On determining the nature of the principles of law in the paradigm of integrative legal consciousness

The subject of the study is the nature of the principles of law, which determines their functions. The main attention is paid to identifying the dialectical relationship between law and non-law, which determines the nature of universal instruments of legal regulation. The author describes the main ideas of integrative legal consciousness including the acceptance of the principles of law as primary legal regulators, which serve as criteria and measures for other instruments of legal regulation. The author criticizes the thesis about the inadmissibility of "measuring" law by non-legal principles, which develops in the paradigm of integrative legal consciousness into the statement of independence of law from moral norms, religious and other social and cultural standards. The author analyzes in detail the scope of the concept of non-law paying attention to the heterogeneity of the elements of the "pre-legal" and "post-legal" nature that compose it. The necessity of the consistent application of the system methodology whereby law is considered not only as a single, developing and multilevel system but also as a subsystem included in a more general system of socio-cultural regulators is substantiated. The author argues that the principles of law contain the immanent moral component, which should be the supreme measure and criterion for evaluating the fundamental instruments of legal regulation.