On the Problem of Authentic Legality on Some Examples of Laws of the 20th Century

The paper examines the historical aspects of the development of legality in the legislation of Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, and the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It is noted that the understanding of legality through the conceptual series “principle — method — regime — state”, as well as the concepts of the idea of formal legality, legal legality, constitutional legality, situational legality are currently no longer always able to fully reflect the essence of legality as a legal category. The article shows that the legislators of Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, and the communist regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia created a regime of quasi-legality, and their activities on formally legal grounds became one of the most famous examples of war crimes and genocide in the world history of the 20th century. In this regard, the author proposes the concept of authentic legality, which should contribute to the further development of ideas about legality.