The development of laws and legal thinking had achieved incredible depth and detail by the time humanity entered the 21st century. Nevertheless, the very source of the binding force and validity of law continues to be conceptualised differently, depending on the school of legal thought and tradition that one shares or belongs to. Theoretizing about the nature of law is important and it belongs to the necessary and on-going process of reflecting and thinking on what kind of society we are and want to be. It is part of human history and of the future of ideas.
Dr Daiga Rezevska offers a new perspective on the idea of general principles as a source of law. It is a new perspective since, as the author explains, while thinking along with Hans Kelsen, Herbert L.A. Hart and Ronald Dworkin, she began to realise that the general theories of law do not sufficiently engage with particular legal arrangements, such as, for example, a Democratic legal order based on principles of Rule of Law and human dignity. In her book Dr Rezevska sets out to examine a particularly challenging proposition: since the ultimate goal of a Democratic legal order is to provide and ensure justice for all its citizens, the theory of legal positivism is insufficient in assisting us to conceptualize all the necessary legal tools to meet the challenges posed by pursuing this goal. She puts forward a thesis that she explains and justifies in the book that “natural law doctrine is a leading doctrine for understanding of the meaning of law” and conceptualizing the nature and functioning of law for the purposes of justice in a Democratic society. Dr Rezevska engages with the key notions of legal theory, such as Basic Norm (Grundnorm), system of beliefs and legal reason, and system of legal sources to explain the nature of general principles of law. All these ideas have been conceived to articulate that law and its application are valid and legally sound. The author takes stock of the work of those legal philosophers who developed the modern idea of general principles of law, beginning with Ronald Dworkin who is credited as a founder of this idea. She adds to it her perspective by contextualizing the importance of the idea for the purposes of transitioning from a totalitarian legal system, such as the one prevailing in the Republic of Latvia during the Soviet occupation, to a Democratic legal order which allowed Latvia to re-join the Western European legal tradition and become a member of the European Union in 2004.
The great merit of Dr Rezevska’s work lies precisely in the practical testing of her theory against the experience of the transition from Communism to Democracy in Latvia and the tectonic shift in legal mind-set and practice that was necessary to fully achieve this transition. The theory of general principles
Ineta Ziemele Ph.D. (Cantab.)
Judge, Court of Justice of the European Union
Professor, Riga Graduate School of Law (Latvia)