On the private law science: theoretical justification and search for the optimal structure

The article is devoted to the evaluation of the jurisprudence structure. The branch division of the juridical science is critically viewed due to the absence of the scientifically justified criteria for the law branch distinction. The tendency is emphasized of escaping the distinct branch differentiation, the mutual influence and penetration of different institutions is acknowledged. The question is raised about the necessity to develop a scientifically justified structure of the domestic legal science; a proposal is made that the absence of such a structure leads to difficulties in the scientific generalization of the legal categories, to duplication and contradictions. It is proposed to detach the private law science which unites civil, family, corporate, commercial law and a number of other “traditional” branches that research similar legal phenomena. The approach to the civil law as a private law core is critically evaluated; it is noticed that the civil law science built as the reflection of the civil code is not a private law science, as the majority of the civil code norms are not of the private law character (state registration, obtaining a patent etc). The contents of the private law science are defined including dogmatic, sociological and philosophical parts. The dogmatic part of the private law science studies the law norms, discovers relations between them. The dogmatic part of the private legal science studies the norms of the written law as well as the norms contained in the legal custom, court legal positions, which need preliminary to be discovered; the principal research method in dogmatic theology is the hermeneutics. The scientific result for the dogmatic jurisprudence is the commentary to the legislation. The sociological part of the private legal science studies the legal activity as the environment for the law application, its dynamics and connections between the units subject to tracking. The result of the scientific research is the practical recommendations for the law subjects concerning the influence onto their legal connections. The philosophical part of the private legal science discovers general regularities of its formation, generic ideas and categories. In the private law science, the functions of the dogmatic part are performed by the civil law, the functions of the sociological part – by the commercial law, the philosophical part is not well-developed nowadays although it is the philosophical part that the foundation for all the science. For combining the knowledge obtained by the three mentioned parts it is proposed to use the instrumental approach, with which the value of the juridical science is in searching for ways to achieve the legal aims of the subjects.