Unsolved Mysteries of Law

Abstract

The article attempts to determine the approaches to explain and propose directions for obtaining answers to one of the most inexplicable theoretical and practical mysteries of law, namely how could one explain that given the absence of its common understanding (e.g. even concerning the term “law” or its analogy in the lexicon of a given nation), similar legal issues are solved primarily similarly in different legal systems.Regardless of the fact that the issue was a matter of research in Western legal scholarship for quite a while, admitting the problem, the ways of solving it are still under development. Therefore, the article critically analyzes the most common approaches to explaining the processes of legal systems integration and acculturation.Despite the activization of the influence of the named processes’ on the national legal systems, the article stipulates that they are unable to answer the raised question positively. The answer has to be looked for in deeper layers of legal history, namely in the common qualities of the phenomenon we know as the law. This quality is the category of justice which explains its essence.Regardless of the fact that the issue of justice and its correlation with the law is mostly in focus of European researchers, specifically those in the field of natural law, this and similar terms (its name differs in different languages) is widely applied far beyond the European continent. They originate in Ancient East, Egypt and Babylon. Early Christianity and other religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) also mention justice. This provides grounds to stipulate that justice is a universal category.Nevertheless, the issue of justice itself is quite relative and dynamic, therefore we cannot rely on it as the direct regulator of human behavior. Law, being a dynamic issue itself, requires more definite and stable guides. Universal principles of law may be the perfect fit for those in all legal systems. Justice widely reflects in those principles.Unfortunately, they are not yet adequately addressed in theoretical jurisprudence. However, their detection provides possibilities for adequate explanation of the named mystery of the law.