Legality as a Formal Foundation of the Legal Order: Concept, Criteria, and Mechanisms of Ensuring

The article examines legality as a formal foundation of the legal order, reflecting the degree of actual compliance with the prescriptions of positive law and the stability of legal regulation. It substantiates the need to doctrinally distinguish legality, law, and legal order with regard to their respective objects of assessment and levels of legal analysis. The study identifies key criteria of legality, including the disciplinary conditioning of lawful conduct, the enforceability of legal requirements through legal liability and legal coercion, as well as the procedural and institutional predictability of law enforcement. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms sustaining legality within multi-level regulation, where the coherence of domestic and international legal remedies, conflict-of-laws coordination, and procedural clarity constitute prerequisites for a stable legal regime and for the protection of the State’s public interests. The article concludes that strengthening legality requires enhancing legal certainty, the consistency of law-enforcement practice, and the accountability of public institutions while maintaining effective protection of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in legal relations.