The article examines the delineation between the categories of “legal impact” and “legal regulation” within the theory of state and law and clarifies their interrelation in the overall mechanism of law in action. It argues that legal impact constitutes a broader phenomenon encompassing not only the normative ordering of social relations but also law’s influence on legal consciousness, legal culture, value orientations, and the stability of legal expectations. Legal regulation is shown to operate as a specialized form of law in action implemented through a system of legal means and procedures associated with the establishment and exercise of rights and duties and with their legal protection. The study identifies the key criteria for distinguishing these categories by reference to their aims, subjects, objects, temporal boundaries, means, methods, and modes of operation, and concludes that legal regulation is embedded within the broader mechanism of legal impact, while the consistency of law enforcement and the predictability of the legal regime are crucial for the practical effectiveness of law.
Sergey Nikolaevich Khrameshin (Fri,) studied this question.
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