The task of a unified context for the implementation of legal norms or new insights on the meta-sectoral nature of constitutional law

In this article, the author addresses the traditional problem of the dual nature of constitutional law in constitutional and legal science and examines its manifestations as a meta-branch of the national legal system. By describing the diverse functions of constitutional law as a meta-branch, the author concludes that constitutional law also serves another function, which is to formulate and establish the socio-historical and legal context for the implementation of all legal norms of national law. This conclusion is illustrated through the activities of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which, as a constitutional control body, actively utilizes the category of socio-historical context in its arguments, formulates this context, and conveys its understanding to other elements of the system of public authority and society as a whole. It is advisable to consider the meta-branch nature of constitutional law from the perspective of communicative theory of law, which serves as the methodological basis of the research, that is, through the categories of communication among legal subjects, interpretation of legal texts, and legal context. The meta-branch function of formulating and establishing the socio-historical and legal context for the implementation of legal norms of various sectoral affiliation had not previously been highlighted in constitutional law science. The scientific novelty of the study also lies in the description of the practical significance of the context-establishing function of constitutional law. This function consists of creating conditions for the interpretation of legal norms, uniform application of law, filling gaps in law, identifying and eliminating defects in legislation, as well as creating conditions for the borrowing of legal institutions and the proper implementation of international law norms in the Russian legal system. Based on doctrinal sources and law enforcement practices, it has been established that the unified legal (constitutional) context occurs, among other things, through the use of special constitutionalizing practices such as constitutional control and legal examination of regulatory acts.