5 LECTURE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: NOTION AND SOURCES By Boris Strashun Author Doctor of science (Law), Institute of State and Law, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1978 Professor, Kutafi n Moscow State Law University E-mail: 29-29@mail.ru Abstract This paper consists of two main parts. <...> The fi rst one gives an understanding of the term “Constitutional Law” and its different meanings: as a system of legal regulations, legal studies, and an academic discipline. <...> This is also correct, even if nowadays, some constitutions tend to include certain issues that seem to be absolutely irrelevant; for example, the ones concerning the institutions of marriage and family. <...> Regarding methods of legal regulation, they are not much different from the ones used in other branches of law, which are: obliging, permitting (authorizing), and prohibiting. <...> Constitutional Law as legal studies is a result of its norms and social relations research, which elaborates recommendations for lawmakers and relevant state bodies concerning the proper development and interpretation of Constitutional Law norms. <...> Most of the law universities in Russia include Constitutional Law of the Russian Federation and Foreign Countries, as well as Comparative Constitutional Law, as a part of scholar program. <...> There are also some ideas of constitutionalism. <...> Keywords Constitution, constitutionalism, Constitutional Law Volume 1 September 2014 Issue 1 www.kulawr.ru 6 KUTAFIN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW § 1. <...> First of all, Constitutional Law is a system of legal norms. <...> What’s more, Constitutional Law contains essential principles of different law branches (Criminal Law, Civil Law, etc.). <...> It’s worth mentioning that the term “State Law” includes all kinds of norms, which regulate organization and activity of a state, i.e. Administrative Law and Process, Judicial Law and Process. <...> Sometimes it may seem diffi cult to differentiate Public Law from Private Law for the reason of the interlacing of Economics and Ecological Law and the infl uence of the European Union and International Law.1 The Constitutional Law of Russia, as well as that of the countries with the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems, includes all the norms that have constitutional meaning, regardless of the source that contains them. <...> The term <...>