DIALECTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL LAW 

Bernatskiy Georgiy Genrikhovich, Doctor of juridical sciences, professor, head of the sub-department of theory and history of state and law, Saint Petersburg State University of Economics (21, Sadovaya street, Saint Petersburg, Russia), E-mail: gberg@yandex.ru 

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10.21685/2072-3016-2020-1-6 

Background. In recent years, legal scholars, including judges of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, have demonstrated a great interest in philosophical questions of law. They have discussed the philosophical concepts of "common good" and "social justice", that are related to law. This article aims at conducting a dialectical analysis of the features of natural law.
Materials and methods. The author invites readers to discuss the philosophical properties of natural law. From the standpoint of idealistic dialectics, natural law is presented in a certain theoretical model. Natural law is developing, i.e. it is changing qualitatively. It develops according to dialectical laws. Natural law develops in the direction of the legal ideal, although the movement to this goal goes through contradictions and struggle. Based on this hypothesis and applying the dialectical method of cognition of legal reality the author argues that natural law has a number of general philosophical properties.
Results. Natural law is characterized by such properties as objectivity and subjectivity, absoluteness and relativity, concreteness and abstraction. The objectivity of natural law consists in the fact that the content of law corresponds to objective justice and does not depend on the subject. The absoluteness of law is understood as the absolute precise and complete regulation of public relations. The relativity of law refers to inaccurate and incomplete regulation of public relations. The concreteness of natural law consists in the fact that law acts as a regulator of social relations only in certain specific conditions.
Conclusions. The development of natural law is similar to the development of truth. It is also characterized with such properties as objectivity, absoluteness, relativity, concreteness. 

objectivity and subjectivity, absoluteness and relativity, concreteness and abstraction of natural law 

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