Subject area of study concerned with the legal theory

The scientific theoretic research should start with the selection of a subject area; otherwise the execution of the integral theoretic analysis will be impeded. The subject area of the contemporary theory of law may be established in accordance with three methods. The method of content analysis of the legal theory denomination doesn't allow to achieve the required result considering the polysemy of the law term (it has four meanings in the law literature) and its ability to replace other term phrases by being their condensed version. The genetic definition of the subject area of the legal theory seems ineffective as well: eventually there took place fundamental changes of the legal theory subject, namely there is both narrowing of the subject, which consists in differentiation of fields of law, establishment of new independent juridical sciences with their own subjects, and its widening as inclusion of problems and objects, which haven't been researched before. As a result of the mentioned changes there has been a qualitative shift in the legal theory science that is now not a sum of common parts of specialized sciences, but a complex integrated formation. Establishment of a type and a specific distinction allowed the author to define the subject of the legal theory as a complex of behavior rules secured by the state; however the legal science isn't limited by this subject area, but also touches upon categories of legal awareness and legal relationship. Hence the author claims that subject area of the modern theory of law is not only the law itself, but also legal awareness and legal relationship, or the legal system as a whole, the general development regularities of which is also a research subject of this science.