Published: 15 February 2019
The aim of the research is a comprehensive analysis of legal nature of the charter of a municipal entity. Grounds are provided, that the municipality charter, being the constituent act of a self-governing unit, is the cornerstone of the foundation of all the municipal rulemaking, a particular “bearing axis”. The leading role of the charter in the system of normative legal acts of a municipality, regulating local self-government, is due to its specific legal nature. The author reveals special integrative (or emergent) features of the municipality charter providing for its legal nature and system-forming character in the structure of other municipal legal acts. For the research, the author used general scientific methods: system-structural, formal-logical, comparative-legal analysis, generalization. In the course of the research, the author identified and considered the specific features of the municipality charter as the main municipal legal act. Based on the research findings, it is proposed to supplement Art. 2 of the Federal Law “On general principles of organization of local self-government in the Russian Federation” of October 6, 2003 №131-FL with the following regulatory definition: the charter of a municipal unit is the main municipal regulatory legal constituent act, which, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws and the laws of a territorial entity of the Russian Federation, regulates organization and exercising of local self-government in the municipal territory and which has the highest legal force in the system of other municipal legal acts. Scientific novelty. A version of the normative definition of the “charter of a municipal entity” is given; the concept of “integrative features of the charter of a municipal entity” is introduced and their analysis is carried out.