The phenomenon of lawmaking and its understanding in legal doctrine of the Age of Enlightenment

In the article, the author reveals the features of the emergence and development of legal doctrines of the Enlightenment era in the countries of the European continent, characterizes their main provisions. The provisions that formed the basis for the further isolation and development of ideas about lawmaking and its policy are noted and characterized. Summarizing the legal ideas formed by philosophers of the past, attention is focused on their features and significance for the further scientific understanding of the phenomenon of lawmaking. It is noted that the concept of «lawmaking policy» until the beginning of the 19th century. was not isolated as an independent category, at the same time, such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Gaius, Ulpian and others, starting from the period of antiquity, raise questions about the origin of law, its division into natural and positive, the formalization of positive law, the relationship between law and law, the study of which creates a foundation for further study of various aspects of the nature of law and giving it an appropriate formal expression. It is established that in the era of enlightenment, the categories of «right», «law» and «politics» in the views of philosophers of the past are considered as interrelated categories, the connection between which is primarily manifested in the fact that they are phenomena of the reality of any state and contemporary society. Law is mainly considered as a phenomenon that originates from the laws of nature, is a component of nature and can acquire its positive expression in the form of laws. Understanding the law is reduced to a special monopoly state-power instrument of influence, which constitutes a system and, on the one hand, ensures the coordination of people’s lives in accordance with the laws of nature, and on the other hand, allows you to consolidate and spread the will of the ruler, the ruling elite, the people, reflect and consolidate public interests. In addition, it is concluded that during the enlightenment period, ideas about: a) the phenomenon of lawmaking as a special process of preparing, considering and adopting acts of positive law; b) the phenomenon of politics, which is a special art (activity) in terms of ensuring the management and organization of society, its focus on the result of the corresponding activity. According to the results of the conducted research, it was concluded that the views of philosophers of the Enlightenment era, who not only rethought the phenomenon of such phenomena as politics and law, but also proved the possibility and feasibility of an organic combination of categories from different scientific fields, stimulated the further doctrinal emergence and isolation of the concepts of «lawmaking» and «lawmaking policy».