The Environmental Law Mechanism: Concept and Elements

A lot of works on the theory of law examine the mechanism of law, but the environmental law mechanism has not been an object of a separate study. The aim of this study was to define the concept of the environmental law mechanism and identify its elements. The research materials were international acts, acts of environmental legislation of Russia, judicial precedents, scientific literature. To reach the aim, both general and specific methods of scientific knowledge were used: analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, abstraction, and the formal legal method. As a result of the research, the environmentally significant goal of the environmental law mechanism was identified. This goal is the environmental rule of law. Environmental rule of law is directly related to environmental legal relations: it is a certain order in which the corresponding rights and legal obligations are actually exercised, and illegal behavior is suppressed. The environmental law mechanism is an integrative systemic legal phenomenon. It is based on single principles of environmental protection, exists and functions to ensure environmental rule of law. The article shows the role of the principles of law for the environmental law mechanism. It is proved that principles as the most stable legal structures make it possible to form a stable legal basis essential for the environmental law mechanism. Specific principles are named in the Federal L aw "On Environmental Protection"; they directly determine the innovative development of Russia. Any environmental law mechanism consists of a set of certain interrelated and mutually dependent elements. For their productive analysis and understanding of the role of each in the mechanism of legal regulation, a classification of elements is proposed. In terms of the legal form, the legal norm, legal fact, legal relationship, and act of implementation are distinguished. These elements are quite traditional for legal science. Particular attention is paid to the fact that, taking into account the diversity of environmental relations and the complexity of the state structure of the Russian Federation, the environmental law mechanism operates at centralized and decentralized levels. The article also describes specific instrumental elements in terms of the content of the elements of the environmental law mechanism. They are unevenly significant in the mechanism of environmental law regulation, and their integrated use is required.

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