What is a legal norm
A legal norm is a rule created to organize social behavior based on the duties and rights of citizens. It is characterized by its sanctioning function, that is, it must be fulfilled because otherwise it entails a sanction or punishment.
Legal norms are conceived by legitimate institutions recognized by society (parliament, supreme court, governor’s office, mayor’s office, etc.), and are part of a larger legal system (constitution, organic laws, etc.).
In turn, legal norms are made up of two essential elements:
Assumption of fact: is the behavior, situation or hypothetical event that needs regulation.
Legal consequence: is the sanction that is anticipated in the event that this hypothetical event occurs.
For example, in a municipal ordinance that regulates noise pollution in nightclubs, the factual assumption would be the possibility that a nightclub generates excessive noise. While the legal consequence would be the punishment provided for that act (fine, community work, jail, etc.).
As each State has its own regulatory frameworks, the legal norms are diverse in their contents, functions and scopes of application. However, they share characteristic elements.
Characteristics of legal norms
The legal norms are characterized by being:
Bilateral. Every legal rule will always have two parts: the subject or event to whom the rule points, and the body that is responsible for ensuring that it is fulfilled. For example, in traffic law, those who are subject to the rule are drivers and pedestrians, while road authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance.
Heteronomous. It means that the norm is imposed by a person or body external to the subject who must comply with it, regardless of whether he agrees with it or not. For example, when a new tax is created in a country, the people or companies who are responsible for paying the tax must comply with their obligation, even if they are against that rule.
Coercible. It means that compliance with the rules is enforced through sanctions. In addition, the authorities can resort to force. An example is when a person breaks into private property. By committing this crime, he automatically has a sanction, but in addition, the police forces can evict him using force if he refuses to leave.
How are legal norms classified?
Legal norms have multiple classifications according to various criteria and authors. In 1938, the Mexican jurist and academic Eduardo García Máynez published the book Introduction to the world of lawin which he proposed a classification that remains in force in Mexican law.
For García Máynez, legal norms are classified as:
Rules according to the system to which they belong
National: These are the rules that govern within the national territory, such as the constitution.
Foreigners: These are rules that govern outside the national territory.
Uniforms: they are common norms in different legal systems, such as the universal declaration of human rights or the treaties of the European Union.
Standards according to your source
Legal: are those that come from the legislative power (Congress, Senate, National Assembly, etc.) and its subordinate institutions (governors, mayors, mayors, etc.). For example, a law created by the government of a province.
customary: These are rules that are not written, but are considered as such due to their widespread and sustained use over time. That is, its source is custom. For example, indiscriminate attacks (without a specific military objective) are prohibited under international law, since they threaten the life and property of the civilian population.
Jurisprudential norms: they originate in the Supreme Court or ordinary courts and serve to set precedents regarding the interpretation of the legal norm. For example, a ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union set the precedent that since 2014 has allowed affected people to request the right to have their data deindexed from search engines (known as the law of oblivion).
Standards according to their spatial scope of validity
Federal: They apply throughout the federal territory, like the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data, in Mexico.
State or provincial: They apply in the states or provinces, they are not valid in the rest of the national territory. For example, if a governor decides to implement a curfew in his state, the rule only applies in his jurisdiction.
Municipal: They only apply within a municipality, like ordinances.
Standards according to their temporal scope of validity
Permanent standards: they are created to regulate behaviors or events of a permanent nature; Therefore, they do not lose validity, unless a new standard is created to replace it. An example would be fundamental rights (right to life, equality, etc.).
Transitional rules: regulate a temporary situation. An enabling law, for example, gives authority to the representative of a State to issue decrees based on a specific need (such as an economic crisis) without requiring the approval of the legislative branch.
Standards according to their material scope of validity
Public law rules: regulate the relationship between the State and individuals, such as the rules established in criminal, constitutional, administrative or international law.
Private law rules: regulate relationships between individuals, such as commercial and civil law.
Rules according to your personal scope of validity
General: apply to all subjects that are within the category contemplated by the standard. For example, labor laws apply to all workers in the country.
Individuals: apply individually to the subject. For example, if a labor trial favors a worker, the ruling applies only to him.
Norms according to their hierarchy
of the same rank: they are norms that have a coordination relationship with each other, because they belong to the same category or class. For example, the laws issued by Congress regulate different areas, but they are all of the same rank.
Of different rank: they are norms with a relationship of subordination or supraordination among themselves. The constitution is the highest norm, therefore the other laws are subordinate to it.
Rules according to your sanction
Perfect: They are those that annul the act that violates the norm. For example, a ruling that annuls the purchase of a property because the documents were false.
More than perfect: In addition to canceling the damage, these rules require compensation for the damage, for example, that a thief be punished with prison and also deliver what was stolen to its owner.
less than perfect: These are the rules that do not contemplate a sanction or that only imply a disciplinary sanction, for example, that the police only call attention to people who cause disorder on public roads, without there being any other type of punishment.
Imperfect: They do not imply any type of sanction, although there are mechanisms to apply them.
Standards according to their quality
Permissive: allow the manifestation of certain behaviors. For example, some commercial codes allow debtors to select the assets that will be considered to pay the debt in the event of seizure.
Prohibitive: prevent following behaviors. For example, when attempting against the life of another person is prohibited and condemned.
Norms according to their complementation relationships
Primary: They are rules that do not need others to be executed. For example, the penal code.
high schools: These are the rules that describe the operation of the primary rules. They stipulate aspects such as the duration of a rule, its interpretation or the sanctions it implies. For example, the rules stipulated in the civil code to execute contracts.
Norms according to their relationships with the will of individuals
Exhaustive rules: They are rules that bind individuals regardless of their will to carry out the act. For example, the Spanish civil code establishes that if a guardian is required for a minor, this can be a person chosen by the child.
Dispositive rules: may cease to apply if it is the will of one of the parties. For example, rental contracts.
Other classifications of legal norms
In the 20th century, European jurists Hans Kelsen and Herbert Hart proposed classification systems for legal norms: Kelsen’s pyramid and the Hartian classification.
Kelsen Pyramid
The Kelsen pyramid is a system created by the Austrian jurist Hans Kelsen, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. According to this pyramid-shaped structure, legal norms are arranged according to their hierarchy. The most important rule is the top:
The constitution of the State (top of the pyramid). The laws (civil, criminal, tax code, etc.). Regulations (electoral regulations, legislative, etc.). Individual legal norms, such as sentences (base of the pyramid).
Kelsen’s pyramid reflects the legitimacy of the constitution as a fundamental legal norm and shows how the rest of the norms derive from it. Therefore, there cannot be norms that contradict what is stipulated in the Magna Carta, because it is considered the source of the other norms.
Hart classification
In 1961, the English jurist and legal philosopher Herbert Hart proposed in his book The concept of law a classification of legal norms into two large categories:
Primary standards. They are those that regulate human behavior. Traffic laws or the penal code are examples of primary norms.
Secondary standards. They are the rules created to determine how the primary rules will be carried out. That is, they establish the powers of the institutions in charge of creating the laws. For example, the rules that regulate the functioning of Congress.
Legal norms and moral norms
Legal and moral norms have in common their regulatory function of social conduct. In fact, many legal norms have their origin in moral norms. Not paying debts, for example, not only has a moral penalty (loss of trust and social accusation), but can also lead to legal sanctions.
Although both types of regulations allow or prohibit certain behaviors, only legal regulations are mandatory to avoid a sanction. Moral norms are not mandatory, they depend on free will, and the sanction has no legal consequences.
See also: