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Vol 77, No 1 (2024)
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PRIVATE LAW / JUS PRIVATUM

9-21 641
Abstract

The new national project «Data Economy» developed by the Government of the Russian Federation actualizes the problem of determining the legal nature of big data and the specifics of its civil law regime. Based on the basic civil law doctrinal provisions, the author explores the concept of big data, examines the relationship between the concepts of «big data», «database», «data bank». The paper concludes that the impossibility of big data’s existence without a material carrier — a computer device with appropriate software (a set of certain programs) and artificial intelligence (a new innovative product of intellectual activity), on the basis of which a symbiosis of artificial intelligence information technologies, technical means and digital structured information is formed — allows big data to be attributed to a certain information system. The conclusion is made about big data as a new object of civil rights, the content of the legal regime of which is determined by the characteristics of this object as a result of intellectual activity, namely: the ability to participate in civil law transactions only through the exclusive (property) right to big data by means of conclusion of relevant agreements: license and sublicense agreements, agreements concerning alienation of exclusive rights, commercial concessions, trust management of the exclusive right to big data, collective management. With regard to big data, we can talk about applicability of the contractual structure for the provision of information services and the conclusion of relevant contracts (rendering paid services using big data, etc.).

22-31 1055
Abstract

The deprivation of academic degrees of employees of educational and scientific organizations has negative consequences for the employer. In addition to the fact that the employer suffers reputational losses, the employer is obliged to make a decision concerning the possibility of continuing an employment relationship with such an employee, since the academic degree confirms the qualification level, and concerning recovery of unreasonably received remuneration, since the academic degree entitles the employees to receive additional payments and participate in grants. The lack of a direct mechanism for resolving this issue violates the balance of interests between the employee and the employer. The purpose of the paper is to identify the negative consequences of deprivation of an academic degree in the context of labor legislation for employees of educational and scientific organizations, including risk assessment for the employer.

The research methodology was based on general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, which made it possible to draw reasonable conclusions about the need to develop a special mechanism for establishing legitimate certainty of labor relations when an employee is deprived of an academic degree. The study used a formal legal method (when referring to the texts of normative legal acts and court decisions).

The doctrine of labor law lacks thorough consideration of the issue due to its relative novelty because of the large number of deprivations of academic degrees that have taken place recently. The author determines two problems related to the consequences of deprivation of an academic degree: termination of an employment contract on the employer’s initiative and recovery of unjust enrichment. The paper justifies the necessity of granting the employer the right to terminate employment contracts with such persons. For the first time, the paper shows the dependence of the consequences of deprivation of an academic degree in the form of the possibility of termination of an employment contract at the employer’s initiative on the office taken by the person deprived of the academic degree, as a result of which the need to change approaches to the balance of rights between the parties to an employment contract is elucidated. The results of the study can be used in the work of educational and scientific organizations whose employees are deprived of academic degrees, in order to avoid procedural errors and violations of workers’ rights, or in judicial practice.

32-53 918
Abstract

Rapid development of technology suggests the advent of a new industrial revolution. Artificial intelligence technology is one of the driving forces of this process that has an increasing impact on socioeconomic relations, changing ideas about the limits of human capabilities in the field of information analysis and data processing. The role of artificial intelligence is not limited to information processing, since its functioning is also aimed at generating creative content. The academic literature indicates that the development of artificial intelligence technology will lead to «seismic» social and economic consequences. It will have a devastating impact on legislation, in particular in the field of intellectual property. The paper defends the thesis that the technological and transhumanistic revolution in intellectual property law has not taken place. The fundamental idea that only a human is the creator provides the basis of intellectual property rights. As a general rule, the results generated by artificial intelligence should remain in the public domain, since neither software developers using artificial intelligence technology nor its users have the right to privatize the intellectual and cultural heritage of human society. The arguments of the authors, who believe that the transfer of the results generated by artificial intelligence into the public domain deprives the developers of this technology of economic incentives are unconvincing. Artificial intelligence technologies have their own economic incentives that justify investments in this area. The new practice of generative artificial intelligence providers to assume the property risks of their users justifies this approach. It can be stated that conditions are emerging for establishing a general model of tort liability for violation by generative intelligence providers of the exclusive rights of authors and other copyright holders.

CRIMINAL LAW SCIENCES / JUS CRIMINALE

54-66 438
Abstract

The paper considers the possibilities of solving some problems of crime qualification using the juridicalconstructionist approach. The focus of the legal analysis is on the structural features of a specific normative prescription of the criminal law with the peculiarities of the connections between its elements. First, the author shows how the application of different legal structures to similar facts of the case changes the legal assessment of what has been done from a completed crime through an attempt to commit it and to conclusions about the absence of a criminally punishable act. Second, the author discusses the issue of determining not only the moment of the legal completion of the crime, but also the moment of the legal beginning of the crime to find the boundaries between the preparation for the commission of a crime and the attempt to commit it. The author provides his understanding of the legal structure in criminal law, as well as its content. Using the example of judicial normative interpretation and law enforcement practice, the author proves that legal structures can change, despite the fact that the disposition of an article of a Special part of the Criminal Law may remain unchanged. According to the author, the main work on the description and modification of legal structures is carried out by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, including its Plenum. The paper demonstrates positive aspects of the constructionist approach in the legal analysis of an unfinished crime, as well as the difficulties that may be caused by it. For clarity, using the analysis of legal structures, the author elucidates approaches to the qualification of attacks on the life of two or more persons, when one victim was killed, and one or more other victims were not killed due to circumstances independent of the will of the perpetrator. In the process of this analysis, the author demonstrates the distinction between attempted murder of two or more persons and preparations for such a crime, and provides his considerations concerning decisions of the courts of appeal of general jurisdiction.

67-90 549
Abstract

Taking into account enormous importance of reliable initial criminological information for criminal policy, the paper examines the issue of reflecting an objective picture of the fight against crime in official statistics. Using the method of statistical analysis, the author examines: the number of registered crimes in Russia (2012–2022); reported cases of administrative offenses in courts of general jurisdiction (2012–2022); the number of convicts in Russia, the number of individuals with criminal history on record or with an outstanding conviction, their share in © Маслов В. А., 2024

the total number of convicts, the structure and proportion of convicts in the context of committed crimes (2012– 2022); the number and proportion of convicted persons in correctional colonies for adults, depending on the age at the time of the crime, as well as taking into account the repetition of imprisonment (2012–2021); crimes of persons serving their sentences in educational colonies for minors (2012–2021). A number of the studied indicators are presented in the form of diagrams for clarity. Attention is paid to reducing the number of registered crimes while increasing appeals to the internal affairs bodies. The paper highlights as a matter of concern the fact of a consistently high proportion of grave and especially grave crimes in the crime structure, the fact of an increase in both short-term (up to 1 year) and long-term (over 10 years) terms of imprisonment of persons serving sentences in correctional colonies for adults. Attention is focused on the problems of a disproportionate decrease in the number of persons held in educational colonies for minors convicted of rape, an increase in the proportion of minors convicted of murder. In conclusion, the author provides a number of recommendations for the correct work with information relevant to the fight against crime, highlights the most important statistical trends, both positively and negatively characterizing the criminal situation in Russia.

PUBLIC LAW / JUS PUBLICUM

91-102 452
Abstract

The formalization of the idea of equality in legislative acts as a norm principle is one of the attributes of the legal regulation system in Russia. The study of the implementation of the principle of equality in the legislation on administrative offenses is of interest for several reasons that are theoretical, legal and applied in nature. Various branches of legislation have their own specific features, and legislation on administrative offenses is no exception. With this in mind, the formal legal formalization of the principle of equality is changing and acquiring new elements, these include, for example, exceptions to the rules contained in the norm principle. The study attempts to substantiate the position on the imperfection of the norm principle of «equality before the law», formulated in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. The objectives of the study include an analysis of the principle, taking into account the specifics of legislation; identification of defects in the formal legal formalization of the principle and the proposal of measures to eliminate them; justification for the lack of objective and reasonable grounds for differentiating administrative liability measures according to the criterion of the place of commission of an administrative offense (committing an offense in some constituent entities of the Russian Federation entails increased liability measures in accordance with the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation). Specific measures are proposed to eliminate the identified shortcomings of legal regulation. The tasks and logic of the study predetermined its structure, which includes three parts. The first part defines the specifics of the content of the principle of equality before the law in the legislation on administrative offenses. In the second part of the study, the author puts forward a proposal to amend Article 1.4 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. It is proposed to establish in Part 1 of Article 1.4 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation that all individuals and legal entities are equal before the law, except in cases defined therein. The necessity of defining in the law an exhaustive list of entities that are immune from the application of administrative coercion measures to them is justified; some other legislative changes are also proposed. In the third part of the study, it is concluded that it is necessary to exclude certain norms due to their inconsistency with the principle of equality.

INTERNATIONAL LAW / JUS GENTIUM

103-118 450
Abstract

The Paris Climate Agreement provides for the acceptance by the participating States of obligations, which this treaty enshrines as «nationally determined contributions» (NDC). The goal of these commitments is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature increases well below 2°C compared to preindustrial levels. This mechanism has a number of legal features: first, each state establishes NDC independently, reports them to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), acting as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, and registers them with the Secretariat. From this moment, a new international legal obligation of the state to implement the NDC arises. Secondly, it can be changed only in the direction of greater «ambition», that is, by increasing targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Thirdly, the Paris Agreement does not require the coordination of national measures with the rest of the parties to the treaty. Each participant in the Paris Agreement represents an NDC, which determines the scope of its own obligations without the participation of other states, unlike the mechanism provided for in the GATT and GATS, where WTO member states are required to coordinate their national measures with the rest of the participants (Goods schedule / Services schedule). Fourthly, the monitoring mechanism provides for the first stage of summing up in 2023, when an assessment of the progress towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will be given.

A comparative analysis of the NDC of the EAEU member states, all of which are parties to the Paris Agreement, allows us to generalize. The Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation announced the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2060, the rest of the states — by 2050. Some states (the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan) have set two targets for the implementation of NDC: conditional (achievement of the indicator with international financial support and access to modern technologies) and unconditional (achievement of the indicator at own expense). The level of development of the legal framework for the implementation of the NDC of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus and the Kyrgyz Republic is inferior to the level of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of limiting greenhouse gas emissions, turnover of carbon units and taxation of carbon emissions (introduction of a carbon tax). At the EAEU level, the member states have adopted a roadmap on the climate agenda, and much work remains to be done to develop a regulatory framework.

CYBERSPACE / CYBERSPACE

119-132 358
Abstract

The paper examines the issues of adaptability of legal structures to the needs of the digital economy from the angle of analyzing the status of decentralized autonomous organizations. It reveals key trends in the development of blockchain technologies, reveals deep systemic connections between the needs and instrumental © Сидоренко Э. Л., 2024

capabilities of civil law in the digital age. The refrain in the article is the idea that the digital economy throws new challenges to the legislator and generates previously unknown forms of business process organization, to which the law simply does not have time to respond, and it is forced to look for new methodological solutions. One such solution is to regulate the status of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) as an alternative to traditional corporations. Among the legally significant signs of DAO, the nature of the interaction of participants based on a distributed registry system, the absence of a single management body, automated execution of decisions, etc. is noted. Based on the concept of functional equivalence, the author examines the existing models of DAO legal regulation and highlights their common legal properties, which in the future allow us to propose a universal matrix of regulation of decentralized societies. The paper also evaluates the prospects for the «implantation» of DAO into the Russian legal field and draws conclusions about the instrumental and conceptual inability of civil law to offer a legal matrix of DAO that meets modern economic and digital demands.

133-143 388
Abstract

The paper examines the conceptual, sectoral and practical aspects of the legal regulation of information security as to Russian citizens. Due to the development of information technologies, the growth of digital information resources, and their transnational nature, it is becoming more difficult to control the safety of using these resources in the interests of citizens. The introduction of new information technologies presents certain technical difficulties for citizens who are unprepared for them and causes some socio-psychological tension in this regard. The development of legislation on information security is closely linked to the constitutional principle of freedom of the media, which provides for some restrictions on this freedom in the interests of security in various spheres of our lives. The specifics of modern information technologies require a qualitatively new approach and an independent direction of the state’s activities to ensure the safety of both citizens and the state itself and society as a whole. It is noted that in addition to malicious information stuffing by unfriendly states, there are also their own problems associated with the low level of digital culture of citizens, problems of guaranteeing the secrecy of digital document management data, etc. Problematic areas of legal regulation in the field of information security as to citizens remain: the practice of concealing information necessary for the realization of citizens’ rights by public authorities classified as secret; unreliable and unfair advertising; distribution of information products that pose a danger to the health and normal development of children, etc. Attention is drawn to the specifics of the provision of information resources in conditions of emergency and martial law. There is a high demand for Federal Law No. 187-FZ dated 07.26.2017 «On the Security of the Critical Information Infrastructure of the Russian Federation», which made it possible to rank subjects and objects of information infrastructure depending on their scope of implementation and security objectives.

DISCUSSION PANEL / PRO ET CONTRA

144-155 302
Abstract

Innovative jurisprudence is an open perspective for the conceptual and instrumental development of legal science in the postmodern era or the era of shifts in legal worldviews and styles of legal thinking and the accompanying socio-economic and political-legal transformations. The formation and development of a new legal disciplinary complex is associated with the definition of subjects and methods of research and the development of competing analytical languages for describing and explaining changes in legal reality. All three structural components of the discipline are represented within the boundaries of a conceptual cluster: traditions and innovations, legal development and the modern world. Traditions and innovations are eternal categories of available practices of social existence with invariant and mobile historical forms and contents. What is a tradition for one cultural formation can be considered an innovation for another. It is an expression of accumulated experience in development management, mixing and intersections of legal communications, cultural memory and heritage passed down from generation to generation. The development of institutions and processes, ideas and doctrines, and languages of jurisprudence has three vectors and strategies of its manifestations and representations: evolutionary, involutional, and paradigmatic transitions and shifts. Modernity is a characteristic of the movement of legal systems in historical time and space and both the processes and residual states of the epochs before modern and modernity, as well as the legal formations of postmodernity that are still unknown in their consequences. The institutional challenges of modern legal development depend to a certain extent on the ability of legal science to find constructive analytical and instrumental solutions. Innovative jurisprudence is a possible cultural and conceptual response to the demands of the new reality.



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ISSN 1729-5920 (Print)
ISSN 2686-7869 (Online)