The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the arguments given by law-makers during the discussion of draft laws and judges for the purpose of legal interpretation and legal application are often criticized. The general theoretical view of arguments, which is the goal of this research, can help solve the current task of improving legal argumentation. The article is based on the so-called European understanding of the argument and substantiates the types of arguments that are used in law-making, official legal interpretation and legal application in Ukraine. For this, such methods of research as general theoretical, typology, classification, analysis of argumentative practice and reconstruction of identified arguments were used. It was found that the methodological basis of arguments is the criterium for distinguishing those varieties of them, which are called types of arguments, namely: hermeneutic and topical; ethical; pragmadialectic. It is substantiated that it is possible to classify arguments, in particular, according to the following criteria: 1) the means for construction of premises of the argument; 2) the form of inference, which lies the base of the argument; 3) probative force of the argument; 4) the object of legal argumentation; 5) the role in the argumentative structure; 6) the stage of legal regulation; 7) the source of the argument. The list of criteria for classification of arguments is not exhaustive. The practical value of the article consists in the fact that identifying the types of arguments in legal argumentation is important for improving the argumentative practice of institutional arguers.

Keywords: legal argument, extralegal argument, factual argument, hypothetical argument, law-regulatory argument, doctrinal argument

Doi: 10.31359/jnalsu.29(3).2022.47-68