THE IDEA OF JUSTICE IN ECONOMIC LAW

Abstract

Through the prism of the Ukrainian legal tradition, the article substantiates the axiological importance of the category of justice as a value invariant in the legal regulation of economic relations in Ukraine in modern conditions and the immanence of ideas of justice in Economic law. Attention is drawn to the fact that Ukraine has its own legal tradition, which is historically deeply rooted in the European legal tradition and inherited by the Constitution of Ukraine of 1996. The declaration of the principle of the Rule of Law in Ukraine, which is an element of the common heritage of the member states of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, determines the fundamental value status of the idea of justice in the legal system of modern Ukraine. The general purpose of the functioning of the legal system of Ukraine is derived from the content of Article 1 of the Constitution of Ukraine — it is the development of Ukraine as a sovereign, independent, democratic, social, legal state. Attention is drawn to the fact that until now neither the foundations nor the principles of Economic law have been fixed in the Economic Code of Ukraine as the main act of economic legislation, although they should form the basis of the structure of all acts of economic legislation, be the basis for the interpretation of legal norms of all acts of economic legislation in the rulemaking and serve as a mean of overcoming legal conflicts and gaps in Economic law, including through the prism of justice. It is determined that the idea of justice — both in the subjective (as the integrity of a person) and objective meaning (as social justice) is already explicitly included in the normative substance of the Economic Code. The importance of the implementation of the idea of social justice in the norms of Economic law is determined by the essence of the relations that are regulated by these rules. In contrast to purely civil relations as the subject of regulation of the Civil Code of Ukraine, as well as purely public legal regulations based on the principles of power — subordination, the object of economic legal regulation is a complex system of relations defined in Article 3 of the Economic Code. Such general foundations of civil legislation as justice, good faith and reasonableness (Clause 6 of Article 3 of the Civil Code), which embody subjective justice as the integrity of participants of civil relations, should show their regulatory potential in the economic sphere. Attention is drawn to the fact that legal support of the social market economy has never been part of the goal of civil legislation, which (the goal) is not generally defined in the Civil Code. The implementation of social justice in the economy of Ukraine and Economic law is determined by the declaration of Ukraine as a social state, accordingly, the economic function of the social state should be ensured by Economic law. The article supports the scientific position that the feature of the social state is ensuring the compliance with the principle of justice in the process of managing the economy. The problem of understanding the necessity and legal forms of state management is among those that are especially acute in the period of social transformations in the society. However, at any time, the state shall solve the task of performing “general affairs” in the society and regulating relations in an asymmetric society, which is characterized by economic inequality of its members. If the cornerstone for Civil law is the legal (formal) equality of the parties, then for Economic law it is fundamentally important to smooth out the actual (economic) inequality of the participants of economic relations and to ensure differentiated equality. It is concluded that it is impossible for the state to fulfil its obligations to the society without the use of appropriate legal means that go beyond private law, and the very idea of justice shall be developed in all sub-branches and legal institutes of Economic law.