INTRODUCTION

In the conditions of the development of a social, legal state, the formation of a deeply conscious and highly educated democratic civil society, the transformation of the legal system of Ukraine, its integration into the international and European economic, political and legal spaces, the reform of law enforcement agencies, which is aimed at in-depth training and upgrading the qualifications of officers, acquires special importance police

The theory of the state and law, which is one of the fundamental legal sciences, has a certain weight in solving these and other state and legal problems, which investigates the main properties of the state and law as complex social phenomena, the processes of their emergence, formation and development prospects, develops a methodology their scientific knowledge and understanding, forms the state-legal picture of the world.

The focus of the theory of the state and law as a fundamental legal science on identifying both the basic properties common to all existing states and legal systems in the world, as well as the specific characteristics of each of them, the desire to form the theoretical foundations of the construction of state and legal pictures of the world, are largely determined by the place of the theory of state and law in the educational process of training lawyers (law enforcement officers). If in the first year of study its purpose is to lay the basic foundations of legal thinking, knowledge formation, functioning and development regarding the main properties of the state and law, their components, which create the basis and are an "instrument" for the effective mastery of other legal sciences, then in the final courses, the theory of the state and law as an educational discipline has a different purpose - already at the new professional legal level, to theoretically synthesize the competences of higher education students regarding state and legal phenomena, their future professional activities.

Actually, this is, on the one hand, universal and normative ((as a single one for all types of training (lawyers, law enforcement officers)), and on the other - pluralistic and variable (as such, which has peculiarities of its content for their training according to certain educational trajectories) the theory of the state and law as an educational discipline determines the necessity and expediency of the existence of various textbooks (manuals) on the theory of the state and law, which, moreover, are created in the context of different national legal doctrines, different dominant approaches to the understanding of state law, reflect the peculiarities of the scientific views of the authors (scientific schools), as well as the training of lawyers and law enforcement officers.

This study guide continues the glorious long-standing tradition of educational and educational-methodological publications by the author's collectives, formed at the Department of Theory of the State and Law of the National Academy of Internal Affairs and intended specifically for the thorough theoretical training of lawyers and specialists of law enforcement agencies.

The study guide was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the legal acts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the National Academy of Internal Affairs, namely: "Regulations on the Organization of the Educational Process", as well as programs in the academic discipline "Theory of the State and Law" compiled for students of higher education in accordance with the programs training in specialties 081 "Law", 262 "Law enforcement activity" of the first (bachelor’s) level of higher education in full-time and part­time forms of education.

In terms of the amount of educational material, the manual covers the main provisions of the training course on the theory of the state and law, which are already traditional for the domestic training of lawyers (law enforcement officers), which are combined into a system of topics, in turn, divided into relevant semantic blocks (questions).

The publication is intended mainly for first-year cadets (students), therefore, coverage of a particular topic is presented in somewhat simplified forms, highlighting the main properties of certain state or legal phenomena, their components, types, and so on. In order to emphasize the connections between theoretical provisions and practice, relevant examples from normative legal acts, law enforcement acts and other legal documents are given, and information from legal statistics is used. Particular attention is paid to those topics and issues that make up the theoretical basis for understanding the peculiarities of the organization and activities of central executive bodies, in particular law enforcement agencies, their international and European standards, development prospects, etc.

The purpose of the textbook "Theory of the State and Law" is to ensure that students of higher education acquire the skills and skills regarding general and specific issues related to the regularities of the emergence, development and functioning of state-legal phenomena in society, to acquaint future lawyers (law enforcement officers) with scientifically based forms and methods of work in rule-making and interpretation of legal norms, while implementing the systematization of the current legislation, in the process of law enforcement activities, in the generalization of legal practice, in the implementation of preventive, investigative, educational work of law enforcement agencies and other practical actions.

The main tasks of the "Theory of the State and Law" manual are the formation of general knowledge about the state and law in students of higher education, their mastery of legal terminology, and the formation of a high level of professional legal awareness and legal culture.

As a result of mastering the materials of the study guide, they should know: the basics of the methodology of knowledge of state-legal phenomena; the main regularities of the process of the emergence of the state and law; main approaches to the typology of states and their properties; purpose, types of functions and forms of the state; modern approaches to legal understanding; purpose and functions of law; types of forms (sources) of law; concept, structure and types of legal norms; the relationship between the system of law and the system of legislation; concepts, signs and types of legal relations and other general theoretical concepts; to be able to: freely use the main scientific constructions of the theory of the state and law, correctly apply them when assessing specific situations; navigate in the sources of law; adequately interpret legal norms and analyze their structure; determine the composition and content of legal relations, distinguish them from other types of social relations; correctly implement legal norms in various professional situations; to fulfill in practice the requirements of law and order, etc.

The acquisition of such knowledge and skills by cadets (students) presupposes, first of all, their active and creative independent work on the materials of the manual and other educational, regulatory and scientific sources, in the process of completing individual tasks, preparing for seminars, practical classes, writing term papers, scientific articles and reports. By its nature and the quality of knowledge and skills that are formed during its implementation, such work can be reproductive, aimed at understanding, memorizing and simple reproduction of the material of the manual, reconstructive, which involves its analysis (compilation of a synopsis, report schemes, additions materials from other textbooks or lecture notes, finding and citing examples from legal acts or educational materials from other legal educational disciplines, etc.), heuristic, aimed at finding and solving problematic issues of the educational course (comparative analysis of different textbooks or other sources, identifying issues, which are not covered in the manual and justification of the need to know them, to carry out one's own scientific research in order to participate in meetings of scientific circles, conferences, competitions, etc.).

In conclusion, it should be noted that this study guide on the theory of the state and law, like the previous ones created by the department's author teams, does not pretend to be a comprehensive coverage of the problems of understanding the state and law, it can only serve as a "compass" on the way to their knowledge. Moreover, it is one of the manuals that is adapted to the specifics of the training of law enforcement personnel, the theoretical understanding of the basics of the organization and activities of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, but taking into account world legal processes, Ukraine's integration into the European legal space.

The author's team expresses sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to the creation of this study guide with their advice and comments, especially to the respected reviewers, namely: Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Kolody A. M. and Doctor of Law, Professor E. S. Durnov.

Maksym PENDIURA, Head of the Department of Theory of State and Law National Academy of Internal Affairs, candidate of legal sciences, associate professor