Systematization of law: the Brics Context and Beyond

• Author: M. Antonov
• Position: Higher School of Economics (St. Petersburg, Russia)
• Pages: 7-14

ARTICLES

SySTEmaTIzaTIon o f Law:

ThE BRICS ConTExT and BEyond

MIKHAIL ANTONOV,

Higher School of Economics

(St. Petersburg, Russia)

The present paper deals with the theoretical question of how can be warranted unity of

legal system in the perspective of building up a new legal order of the BRICS. The author

draws on the contemporary theories considering various aspects of explanation and

construction of law as of a logically united system. Among such aspects are logical unity of

legal propositions, epistemological unity of the phenomena unied under the term ‘law,’

factual unity of societal regulation, axiological unity of a hierarchy of legal values, procedural

unity of legal reasoning, synergetic unison. It is asserted that the idea of unity of law is not

something conceptually monolithic and allows for dierent readings, none of which can

claim to be exhaustive. The author suggests that the BRICS does not need follow the track of

systematization of the legislation of the Member States and that creating agglomerations

of legal texts from dierent legal orders of the Member States is an issue not for politician

but rather for legal scholars who can construct and reconstruct legal texts, jointing and

disjointing them in the view of practical needs of amelioration of legal technique.

Keywords: systematization; unity of law; coherence; legal system; legal order; the BRICS;

legal reasoning.

Recommended citation: Mikhail Antonov, Systematization of Law: The BRICS Context

and Beyond, 2(1) BRICS LJ (2015).

The new geopolitical union of the BRICS is in the process of formation, and

along with economical and political integration this union also faces a possibility of

integration of the legal systems of member countries. This integration can follow very

dierent paths, from the creation of a supranational legal order (similar to that which

is currently forming in the European Union, so-called European law) to the simple