Minevich O. Concept and types of legal errors: general theoretical research

The dissertation is one of the first general theoretical studies, which characterizes the legal nature, concept, types and kinds of legal errors and considers the most important ways to prevent and counteract them in the domestic legal science. The emphasized importance of considering error as an interdisciplinary category allows to integrate the achievements of various branches of scientific knowledge to form the legal error theory. Legal error as a category of general theoretical jurisprudence was investigated. Periodization of the process of formation of the theory of legal error in modern legal science is carried out. This process is divided into several stages. Stage 1: from the second half of the XVIII century to the beginning of the XX century formed the basic doctrinal approaches to error as a criminal category: Stage 2: from the second half of the XX century – up to the 80s of the XX century non-consolidated research on legal error by representatives of various branch legal sciences. Stage 3: from the 80s of the XX century – to the end of the XX century industry research on errors is summarized, methodological and terminological tools are developed. Stage 4: at the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century, the theory of legal error becomes an independent field of legal research. Stage 5: from the second decade of the XXI century to the present day, the theory of errors has been a part of the most important problems of general theoretical jurisprudence. The author has developed a definition of the concept of «legal error» as a casual innocent deviation of the subject of law from the behavior model stipulated by the legal norm, which is due to his conscientious delusion regarding on conformity of his own judgment or idea about the content of the legal prescription to objective reality, what may entail negative consequences for him and / or other participants in legal relations and is subject to correction in a special order using special means. The genesis of conceptions about errors in legal science, philosophical discourse and other areas of scientific knowledge is studied, the analysis of signs of a legal error is carried out. Periodization of the process of formation of the legal error theory in modern legal science is carried out. It is proved that from a theoretical, methodological and practical point of view, the most justified is the following typology of legal errors: doctrinal errors, law-making errors, law interpretation errors, law enforcement errors. This typology reflects the sequence of making mistakes and the relationship between them. The said types of errors, in turn, are divided into different kinds. It is justified that the greatest potential threat to the successful legal development of society and states are doctrinal legal errors, since they: reflect system-functional deviations in this development; organically linked with the state policy in the legal sphere; manifest in the process of implementing the legal doctrine itself; directly or indirectly, with varying degrees of intensity, negatively affect the legal life of society. Recommendations regarding ways to minimize legal errors are given, in particular, general measures to prevent legal errors are recognized: compliance with the rules of law-making and law enforcement techniques; system monitoring and analysis of legal errors in the activities of subjects of law-making and law implementation; raising the level of professionalism of subjects of law-making and law implementation; examination of projects of regulatory legal acts and of their state registration; activities of the highest judicial bodies in legal interpretation (the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Court).