Axiological dimensions of the functioning of legal terminology

Abstract

The aim of this article is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the axiological dimensions of legal terminology and to identify its role in shaping the values underpinning the modern legal system. The study aims to clarify how legal terms reflect and convey legal and universal human values, ensure the conceptual orderliness of legal reality, and influence the level of legal certainty. The methodological basis consists of a set of general scientific and specialised methods, in particular axiological, structural-semantic, comparative-legal, hermeneutic and systemic approaches, which made it possible to investigate both the semantic characteristics of terms and their value-laden nature in the context of social and legal dynamics.

The results of the study demonstrate that legal terminology is not merely a linguistic tool for naming legal concepts, but a value-laden element of legal content. It reflects legal traditions established in society, embodies fundamental values – such as freedom, equality, justice and order – and ensures the stability of legal regulation thanks to its semantic certainty. At the same time, it has been established that terminology is a dynamic phenomenon that changes under the influence of globalisation processes, the development of legal linguistics, the internationalisation of law and the transformation of social norms. This dynamic shapes new levels of semantic content for terms and simultaneously creates challenges associated with the risks of legal uncertainty in the event of a loss of terminological precision.

The conclusions demonstrate that legal terminology plays a system-forming role in the axiology of law, as it combines a normative function with a function of reflecting values. Its axiological interpretation enables a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the legal system’s functioning and contributes to improving the quality of legislative drafting and the effectiveness of law enforcement. It is concluded that the stability and clarity of terms must be aligned with the needs of legal development, and that ensuring a balance between tradition and dynamism is a key condition for maintaining the substantive integrity and predictive capacity of the legal system.