Karpichkov V. Legal reality: its concept and place in the system of categories of the law.

In the thesis the author analyzes the views of national law theorists on the problem of legal reality, including its relation to the allied legal categories; methodological basis of scientific research of legal reality is defined too. In this work the history of the development of doctrinal understanding of legal reality is analyzed, this made it possible to distinguish stages of scientific understanding of legal reality category, namely: the early stage, the scientific stage, the classical stage, the liberal-democratic stage, the modern stage. In the research an understanding of legal reality is revealed as a complex multi-vector phenomenon of social reality, that is the harmonious unity of the internal (subjective) and external (objective) aspects of law nature and it consists of the fundamental legal concepts and other legal derivatives that objectively exist in the field of legal matter and have an effect on the participants of public relations. Based on the analysis of the scientific publications of national theorists some concepts which require reconsideration taking into account demands of social reality are defined. In the thesis the structure of legal reality is defined and the legality of the distribution of structural elements on 3 levels: ideological, normative and of legal life is justified. The concept of functions of legal reality as the forms of qualitative independence of this category is given and the criteria of classification of these functions are defined. The author clarifies the understanding of the relationship of legal reality with other categories, such as the legal system, the legal life and the legal superstructure.