TFL Vsebine / Revija Revus

Hierarhija norm v pravni, družbeni in institucionalni ureditvi Starega režima. Presoja ustavnosti, do katere si je v Starem režimu parlamentarno sodstvo lastilo polno in izključno pravico, je bila utemeljena ne le na temeljnih zakonih francoskega kraljestva, temveč tudi na sklopu načel (fran. les maximes), izhajajočih iz »Izročila«. To Izročilo sta tvorila predvsem božanski in naravni zakon, tj. pravna sistema, ki zahtevata »modrostno« sodno razlago. Ta razlagalna dejavnost je dajala uvid v množico metafizičnih vrednot, ki jih je sposobna razumeti le sodniška Scientia Juris. Pravno Izročilo pa je obenem tvoril tudi “dépôt légal”, tj. celota vseh zakonov, vključno z »navadnimi« zakoni, ki so posledica običajnega izraza suverene volje prejšnjega kralja – car tel avait été son plaisir (gre za sodobno ubeseditev rimskega reka quidquid principi placuit legis habet vigorem). Iz parlamentarne pristojnosti se je tako razvila presoja ustavnosti, ki jo je sodništvo navadno izvrševalo zelo gibko, tj. odvisno od okoliščin in trenutnih političnih interesov v pravnih položajih, ki jih je želelo zaščititi. Hierarhija norm je bila tako pomemben instrument za zaščito pravnega reda, katerega varuhi so bili po lastnem prepričanju legum doctores. Hierarhija norm je bila na ta način neposredno povezana s politično vladavino sodnikov.

The judicial review, to which the Ancient Regime’s parliamentary judiciary claimed full and unique right, was not only founded on the fundamental laws of the French kingdom, but also on a set of principles (“les maximes”) drawn from the “Tradition”. This “Tradition” was first of all composed of the divine law and the natural law, that is of legal systems both of which needed a judicial ‘sapiencial’ interpretation. This interpretative activity provided revealing insight into the body of metaphysical values that only the magistrates’ Scientia Juris was able to draw on. However, the legal Tradition also included the “dépôt légal”, i.e., the totality of all laws, including, so to say, ‘ordinary’ laws, that is to say statutes created as a result of the simple manifestation of the sovereign will of an earlier King “car tel avait été son plaisir” (modern formulation of the Roman expression: quidquid principi placuit legis habet vigorem). Thus, parliamentary jurisdiction used to give rise to judicial review that was usually exercised very flexibly by the Judiciary, i.e. depending on the circumstances and momentary political interests of the legal situations it wanted to protect. Thus, the hierarchy of norms was a remarkable instrument for protecting this legal order whose tutors were, according to their own opinion, legum doctores. And so the hierarchy of norms was directly connected with the political government of judges.