Chirkin V.E. Three global legal systems of modernity: convergence and antagonisms

Abstract: The author examines the classifications of legal systems and legal families that exist in the Russian and foreign literature, and notices their inaccuracies. The terms “legal system” and “legal family” are often used interchangeably, different social essence of the major legal systems is ignored. Anglo-Saxon law and totalitarian socialist legal system are in the same classification unit. It is offered new approaches and synthesis. The author uses the historical, logical, deductive, inductive and comparative research methods, applies the formational-civilizational approach and, on this basis, identifies three major legal systems in the modern world: the Muslim system, liberal semi-social capitalist system and the totalitarian socialist system. On the basis of socio-culturological legal approach within each of the global systems, the author highlights the legal families. In the Moslem system there are fundamentalist (radical) and modernized (upgraded) legal families, but also for another reason - the Sunni and Shiite communities legal families, in the liberal semi-social capitalist system there are Anglo Saxon, the Romano-German and other families, in the totalitarian socialist system - orthodox Leninist-Bolshevik and modernized partly, upgraded (but only in the area of economic regulation) family.

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