Concept and strategies for resolving conflicts between special legal rules

The paper presents ideas on resolving conflicts between special legal rules. Such norm conflicts occur when several special norms originate from a single general norm vased on different criteria. These are partial norm conflicts, which cannot be resolved directly through the legal maxim of lex specialis. The purpose of this article is to establish an optimal approach for resolving conflicts between special legal rules by analyzing current methodologies addressing such conflicts. The author employs various methods for investigating legal reality, including the systemic approach, conceptual analysis, legal-dogmatic method, comparative approach, and juridical hermeneutic. Five methods for addressing these conflicts are identified. (1) The ‘ostrich’ approach. This method avoids legal conflicts by narrowly interpreting one special rule as part of general rule, enabling direct application of lex specialis. (2) The ‘integrative’ approach: This method eliminates legal conflict by harmonizing the content of special rules through interpretation that aligns them with a common purpose. (3) The ‘essential’ approach: This approach resolves conflicts by identifying a parameter that determines the degree of specialty of colliding norms, then applying the lex specialis maxim accordingly. (4) The ‘meaningful’ approach: This involves describing a universal or localized meta-legal criterion to overcome conflicts, for example, applying the humanistic criterion that famous the norm most beneficial to its addressee (in favorem) in cases of a conflict. (5) The ‘dogmatic” criterion: This criterion resolves conflicts based on other general principles, such as the lex posterior maxim. Due to its neutrality and simplicity, this approach is recommended as the primary methor for resolving conflicts between special norms. If special rules are adopted simulteneously, the ‘essential’ criterion is the preferred method, with the ‘integrative’ approach as a possible alternative.