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State-Guaranteed Legal Aid as a Social Right of an Infrastructural Nature

By Vadim Sukhov

Law and World · Vol. 12, No. 39, pp. 21-34 · 2026

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Abstract

This article examines the legal nature of state-guaranteed legal aid and substantiates its classification as an autonomous social right of an infrastructural character. While legal aid has traditionally been regarded as a mechanism for ensuring access to justice and the effective exercise of the right to a fair trial, contemporary legal developments demonstrate that its significance extends far beyond judicial proceedings. In increasingly complex legal systems, access to qualified legal assistance has become an essential condition for the practical exercise of a wide range of rights and legitimate interests.

The study analyses the principal doctrinal approaches to legal aid developed within the European legal tradition, including procedural, human rights, and socio-legal perspectives. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between legal aid and the state’s positive obligations in the field of human rights protection. The article also explores European institutional models of legal aid and the role of international standards in shaping national systems of legal assistance.

The research argues that legal aid should not be viewed merely as a derivative procedural safeguard or as an instrument of access-to-justice policy. Rather, it performs an independent social function by compensating for structural legal inequality and enabling individuals to make effective use of the legal opportunities available to them. Because legal aid creates the conditions necessary for the exercise and protection of rights across different spheres of law, it is characterised as a social right of an infrastructural nature. This approach contributes to the further development of social rights theory and contemporary understandings of the social state.

Details

Publication type
Journal article
Author
  • Vadim Sukhov - Ph.D in Law, Lecturer at Comrat State University, Republic of Moldova
Journal
Law and World
Publication
September 30, 2026
Volume
12
Issue
39
Pages
21-34
Language
English
DOI
10.36475/12.3.2
ISSN
2346-7916
Institutions
Comrat State University
Access
Open access
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Added to catalogue
Metadata source
Supplied by the publisher

Areas of law

International Human Rights Law

Keywords

State-guaranteed legal aid social rights access to justice positive obligations of the state legal infrastructure

Cite this record

Sukhov, V. (2026). State-Guaranteed Legal Aid as a Social Right of an Infrastructural Nature. Law and World, 12(39), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.36475/12.3.2
Sukhov, Vadim. "State-Guaranteed Legal Aid as a Social Right of an Infrastructural Nature." Law and World 12, no. 39 (2026): 21-34. https://doi.org/10.36475/12.3.2.
@article{sukhov2026_t6f7e2,
  title     = {State-Guaranteed Legal Aid as a Social Right of an Infrastructural Nature},
  author    = {Sukhov, Vadim},
  year      = {2026},
  journal   = {Law and World},
  volume    = {12},
  number    = {39},
  pages     = {21--34},
  doi       = {10.36475/12.3.2},
  issn      = {2346-7916},
  language  = {en},
  url       = {https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/1037},
  note      = {Open access}
}
Download BibTeX 
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sukhov, Vadim
TI  - State-Guaranteed Legal Aid as a Social Right of an Infrastructural Nature
PY  - 2026
JO  - Law and World
VL  - 12
IS  - 39
SN  - 2346-7916
DO  - 10.36475/12.3.2
LA  - en
UR  - https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/1037
AB  - This article examines the legal nature of state-guaranteed legal aid and substantiates its classification as an autonomous social right of an infrastructural character. While legal aid has traditionally been regarded as a mechanism for ensuring access to justice and the effective exercise of the right to a fair trial, contemporary legal developments demonstrate that its significance extends far beyond judicial proceedings. In increasingly complex legal systems, access to qualified legal assistance has become an essential condition for the practical exercise of a wide range of rights and legitimate interests. The study analyses the principal doctrinal approaches to legal aid developed within the European legal tradition, including procedural, human rights, and socio-legal perspectives. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between legal aid and the state’s positive obligations in the field of human rights protection. The article also explores European institutional models of legal aid and the role of international standards in shaping national systems of legal assistance. The research argues that legal aid should not be viewed merely as a derivative procedural safeguard or as an instrument of access-to-justice policy. Rather, it performs an independent social function by compensating for structural legal inequality and enabling individuals to make effective use of the legal opportunities available to them. Because legal aid creates the conditions necessary for the exercise and protection of rights across different spheres of law, it is characterised as a social right of an infrastructural nature. This approach contributes to the further development of social rights theory and contemporary understandings of the social state.
KW  - State-guaranteed legal aid
KW  - social rights
KW  - access to justice
KW  - positive obligations of the state
KW  - legal infrastructure
KW  - სახელმწიფოს მიერ გარანტირებული იურიდიული დახმარება
KW  - სოციალური უფლებები
KW  - მართლმსაჯულების ხელმისაწვდომობა
KW  - სახელმწიფოს პოზიტიური ვალდებულებები
KW  - სამართლებრივი ინფრასტრუქტურა
SP  - 21
EP  - 34
ER  -
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