The paper elucidates the legal status of sports organizations that implement the function of legal selforganization, and their organizational and legal forms. The author draws the readers’ attention to the fact that the organizations’ names given according to the legislator’s plan in terms originating from the sports area are not organizational and legal forms. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate significant concepts of sports legislation in relation to the modern civil law. The study of the role of various sports organizations in legal self-organization made it possible to conclude that, firstly, the inexhaustible list of functions of sports federations testifies to their central place in the system of legal self-organization bodies. Secondly, sports leagues are exclusively for official sports competitions; thirdly, the sports club does not have official authority to carry out legal self-organization in sports (clubs often represent their athletes in competitions and their activities are local in nature); fourthly, sports agents do not participate in the formation of basic rules for organizing sports. Having analyzed the organizational and legal forms of creating sports organizations used in practice, the author came to the conclusion that in the context of their ability to take part in work on legal self-organization, their nomination should be clarified, clearly defining the legal form.

The expressions «lex mercatoria» and «transnational commercial law» are often used in the literature of international commercial law as synonymous and interchangeable concepts. Arguing the fallacy of this approach, the author delineates these categories on the basis of a comparative analysis of the corresponding theoretical concepts, normative acts and examined the significance of each of the legal complexes under consideration. The paper justifies that in normative terms lex mercatoria consists of general principles of law and unwritten international trade customs. Such regulators are formed spontaneously in cross-border commercial practice, and their identification is of some complexity. Transnational commercial law includes specified unwritten sources attributed to lex mercatoria. At the same time, it also includes written sources created by the deliberate efforts of non-state actors, namely: international conventions and treaties (for example, the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 1980), acts of international private law unification with generally recognized normative force (Principles of International Commercial Treaties of UNIDROIT, Incoterms, Unified Rules and Customs for Documentary Letters of Credit, etc.), recommendation documents created by international organizations and communities of merchants that are not characterized by regularity (model laws, guidelines, recommendations, model terms of contracts, reservations, etc.); international commercial arbitration practice and doctrine. Sources of transnational commercial law can be represented in the form of a hierarchical structure, with the general principles of law at the top. The elements of the structure (sources of transnational commercial law) are in close cooperation and affect each other.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation uses concepts that are different from the legal point of view, namely: «equality before the law» and «equality of rights» The first term means equal treatment by the law, but not equal rights and obligations. And only in this case, the word «all» used in Art. 19 may have a valid meaning: a citizen, a legal entity, a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, and the State itself are equal since they are equal regarding legal norms applied to them, which, of course, will contain various prescriptions in relation to these subjects. Today, the issue of recognizing and protecting so-called group rights is very relevant. The rights of the second generation — socio-economic rights — are largely related to the actual conditions for their implementation: if personal rights are based on the idea of formal equality, then for this group of rights equality presupposes «affirmative actions» of the State aimed at equalizing the actual conditions of legal use. In this regard, the problem of opposition to formal and actual equality arises: actual equality is usually considered as opposition to formal equality. Meanwhile, if we switch to the language of strict terminology, then actual equality does not mean at all equality of the result or socio-economic equality, but only formal equality that means ensuring it by mechanisms of its «factual» implementation.

The paper examines the experience of legal regulation of citizens’ appeals in the Russian prerevolutionary and Soviet periods. There is a continuity in the regulation of the institution of citizens’ appeals. The paper analyzes modern legislation on appeals, taking into account the correlation between general and special regulation. The author concludes that the role of the Federal Law dated 2 May 2006 No. 59-FZ «On the Procedure for Considering Appeals of Citizens of the Russian Federation» as a law of general regulation is predetermined by the socio-political nature of the right to appeal as a constitutional right and the right of a universal national nature, the implementation of which accompanies any sphere of activity of the authorities in their relations with citizens. The modern development of communications in the State and society, the complication of interaction between subjects, the introduction of IT technologies are challenges that encourage improvement of the legal regulation of the institution of appeals. On the basis of historical and legal and formal and legal methods, the author concludes that the definition of key concepts in the field of consideration of citizens’ appeals in electronic form, restriction of departmental rule-making, clarification of the status of subjects authorized to consider citizens’ appeals should be regulated primarily by means of a relevant federal law. When regulating the institution of appeals, one should focus not on the concept of providing public services, but on the idea of the participation of citizens in the management of state affairs traditional for Russia. It is also proposed to establish provisions on the inadmissibility of burdening citizens with additional requirements when submitting appeals, to provide for a list of communication channels and features of consideration of appeals for certain categories of citizens. 

NFTs in the development of the metaverse economy, contributing to the growth of the digital economy, are also associated with crime risks. NFT has a two-layer complex structure «metadata + token identifier (ID)». In cases where the NFT is the target of a crime, it is exposed to a double risk — illegal interference with metadata and illegal receipt of a token ID. Within the framework of the guidelines on the interaction of civil and criminal law and the theory of relative subordination, the NFT has two levels of legitimate interests — «data + property interests», and can also be associated with other related rights depending on its mapping. Metadata violations are subject to regulation as computer technology crimes and highly specialized data crimes; illegal acquisition of a token ID is regulated as a property crime. In cases where both the interests of data and property, as well as related legal interests, are violated, the theory of the multiple counts of crimes is applied to qualify the crime.

The paper examines a fine as a type of criminal punishment and a measure of a criminal legal nature in relation to corrupt practices. Unconditional crimes form a «core» corruption crime, which is considered to be the primary object of the state anti-corruption policy. A brief historical insight and analysis of changes in the modern criminal legislation of the Russian Federation related to the introduction of new types of fines — multiple and court, allowed us to identify the main trends in anti-corruption policy. A multiple fine is fully consistent with its spirit and goals, therefore it can be considered as an indicator of its further development. The paper presents and vividly demonstrates the results of a study of judicial practice regarding the application of various types of fines for unconditional corruption crimes for the period 2019–2023, the results of a survey of convicted respondents and judges during a criminological study conducted by the author as part of an interregional research team in 2018–2020. It is shown that the legal norms governing the type, method of calculation and the amount of the fine are quite flexible. Gaps in legislation have been identified related to the types of punishments and ways to determine their amounts in the sanctions of the analyzed articles, with various types of fines and options for calculating them, and with the lack of clear criteria for replacing fines with other types of punishment. The difficulties in imposing a fine by a law enforcement officer are shown. The lack of uniformity in judicial practice has been demonstrated, which does not fully achieve the objectives of the fine. The conclusion is made about the insufficient effectiveness and preventive function of the fine. The proposals aimed at eliminating gaps in legislation are substantiated.

The paper explores the possibility of determining the efficiency of certain norms (institutions) of criminal proceedings. It is emphasized that although there is no consensus in the legal science on the issue of filling the category of «law efficiency» and there is no generally recognized system of efficiency criteria. In most approaches there is a criterion in one form or another (interpretation) such as frequency of application, that is, a quantitative indicator. It is noted that the frequency of application is not a universal criterion of efficiency applicable to all situations due to the inability to take into account the social values contained in legal regulations. In addition, the terms «efficiently» or «inefficiently» are polar statements that do not reflect the entire subject area, consisting of an infinite number of alternatives within the framework of fuzzy logic. The validity of the application of the dichotomous pair «efficient — inefficient» to situations where the phenomenon has changed over time is substantiated. Studying the Institute of cassation, comparing absolute and relative indicators and analyzing the results obtained during the processing of these indicators by a number of methods of applied statistics, as well as examining the nature of the relationships between these indicators, the hypothesis was confirmed that it is possible to determine the efficiency of a criminal procedure norm (institute) based on quantitative data.

The paper is devoted to the study of the legal regulation of public relations in the field of synthetic biology. The purpose of the paper is to identify the key features of the concept of «synthetic biology»; to conduct a study of regulatory legal acts at the global level, the level of interstate integration associations, and the Russian Federation, which are devoted to regulation in the field of synthetic biology; to identify the main aspects and directions in which the concept of «synthetic biology» is used; to formulate proposals for the legal regulation of relevant relations at the at the level of the Russian Federation. The various definitions of the concept of «synthetic biology» in Russian and foreign doctrinal sources, as well as in international legal documents and documents of international organizations are analyzed. The analysis of the statutory regulation of public relations in the field of synthetic biology is carried out. The research utilizes dogmatic and formal logical methods, an axiological approach and a method of comparison. Based on the results of the analysis, the essential features of the concept of «synthetic biology» are identified, conclusions are drawn about the main aspects and directions in which this concept is used. Proposals have been formulated for the legal regulation of relevant relations at the level of the Russian Federation, according to which it is advisable to develop regulation of the use of synthetic biology technologies for the possible creation of pathogenic organisms and other threats in the field of biosafety, while regulating the use of synthetic biology technologies in other areas is impractical, since the relevant public relations fall under existing regulation in more general areas — regulation of scientific research and regulation in the field of biotechnology, bioeconomics, and genetic technologies.

In modern legal research, outdated logical information is actively used. The paper shows that traditional logic, in general, is not capable of an adequate analysis of concepts and relations, which sharply narrows its possibilities. In the course of the study, it was found that any concept is not a thought about an object, but a property or relation, i.e., an n-local predicate. Therefore, the division of concepts into concrete and abstract ones is meaningless. The idea of the content of a concept is the weakest point of traditional logic, because questions about the composition of the content and the number of features of the content are not even raised. The paper proves that the content of any concept is always an infinite set of formulas (signs). Since the volumes of concepts can contain any number of elements, there is no quantitative relationship between the volume and the content of concepts, which is not a criticism of the law of the inverse relation, but its denial. The analysis of the doctrine of the concept carried out by means of modern logic significantly expands the possibilities of both everyday and scientific practice, in particular modern legal research.

Science and scientific and technological development are a key factor in ensuring the sovereignty, security and well-being of a State, creating conditions for a decent life for citizens. Given the historical challenges facing the country, that can only be overcome by mobilizing the country’s intellectual and resource potential, it is necessary to focus on finding approaches and solutions that would maximize the use of legal resources to stimulate scientific progress and eliminate the accumulated regulatory factors of its inhibition. This involves not just updating, but a transition to a new level of quality of legislation on science, its integration and social orientation by giving the law on science the qualities of a system-forming direct regulator of relevant relations in order to achieve a socially significant effect. The paper, designed to revive and structure the discussion regarding the prospects for the development of legislation on science, dwells on some basic, in the opinion of the author, conceptual issues, including the meaning and limits of regulatory impact in the field of science, in particular in relation to other social regulators, on the subject, methodological, structural specifics of regulating relevant relations, organizational and managerial, financial and other elements of state policy in the field of science and scientific and technological development.

Currently, the government is focusing on an innovative development path. The existing system of higher education, based on the principles of the Bologna process, has come into conflict with modern requirements for ensuring Russia’s national security and the goals and objectives of the country’s development set out in strategic planning documents. Additional risks and threats to reduce the efficiency of the current higher education system, including legal education, are associated with economic sanctions from the United States and the European Union. The authors have shown that there is a consensus in society regarding the fundamental shortcomings of the existing higher education system and the urgent need to find the most adequate and effective system that corresponds to our cultural code and centuries-old national traditions. The paper discusses possible directions for reforming the higher education system in the framework of the implementation of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/12/2023 No. 343 «On some issues of improving the higher education system», taking into account the Strategy of Scientific and technological Progress and other strategic planning documents. The authors emphasize the need to create their own unique education system based on Russia’s national interests.