The systemic nature of law from a judicial perspective

Abstract Current critiques of legal system theory and its application predominantly fixate on the legislative perspective of legal systems, failing to recognize the judicial significance of systematic law, and are therefore limited in scope. The systematic nature of law is constructed through fiction and can be divided into two aspects: legislative construction and judicial methodology. The legislative perspective views systematic law as equivalent to systems of legal norms, codes, and so forth, considering the legal system to be an objective normative entity. However, legal practice inevitably confronts tensions between the system and society—tensions between abstraction and concreteness, simplicity and complexity, stability and change. Consequently, legal systematicity as a mode of legal thinking and methodology remains necessary to facilitate the implementation of law and the realization of the rule of law. The methodological perspective of systematicity follows the objective system of legal norms and is realized through the application of systematic thinking in individual cases. The methodological construction of legal systematicity possesses idealized characteristics. On one hand, it can help judges locate applicable law, construct adjudicatory norms for individual cases, and promote the matching application of legal norms to case facts. On the other hand, through systematic evaluation and argumentation, it reduces challenges regarding legal contradictions or gaps, maintains the autonomy of legal meaning, and advances the realization of the rule of law.