Social Justice In Constitutional Law

Social justice is a social element of the universal human value of justice, associated with socialist teachings (not only Marxism). This word combination is increasingly becoming a principle of law and, in general, a principle of a democratic and socially-oriented society of our time. In Marxism-Leninism that notion had a class character. Now the principle of social justice, or certain elements of it (without the word “principle”) are enshrined in modern constitutions (Brazil, Nepal, Poland, etc.), including the Russian one, where it is expressed less clearly than in some other constitutions. Nowadays, social justice becomes one of the most important provisions of the modern constitutional law. In three major global systems of modern law — Muslim, liberal semi-social capitalist and totalitarian socialist, the content of that principle, its indicators are not identical and sometimes even antagonistic. The article compares the content and legal indicators of this principle, the practice in Russia and other countries. Among such indicators the author considers monetary value of the consumer goods basket, the minimum monthly wage, differences in income of population groups, pension coverage, etc. The article contains comparative figures, related to these indicators, for different countries and Russia.