A law is a document adopted in accordance with the established procedure by a specially authorized body of state power, which contains the norms and rules of conduct that regulate the relationship between entities in the process of their activities.
A law is a normative legal act designed to regulate the most important relations arising from the interaction of members of society between themselves and the state.
In the Russian Federation, the main source of law is precisely the normative legal act. The entire set of regulatory legal acts in force in the country form a single interconnected system called legislation.
By legal force, the following types of laws are distinguished:
- constitutional laws (they enshrine the foundations of the state and social system, they represent the basis of all current legislation in the country);
- federal laws (normative legal acts adopted on the basis of constitutional laws regulating various aspects of society);
- laws of subjects (regulate legal relations between subjects of law in areas not regulated by constitutional and federal laws, specify them in relation to the characteristics of the region).
According to the territory of action, there are:
- federal laws (they apply throughout the country);
- the laws of the subjects of the federation (they have their effect within one subject of the federation in which they were adopted).
In the Russian Federation, federal laws and laws of the constituent entities of the federation operate simultaneously. Together they form the system of our legislation. All laws are structured in a strictly hierarchical order in terms of legal force. It means that laws with a lower legal force cannot contradict laws with a higher legal force, and if there is a conflict between them, the latter will act.
By the time of validity, the laws are divided into:
- permanent (have their effect from the moment of entry into force until the moment of official cancellation);
- temporary (the law is limited to a certain date or the occurrence of an event);
- emergency (come into effect when certain events occur and end simultaneously with them).
