«Delphic Language» Rules: Law Enforcement Issues

The article deals with the issue of the relationship between the legislator and the law enforcer in creation and application of value judgments in the norms and elements of the norms of law. The normative nature of Russian legislation and the denial of the institution of case law entails both a gap in the law and ambiguity in interpretation of legal norms, which leads to divergence of opinions of law enforcement officers in solving similar cases, in connection with which the problem of «correct,» namely, corresponding to the idea of the legislator, application of law. The author proves the validity of the existence of the institute of evaluation categories in the context of preventing the growth of the legislative array and legal uncertainty, as well as the indirect delegation of law-making functions to the law enforcement officer when using such a method of legal technique as qualified silence of the legislator. The author analyzes the possibility of legislative regulation of the rules of «Delphic language» norms as a necessary element of improving legislative tecnique in order to facilitate and simplify the process of law enforcement. The author proposes to consolidate the rules of law enforcement in the interpretation of evaluation categories. The role of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as an intermediary between the legislator and the law enforcer is evaluated. To this end, The author analyzes the issue of giving the decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation the status of a source of law and establishing the obligation for courts to check their decisions for compliance with the decisions of the Plenum. The necessity of bringing the institute of value judgments beyond the theoretical discussion into the field of practical application is considered.

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