To the problem of the legal nature of the subsidiarity principle

From a legal perspective, the principle of subsidiarity is one of the most important in the work of international human rights institutions. In particular, according to the opinion of several famous scientists that principle appears as basic in the process of implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Others consider the subsidiarity as the necessary legal mechanism which admits to delimit fullpowers of the European Union and Member States. However in the scientific literature we can often meet points of view, according to which the principle of subsidiarity doesn’t have a legal nature, being exclusively political. The historical background of that principle uprising is being briefly considered in that article, within the framework of the Catholic social doctrine, and then its “smooth transition” into the legal sphere. References to the international treaties and positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which contain the gist of the principle of subsidiarity, are being made. The disagreement with the position of scientists, according to which that principle doesn’t have the legal nature, is passing over the article like “a red thread”. Findings, made in the article, show the need for a thorough research of the issue of the subsidiarity principle nature. The contemplation of that problem is seen to reveal a number of another “slices” of the scientific interest, but insufficiently researched.