THE PROBLEM OF LEGITIMACY OF LAW: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN APPROACHES

Abstract

The article explores the issue of the legitimacy of law through the prism of traditional and modern approaches to legal understanding. The author analyzes the evolution of legitimacy concepts in law – from classical theories of natural law and legal positivism to contemporary approaches – focusing on defining the main criteria of legal legitimacy in the context of modern societal transformations.The purpose of the study is to identify the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the legitimacy of law, analyze them, and compare them within the framework of contemporary legal philosophy. The research objective is an in-depth examination of traditional and modern concepts of legitimacy, as well as the development of recommendations for adapting these approaches in legal practice to ensure the stability and acceptability of legal norms in modern society.The study is based on a comprehensive methodology, combining philosophical-legal analysis, comparative legal methods, and an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, this allowed for an exploration of the concepts of legal legitimacy in historical retrospect, tracing the transformation of ideas regarding the foundations of legal and political legitimacy, and defining the ontological and axiological bases of legal legitimacy.The scientific novelty of the study lies in its comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the concept of legal legitimacy in the context of globalization and the development of digital technologies. The author argues that the modern understanding of legal legitimacy requires a combination of procedural correctness (democratic lawmaking processes) and a value-based component (compliance with international human rights standards).Special attention in the article is given to the analysis of contradictions between formal legitimacy (adherence to established procedures) and social justice in postmodern societies. The author proposes a new approach to assessing the legitimacy of law, which takes into account both institutional mechanisms and communicative practices in the legal field.