Social Change and “Opening” the Axiology of Legal Interpretation. The Outline of the Basic Features

Abstract

A deep social change, both directed on the democratic and on the autocratic political system, results not only in the changes of the normative regulations but also impacts the process of legal interpretation. Weakening the role of the language and systemic interpretative arguments, the change opens the interpretation on the stronger use of the axiological arguments, connected with the legal principles and criteria of general reference clauses. Particularly the last constructs, understood as the legislative authorization of the court to use the extra-legal criteria in the process of application of law, open the axiology of legal interpretation directly and largely, tying the character of this opening with the direction of change. The strengthening of the role of axiology deals as well with the widening of the base of the reference to these criteria (general clauses as the valid argument) as with the influence of these criteria on the process (shifting the axiological arguments to the role of the primary arguments) and the results (the correction of the stricti iuris contents by the social or political axiology) of the legal interpretation.