The author considers the significance of judicial practice in the legal system of Russia. Despite the fact that Russia belongs to the countries of the continental legal family, where only normative legal acts are recognized as sources of law and the precedent in the sense that is given to it in common law countries is not a source of law, judicial practice in the form of legal standings of superior courts should actually be recognized as a quasisource of Russian law. The author analyzes some rulings of the Supreme Court in corporate disputes, identifying contradictions in their standings to legislation or judicial practice. Using examples of specific corporate disputes, the author considers the possibility and conditions for applying the law by analogy, namely, the existence of a gap in the regulation of similar relations. With regard to the interpretation of the rule of law by the courts, it is emphasized that it is inadmissible to use the method of interpretation that violates the principles of law and its fundamental ideas. The author wonders whether the courts in individual judicial acts can deviate from the established legal standings and assess business decisions. In the author’s opinion, it is quite obvious that the uniformity of judicial practice is the most important element of the principle of legal certainty, a guarantee of the stability of relations regulated under civil law.

The paper examines the amendments to the Advertising Law introduced by Federal Law No. 479-FZ dated 23 December 2024, which aim to establish additional requirements for the advertising of consumer loans (loans). The research is of a comparative legal and comprehensive nature: the author evaluates the provisions of the law not only based on a legal (comparative legal) analysis but also taking into account the psychological realities of modern advertising, the nature of its impact on consumers, and the specifics of consumer perception of financial services advertising. This approach has revealed the reasons why the amendments to the Advertising Law are not optimal for achieving the stated goals. Additionally, the research identifies ways to enhance the effectiveness of the legal regulation of consumer loan advertising, both in terms of its content and the structure of its legal regulation, where the primary norm-setting responsibility is assigned not to the legislator but to the financial market regulator. The regulator’s competence includes not only prudential but also non-prudential (behavioral) regulation of banking activities. Furthermore, the article addresses the relationship between traditional regulatory approaches and principle-based regulation.

The paper examines one of the problematic issues concerning the grounds and procedure provided for recognizing evidence as inadmissible and excluding it from the procedure of proving in a criminal case, as well as the review of the legality and validity of the decisions made. The Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation does not specify how evidence is recognized as inadmissible by the investigator, inquirer, or prosecutor. Part 3 of Article 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code does not provide a definitive answer to this question. The procedure for recognizing evidence as inadmissible and the procedural consequences of this decision are described more clearly for the stage of preliminary hearings. However, the procedure for reviewing and assessing such decisions for legality and validity is unsettled. For example, it is difficult to provide a clear answer in cases where a motion is filed in court to recognize evidence, previously deemed inadmissible in the preliminary hearing, as admissible, but the appellate instance leaves the judge’s decision unchanged. In this situation, the court considering the criminal case on its merits exceeds its authority. To resolve this and other contradictions, it is proposed to introduce rules that provide for the filing and consideration of motions to recognize evidence as inadmissible and exclude it from the evidentiary process no earlier than at the preparatory stage of the court session. However, the best option is a judicial inquiry immediately after the prosecution announces the order of evidence it intends to present. In light of this conclusion, it is proposed to make appropriate amendments and additions to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

The legislative expansion of the range of actions constituting hooliganism under criminal law in 2020 actualized issues related to determining the amount of harm constituting «violence» and admissibility of maintaining an expansive interpretation of the «armed» attribute given by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in relation to the previous version of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Given the severity of the sanctions of the norms on crimes against the person out of hooligan motives and hooliganism, the author classifies beatings and minor harm to health as violence. The paper proposes to limit mental violence in hooliganism with threats of murder or grievous bodily harm; arguments are made to change the approach to qualifying actions related to the use of violence that is not dangerous to life and health, in the process of resisting a representative of the authorities. The consolidation of violence among alternative mandatory elements of hooliganism and the transfer of armament to a qualified composition require a change in the law enforcement approach to determining armament by excluding the use of weapons in the process of hooliganism beyond the destruction of a living target, as well as promoting unsuitable, unloaded and fake weapons. Maintaining an expansive interpretation of this objective feature levels, in the author’s opinion, the differences between crime-forming and crime-differentiating elements of the composition of hooliganism. Significant changes to Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and rules establishing responsibility for related corpus delicti objectify the need to adopt a new interpretive act.

In armed conflicts, energy systems of all countries of the world are increasingly exposed not only to cyber attacks, but also to external physical attacks, including attacks with the use of advanced technologies (for example, unmanned aerial vehicles). Since the national security of the country depends on the functioning of such systems, the issues of timely suppression of such attacks and identification of persons carrying them out are updated. An important role in this process is given to forensic means, techniques and methods of investigating crimes. In this regard, the paper determines problematic aspects related to characteristics of the objects of the energy complex, technologies of their functioning, types of unmanned vehicles and their design features, as well as modern technical and personnel capabilities of law enforcement agencies to ensure the process of detection, recording and seizure of trace information. At the level of law enforcement agencies, forensic science should exercise its security function in terms of improving technical, tactical and methodological developments in the field of investigating acts of illegal interference in the activities of energy sector facilities. Currently, there is an urgent need to address issues related to the technical equipment of investigative agencies in order to ensure the effective detection and collection of complete trace and evidentiary information.

The paper is devoted to a detailed analysis of the implementation of the principle of non-discrimination based on genetic status within the framework of the African Union, as well as its member states. The author examines the legal framework for countering genetic discrimination in the context of the leading regional integration association on the African continent, and examines key supranational mechanisms for protection against discrimination. The study focuses on a comprehensive review of the African Union member states experience in countering discriminatory and stigmatizing practices. The case study of Malawi, the Republic of South Africa, and the Sudan demonstrates not only a commitment to conceptual approaches regarding the prohibition of genetic discrimination that have developed at the global level, but also the possibility of implementing the principle of non-discrimination in this area from a national perspective. The author articulates development trends as to supranational and national regulation in the field of countering genetic discrimination on the African continent, and suggests that best practices be adapted in order to for improve relevant regulation in the Russian Federation and integration associations with its participation.

The paper examines the positive and negative aspects as to current regulation of technologies in the field of culture and art based on elements of artificial intelligence (AI). The relevance of the topic is determined by the rapid development and increasing use of AI technologies in modern society. The paper highlighted the main advantages and risks of using AI in the cultural sphere of society, as well as proposed legal measures to maximize beneficial trends and prevent negative consequences. It was found that in the legal doctrine regarding the use of AI in the creation of works of art and culture, one of the most discussed is the issue of securing copyrights to works created with the help of AI (paintings, songs, program codes, books). An important issue is the protection of the rights of authors, whose works AI learns from and then copies their style or individual elements to varying degrees. The content of intellectual property rights and the procedure for their protection differ from country to country, which makes it difficult to discuss issues of copyright protection for works created through AI generation. The results of resolving all these issues in the legislatures of different countries will have a significant impact on both culture and the law of the future. It is noted that the creation of generally binding state standards for the use of AI can be the key to effective legal regulation.

The study correlates the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation governing relations as to the expression of religious beliefs and attitudes towards religion in the context of the socio-cultural foundations of the processes to which these norms apply. It is shown that over the past 30 years, legislation in this area has undergone changes in the direction from a literal interpretation of the principles of a secular society to confessional-oriented preferences. The paper presents the arguments of supporters and opponents of these transformations of law in the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, designed to protect believers and their shrines from attacks. It is proved that this measure, which distinguishes subjects of religiosity and objects of their veneration into a specially protected group, only partially corresponds to the stated goal. In fact, state coercion measures are being introduced into the system of interaction between subjects of religious life, representatives of religion and secular society in order to strengthen government control over the sphere of religious relations. The ideas of overcoming excesses in this area are criticized not only by means of multi-stage legal regulation of the sphere of religious relations, but also by improving the norms of law in the direction of «positive» or «negative» censorship (discrimination). Each of these methods has its own significant drawbacks and can be regarded as a dead end. Perhaps a balanced state policy in this area lies apart from the tightening of punitive measures for the expression of religious beliefs, and from condoning permissiveness of forms of expression of attitudes towards religion, fraught with social conflicts.

The paper develops the issue of critical understanding of the principles of law. The author comprehends the change in the principles of law in the context of the transience of phenomena and events. In today’s risk society, the acceleration of reality amid new technologies is reflected in the dynamics of legal principles. In an ever-changing environment, the legislator adapts to evolving conditions not only the legal norms governing objectively necessary social relations. Legal principles, as elements of law that are more stable in relation to norms, are also subject to development. Studying the development of the basic principles of countering terrorism, the paper demonstrates their dynamics in the context of the transience of risk realization. The reflection of the legal structure of the legal principles of regulation of public relations in the field of protection of the population and territories from emergency in the current legislation is critically analyzed. The analysis shows not only the importance of relying on the principles of international law alone in legal regulation in this area, but also the importance of the constitutional and legal principles developed in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and actively implemented in Russia in the past decade. The escalation of risks in the context of increased confrontation in the world creates legal security problems, including legal risks, which requires correlation of the principles of law with the dynamics of risks.

The creation of a network of modern international university campuses requires the development of a universal organizational and legal model. According to the authors, an effective model should take into account both the public interest and the interests of all stakeholders involved in such campuses. The authors conclude that the successful implementation of the federal project to create a network of international university campuses is possible only with an integrated approach that includes institutional, value and ideological components. A comparison of foreign and domestic experience suggests that the Russian model should take into account the specifics of the national context. The paper offers a systematic analysis of various models of legal regulation, provides a typology of campuses based on several legal criteria, and evaluates the validity of the author’s concept in comparison with approaches in world practice. Considerable attention is given to the legal assessment of distinct cases of inclusion in the educational environment. The quintessence of the work is the idea that it is necessary and timely to develop a universal model for regulating university campuses, ensuring a balance between autonomy and accountability.