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  5. Criticism of the class theory of law

“Pravova derzhava”. Issue 35 (2024), pages 121–130.

DOI: 10.33663/0869-2491-2024-35-121-130

Yushchyk O. I.
Criticism of the class theory of law

The article critically examines the general concept of law from the standpoint of a class approach. The class theory of law proposed by the famous legal scientist P. Stuchka is characterized. A critical assessment of the characteristics of the last similar class theory of E. Pashukanis, who does not distinguish between the method of knowledge of the commodity exchange relationship and the legal relationship, is provided. It was also noted the erroneous application of the class approach in defi ning the concept of law by other legal theorists of the Soviet period. A fundamental error in the methodology of knowledge of law has been identifi ed, which is connected with the absolutization of the class approach by extending it to the knowledge of law in a classless society.

In this connection, the lack of modern defi nitions of the concept of the state as a phenomenon of class society in the relationship between this concept and the concept of law is noted. The need to connect the concept of the state not with law in general, but only with one type of law, the law of class society, which is legal law, is emphasized.

The negative impact of the absolutization of the class approach in the knowledge of law on the development of the scientifi c theory of law, which is experiencing a crisis of legal understanding at the current stage, is indicated, as well as on the defi nition of the subject of legal science, regarding which there is still no unifi ed understanding. It is claimed that a fundamental error in the defi nition of the indicated subject of legal science is the replacement of the concept of legal law in its connection with the state by the concept of law as such, i.e., the specifi c concept of law by its generic concept. Emphasis is placed on the need to develop knowledge about law from the standpoint of the dialectical theory of law, which considers the need for a class approach only in relation to one type of law, namely legal law.

It is claimed that the subject of legal science is the state in its connection with legal law.

Key words: class theory of law, class approach, methodology of law, subject of legal science, legal law, dialectical theory of law.

References

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  4. Stuchka, P. I. (n.d.). Nazvana pratsia, pp. 50–53.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Ibid., p. 708 (note 3).
  7. Yushchik, A. I. (2013). Dialektika prava. Kyiv: Red. zhurn. "Pravo Ukrainy"; In Iure, Book 1: Obshchee uchenie o prave (Kriticheskii analiz obshchepravovykh poniatii), Part I, p. 41 and following. 
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  10. Stuchka, P. I. (n.d.). Nazvana pratsia, p. 64.
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  17. Yushchyk, O. I. (2017). Metodolohichna paradyhma naukovoho piznannia prava. Journal "ScienceRise: Juridical Science", № 2(2), pp. 14–20.
  18. Yushchyk, O. I. (2021). Teoriia prava proty prava teorii. Chasopys Kyivskoho universytetu prava, № 4, pp. 205–211.
  19. Yushchyk, O. I. (2022). Pro "postklasychu teoriiu prava" ta ii naukovu novyznu. Pravo Ukrainy, № 2, pp. 9–20. 
  20. Yushchik, A. I. (n.d.). Dialektika prava, Book 1: Obshchee uchenie o prave (Kriticheskii analiz obshchepravovykh poniatii), Part II, p. 682.
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