The dissertation research is dedicated to the analysis of theoretical and practical aspects of pan-European legal identity and its implementation in the contemporary European space.
The origins and development of the concept of legal identity are thoroughly examined in the work. An interdisciplinary approach is applied to the theoretical examination of this concept, exploring it from the perspectives of sociology, psychology, and philosophy, which allows for a comprehensive understanding from various angles.
A methodology for analyzing legal identity is developed. The application of various interdisciplinary methods, such as analysis, synthesis, analogy method, and content analysis, enabled the organization and systematization of collected data. The research results have expanded the understanding of legal identity in various historical, social, and cultural contexts. The use of different approaches, such as historical, sociological, comparative, psychological, interdisciplinary, and axiological, provided insight into this phenomenon in its entirety. The analysis of classical and non-classical principles, such as historicism, systematicity, dialectics, as well as the combination of objective and subjective, rational and irrational, allowed for the determination of the nature of legal identity and its evolutionary development.
A comprehensive definition of legal identity is formulated in the study as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon characterized by conscious integration into the socio-legal community possessing legally significant characteristics. This definition is based on the understanding of legal identity as a state encompassing an individual's
awareness of belonging to a particular legal system and the acceptance of norms regulating their legal behavior. The model of the three-component structure of legal identity, which includes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects interacting with each other, is characterized, determining the integrative nature of this identity. The main features of legal identity are identified: complexity, dynamism, uniqueness, socio-legal nature, individual's awareness of belonging to a particular legal system, legitimation, and legal behavior. Special attention is given to the functions of legal identity, such as adaptive, legitimizing, protective, communicative, and cognitive, which determine its impact on society and the development of legal culture. The concept of alternative legal identity is explored, and two types of legal identity - individual and collective - which interact and influence each other, are identified.
