OPPORTUNITY OF RATIONAL LEGISLATOR IN PRACTICE: LITHUANIA

Abstract

The legislator, officials of the state apparatus and the lawyers – all those who face creation, application, and systematization of legal acts – are especially interested in the perfection of such technique. Thinking in legislation is the key element in a process in which the legislator – both legal (lawyer) and political – has to choose one of the many solutions that consolidate social compromise. Legislative technique in Lithuanian doctrine is interpreted in a narrow and a broad sense. This article proves the necessity for the purview of laws to be determined by needs of the society and not by the will of authorities; it also explains how the legislator should apply legal sociology for this purpose. Scientific methods of legal sociology in lawmaking have been introduced relatively recently. The impact of law on political authorities in the process of lawmaking is reflected in actual legally consolidated politics. As legal awareness – „the spirit of law“ – has a direct impact on political processes and determines establishment of procedures, therefore politics itself becomes a part of law. Herewith in political processes the law becomes dynamic and politics itself becomes entrenched in law. In this article interpreting the legislative technique in a broad sense, as a set of methods and means used in preparation, publication and systematization of legal acts, one of its goals should be distinguished – to improve the legislative process from a technical point of view. In Lithuania, it needs to be noted that the content of these requirements have undergone positive changes in quality with the changes of legal acts. In addition to general technical – linguistical requirements material content requirements have been set forth, constituting the scope of individual regulation, the relationship with other legal acts, the essential principles of public relations regulated, etc. At the same time, references to the source of official publication were abandoned, and all these changes lead to conclusion, that the legislative technique in this area has become simpler and clearer and it contributes to the development of better lawmaking.