in chosen branches of law, such as civil law, criminal law, international private law, are discussed upon, the contradictions between legal norms and constitutional norms (provisions) are analyzed. In considering the said issues, the practical activities of the Constitutional Court of Republic of Lithuania and the Supreme Court of Republic of Lithuania are used as a base. |
