The Issue of Authority in Cases of Normative Duality
- The normative application of several legal systems to a single case is not alien to our law. Labor law itself consists of a dual normative foundation - contract law, which forms the normative basis of labor law, to which are added special rules designed to balance the inherent inequality inherent in the classic relationship between employees and employers. The application of contract law to any dispute does not negate the jurisdiction of the Labor Law Court, since, as stated, labor law is essentially based on the law of contracts and their use - it is a day-to-day act. The same applies to the use of norms drawn from other areas of law. In our case, as recalled, the reference is to the rules of administrative law that obligate every public authority in every decision it makes. The very fact that a number of normative systems apply to one case does not have the authority of one court or another:
"Existence in public law does not preclude the possibility of simultaneous existence in civil law. The law regulates the constitutional aspects of the performance of the role, and does not impair the contractual validity of the engagement itself. The fact that the engagement has two sides will be expressed in the substantive sentence that we will apply to the relationship, which will be a two-value system, but it does not negate the existence of a contractual system" ("Elected and 'Functionary', at p. 88; see also the Seroussi case, at p. 832 in this regard).
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"In its discussion on the subject of the petition before us, the Labor Court will apply the rules of private and public law. He will rule on the claim before him according to the same normative system that would have been operated by the High Court of Justice, if it had heard the petition. There are no two legal systems in Israel, one that is special to the Labor Court and the other that is special to the High Court of Justice. ... Normative unity and judicial harmony characterize the legal and judicial systems. Therefore, when a labor court hears a matter of a public nature, it applies labor law and administrative law to it. When the same matter comes before the High Court of Justice (in a petition against the decision of the National Labor Court), it will hear the matter according to the same normative system. Changing the tool does not entail a change in the content. Therefore, the doctrine of administrative discretion, which establishes appropriate criteria for the exercise of administrative power, applies in every court and in every court" (High Court of Justice 3991/92 Abu Snan Local Council v. Minister of Education and Culture, IsrSC 47(3) 234, 238 (1993)).