THEORETICAL AND LEGAL SENSE OF THE RULE OF LAW

The paper examined the theoretical and legal sense of the rule of law in modern jurisprudence. Further, based on domestic and foreign scientific researchers' analysis the writing analyzed the essence of the rule of law within the positive law framework. The paper highlighted that the rule of law has two main goals: the limitation of state power arbitrariness and human rights protection. Besides, the article considered legal values and law supremacy based on ontological and epistemological parameters of the law theory. Moreover, the report substantiated the main requirements, thanks to which it was possible to comprehend the content, orientation and prerequisites for ensuring the principle of the functioning of the legal state and the establishment of the rule of law. The paper determined that the representatives of the legal scientific community singled out five main values of the rule of law principle, which are the objects of scientific discourse in society. Based on the theoretical and legal foundations the study proposed the specific vision of the rule of law phenomenon definition in jurisprudence. Having processed a significant amount of legal literature, the authors identified the main approaches to the rule of law and acknowledge, in particular, an integrative approach characterized by an attempt to investigate the named phenomenon through a combination of the meanings of «law and rule» and an elemental approach, which consists, on the one hand, in denying the possibility of defining a general concept rule of law; on the other — in revealing the content of the rule of law only through the study of its components. The paper characterized the «formal» and «material» concepts considering the constituent elements of the rule of law. Furthermore, the research found that one of the manifestations of the supremacy of law is that law is not limited to legislation as one of its forms, but also includes other social norms, in particular norms of morality, traditions, customs, etc., which are generally accepted in society and conditioned by its historical achievements cultural level of development. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research was the historical-legal method, the structural-functional method and the comparative method.