28 The essence of law and the nature of international law
(for instance, the nullity of marriage) or a legal norm;62 the criminal sanctions (also called the penal sanctions), remedies63 (for example, the civil or administrative remedies), and so on, which are the guarantying mechanisms of the legal responsibility system. As prominently articulated by Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart, ‘centrally organized effective system of sanctions . . . are therefore required not as the normal motive for obedience, but as a guarantee that those who would voluntarily obey shall not be sacrifced to those who would not.’64
Legal capacity Meanwhile, legal responsibility may be introduced only against persons who possess legal capacity (‘power to create or enter into a legal relation under the same circumstances in which a normal person would have the power to create or enter into such a relation’)65 and are liable to legal sanctions since not every person can be regarded as a person bearing legal responsibility (for example, a child).
e) The mission of law – to avoid conflicts and to establish civil peace
conflicts reasons for the conflicts absence of equal opportunities conflicts of interest civil peace
62 ‘NULLITY. . . . In a fgurative sense, and in law, it means that which has no more effect than if it did not exist, . . . nullities have been divided into absolute and relative. Absolute nullities are those which may be insisted upon by any one having an interest in rendering the act, deed or writing null, even by the public authorities, . . . Relative nullities can be invoked only by those in whose favor the law has been established’. Nam H Nguyen, Essential 25000 English Law Dictionary, 15791 <https://bit. ly/3h5euKQ> accessed 16 March 2021. ‘absolute nullity. Civil law. 1. An act that is void because it is against public policy, law, or order. – The nullity is noncurable. It may be invoked by any party or by the court. . . . relative nullity. Civil law. 1. A legal nullity that can be cured by confrmation because the object of the nullity is valid. The nullity may be invoked only by those parties for whose interest it was established. . . . 2. The state of such a nullity.’ Black’s Law Dictionary, Bryan A. Garner (ed in chief) (9th edn, Thomson Reuters 2009) 1173. 63 ‘remedy (redress. relief) n. Any of the methods available at law for the enforcement, protection, or recovery of rights or for obtaining redress for their infringement. A civil remedy may be granted by a court to a party to a civil action.’ A Dictionary of Law (n 2) 423. 64 Hart (n 22) 198. 65 ‘specif., the satisfaction of a legal qualifcation, such as legal age or soundness of mind, that determines one’s ability to sue or be sued, to enter into a binding contract, and the like’, Black’s Law Dictionary (n 62) 235.
