The article is devoted to the 200th anniversary of Dmitriy I. Meyer — the founder of the domestic science of civilistics and the author of the first textbook on civil law. The article deals with the peculiarities of Dmitriy I. Meyer personality and life path, in particular with his passion for Roman private law, which is reflected in his scientific and teaching activities. The paper justifies that it was he who fulfilled the historical mission of “transferring” the provisions developed by Roman jurists to the nascent domestic civilization. Also, the paper analyzes the methodical techniques used by Dmitriy Meyer in his teaching practice, the theoretical provisions relating to the determination of the moment of the emergence of civil legal capacity of individuals in connection with which the author rejects the appropriateness of associating this moment with the moment of conception, considers the legal status of newborns in accordance with the degree of their vitality and issues related to the enforcement of the right to life of preterm children in modern conditions in the context of their ability to survive in different States, characterizes the problems arising in the case of simultaneous death of two or more persons legally connected with each other and describes approaches to their resolution, analyzes Dmitriy Meyer’s views concerning the so-called civil (political) death, elucidates Dmitriy Meyer’s conclusions and proposals reflected in the current legislation of the Russian Federation including the child birth and death registration during the first week of life, as well as the alleged novels of inheritance law.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the interrelationship between historical and traditional principles of Russian law and Russian legal education. The authors demonstrate the relevance of Prof. Dmitriy I. Meyer’s ideas for training future lawyers and modern legal education. The paper justifies the obligatory connection between the legal theory and practice in the learning process, which originates from Dmitriy Meyer’s understanding of a practice-oriented education. A legal clinic forms a necessary basis for the development of Dmitriy I. Meyer’s idea regarding the interrelationship between practical work and legal education. Dmitriy I. Meyer’s opinion concerning the dependence of the “measure of freedom” on the “legal views of the people that in turn are inextricably linked with the moral law, i.e. with the concepts of what is just and what is unjust,” is relevant for the development of modern client-oriented legal education. Dmitriy I. Meyer, as well as his contemporaries and followers, have drawn attention to the quality of normative texts, which is important due to the fact that law schools do not pay attention to such a specialization in legal education as a “norm-writer.” Today, the concept of combining practice and theory in training lawyers has become important, which requires reference to Dmitriy I. Meyer and other predecessors on the issue of combining theoretical and practical foundations in legal education. It is impossible to become a highly qualified specialist in the field of jurisprudence with a complex of necessary general cultural and professional competencies without the ability to resolve practical cases, without using theoretical knowledge in practice, without the corresponding knowledge of digital technologies in the field of jurisprudence, without the ability to write normative texts.

In the article the author concludes that: justice in civil law should be understood as an ethically justified aspiration of the participant of civil law relations while exercising his or her rights and performing the duties incumbent on him to take into account the interests of others and the public interest, to avoid the abuse of rights, to respect equality of participants of relations regulated under civil law and, if necessary, to undertake more duties and burdens than required by law. Also, the paper highlights that functional aspects of civil justice include, in particular, ensuring full implementation of civil legal personality, proper execution of obligations, protection of weaker participants in legal relations regulated under civil law, etc.

Based on general legal and civilistic experience in the study of evaluative concepts, the author investigates the general and the specific in their civil law nature. As the result of the study, the author draws the conclusion that the existence of evaluative concepts forms a distinctive essential feature of civil law as private law. It is noted, however, that the doctrine, law-maker and law-enforcer need basic guidelines that will allow to define objective criteria for nominating concepts as evaluative, as well as for determining the boundaries of their systematic interpretation. Also, the author concludes that the impact of evaluation concepts on legal regulation in private and public law is different. In civil law, depending on the localization in the text of the Civil Code, it is possible to distinguish two groups of evaluation concepts. The first group includes the basic evaluation concepts that allow us to see the goals, meaning and specifics of civil law regulation. The second group, in the author’s opinion, includes peripheral evaluation concepts that are utilized by property law and separate contractual constructions and the presence of which allows to avoid unnecessary causality and, at the same time, makes it possible to bring legal regulation closer to real relations.

Within the framework of this article, the authors carry out the study of the design of the smart contract in the context of jurisprudence and technical sciences. The paper analyzes the legal nature of the smart contract and the issues concerning the scope of application (in relation to distributed ledger technology).

The authors conclude that the category of “smart contract” can be defined in technical and legal aspects. In foreign literature, there are two categories: a legal smart contract and a smart contract code (or smart contract). The smart contract as a technical phenomenon represents a computer code that allows automated fulfillment of obligations. From legal point of view, the approaches to the definition of the smart contract depend primarily on the fact that the authors rely on the possibility of using smart contracts only within the framework of distributed ledger technology or other information technologies. At the same time, the majority of authors share the view that the smart contract exists exclusively in relation to the technology of distributed ledgers, namely, the blockchain. The article proposes to define the smart contract as a standard (special) contractual design — a contract concluded by electronic or other technical means, under the terms of which performance of the obligation is carried out without directed explicit additional expression of will (under Part 2 of Article 309 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The article states that the smart contract cannot be qualified as an independent way of ensuring the performance of obligations. Such qualification is possible only if the functional approach to understanding security is applied. The paper examines the main fields of application of smart contracts and possible risks of their application (in terms of statement of terms of agreements in relation to a programming language; in respect of necessity of compliance with such fundamental principles of civil law as legality, fairness, protection of the weak; the need for communication with public authorities and notaries, as well as risks of using smart contracts in relations involving the participation of consumers). A separate set of questions concerns the protection of the rights infringed due to the use of smart contracts.

The article considers legal relations arising between the employee, the primary employer and the seconding employer when a secondment agreement is made to provide staff (personnel) and when the employment contract is made between the employee and the seconding employer represented by a private employment agency. It is noted that secondment of staff (personnel) is one of the legalized forms of atypical employment in the Russian Federation, the author considers peculiarities of such relations. The author discusses the problem of “precarization” of employees’ labor temporarily sent to the secondment employer, considers the mechanisms of protection of workers from deterioration of their legal status and determines inefficiency of such mechanisms. The paper considers the issues related to 1) modification of traditional approaches to regulation of labor relations with employees temporarily sent to another entity performing the functions of the employer; 2) the problems of implementation of collective rights of workers; 3) the refusal to use traditional mechanisms of bringing employees to disciplinary and financial responsibility; and 4) the “splitting” of the status of the employer between the primary employer and the seconding employer.

The article deals with the problems of identification of such types of the legal mistake that exclude criminal liability. With regard to the legal regulation and on the basis of the provisions of the criminal law doctrine, the author gives his own classification of the legal mistake and substantiates the necessity of recognition of its legal significance. The author comes to the conclusion that the variety of legal mistakes should be systematized on the basis of two criteria each of which implies two variants of manifestation. They include the cause of the mistake (either a defect of lawmaking or a defect of perception of established normative requirements), as well as the nature of the mistake (either ignorance of the fact of existence of criminal law prohibition or ignorance of its content). Within the framework of a comprehensive classification based on various combinations of the criteria under consideration, four types of the legal mistake that exclude criminal responsibility are distinguished: 1) a mistake caused by a defect in lawmaking and related to the ignorance of the existence of the criminal law prohibition; 2) a mistake caused by a defect in lawmaking and associated with the ignorance of the content of the criminal law prohibition; 3) a mistake caused by a defect in perception of established normative requirements by a person and related to the ignorance of the fact of existence of the criminal law prohibition; 4) a mistake caused by a defect perception by the person of established regulatory requirements and associated with the ignorance of the content of the criminal law prohibition. The article deals with the problems of presumption of knowledge of the law and awareness of wrongfulness of the act with due regard to intersectoral links existing in criminal law. The author refers to the legal stance of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and relies in his conclusions on the examples from case law and jurisprudence, and makes references to foreign experience.

The paper deals with the issues of forensic support of activities on discovery and investigation of evidence by the public Prosecutor in court. The study of these issues is based on a situational approach to modeling the evidence of the Prosecutor in court. The typical situations faced by the public Prosecutor in the process of proving his position in court are identified. The information component of the Prosecutor’s evidentiary activity in court is shown. The process of choice and application of the given subject of the criminalistic recommendations directed to the increase of efficiency of its evidentiary activity is reflected. Based on the algorithmic approach the standard structure of tactical operation on discovery and investigation of evidence by the public Prosecutor in court is offered.

This paper is one of the first studies on a relatively new type of criminal activity, namely organized begging.

Modern begging is no longer associated with deprivation, poverty, homelessness, starvation and unemployment. The results of the study suggest that now begging is one of the ways of parasitism on mercy and naivety (the number of real people in need of financial support is 5-10%, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg this figure is even lower and does not exceed 2-3 %). Under the leadership of organized criminal groups, begging has become a criminal industry.

The paper investigates the causes of organized begging. The author concludes that the condition of its occurrence was the decriminalization of systematic vagrancy or begging together with the abolition of administrative responsibility for these anti-social actions. The study is relevant because the modern legal literature lacks a single concept of begging as a type of illegal activity supervised by organized crime. The analysis made it possible to conclude that the most acceptable and reflecting the specifics of the considered anti-social phenomenon is the concept of «organized begging». For the first time in the Russian legal literature the definition of organized begging is given. According to the author, it is understood as a negative social phenomenon, which is an organized criminal activity aimed at making a profit from begging by others.

The features of organized begging are defined: 1) organized nature of activity; 2) the use of voluntary forced labor; 3) the commission of crimes against the freedom, honor and dignity of the individual; 4) pronounced ethnic or related nature of the formation; 5) obtaining super profits; 6) corruption of state bodies.

The Russian Federation has not adopted a law on normative legal acts, in a number of CIS countries similar laws have been in force for almost two decades, and the legal regulation of these relations is constantly being improved. This experience may well be taken into account in domestic studies, including those aimed at scientific support of legislative activity. The last quarter of the century is characterized by digitalization and informatization of the legal system, laws on normative legal acts of the CIS countries can serve as quite good indicators of these processes. They clearly demonstrate the current trends of recording the information capabilities of the Internet, information and reference systems under the law, the use of other computer technologies in legislative process. In a number of countries, there is an experience of active use of electronic document circulation in carrying out examinations, in forecasting the consequences of regulatory legal acts adoption when approving and directing them into a law-making body. The publication of draft normative legal acts on Internet sites and their public discussion using Internet resources is becoming an almost mandatory element of publicity of lawmaking activities. The comparative legal characteristics of the legislation of the CIS countries may well be in demand in the development and discussion of the draft Russian law on normative legal acts.

The use of modern genomic technologies, along with the benefits to the man and society, can lead to negative consequences. Such risks exist both in the process and after the production, isolation, modification, storage of DNA. Prior to detailed legislative regulation of relations regarding the use of genomic technologies for medicinal purposes and not for medical reasons, legal principles become vital.

The paper formulates the following basic legal principles of genomic technologies application: the principle of preventive actions of the state to protect citizens from the risks of using genomic technologies; the principle of preserving the human genome as a special species; the principle of guaranteeing the inviolability of the individual of every citizen when using genomic technologies; the principle of priority of life and health of citizens over the interests of science and society; the principle of equality of citizens regardless of genetic characteristics; the principle of protection of genetic information of every citizen as part of personal data; the principle of guaranteeing access to the citizen’s own genetic information. Legal principles can be used to resolve a dispute by analogy of law.

The paper provides evidence of the independence of the electronic form of transactions. One such evidence is the peculiarities of an electronic document, which in the case of an electronic contract is a means of fixing the will of the parties. An electronic document is a set of details with information recorded on an electronic medium of durable use in the form of a digital code. An electronic document can exist in the form of a machine information file of any format or in the form of a computer program that allows contracts to be concluded in cyberspace. An electronic document in the form of a file should be considered an electronic static document. It looks like a traditional document, but its details are recorded with electronic means, not on paper. An electronic document in the form of a computer program should be considered an electronic dynamic hypertext document. It is fundamentally different from the document in the traditional written form, which makes it possible to justify the independence of the electronic form of the transaction, its irreducibility to the usual written form.

The focus of this paper is one of the key cases in the field of protection of the results of intellectual activity considered by foreign courts in recent years — the «Oracle v. Google» case. The authors analyze the background of the case, focus on the main conclusions made by the American court in the course of the dispute. Particular attention is given to the protection of copyright in relation to the lines of code, as well as aspects of patent protection. The authors assess the conclusions of «American Themis» and forecast the impact of this decision on the protection of the rights of subjects of scientific and technological activity. In the context of Oracle v. Google the authors compare the practice of the Court of Justice of the EU as a judicial institution of the European Union. In particular, following the case of SAS Institute Inc. v World Programming Ltd, which is under consideration in the Court of the EU, the authors compare the American and European approaches to the problem of protection of the program code by legal means. In conclusion, the authors attempt to identify the possible risks for the subjects of scientific and technological activities (primarily for software developers) inherent in the decision in the case of Oracle v Google.

The focus of the paper is the process of development of international innovative and scientifictechnological cooperation of the EAEU in the context of transition to sustainable development. The study is aimed at the formation of a conceptual model of external cooperation for international innovation, science and technology (MINTS) of the EAEU in the light of the tasks set by the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in relation to the direction of development and transfer of technology, knowledge and innovation, as well as the emerging strategy for sustainable development of the EAEU. The result of the study is identification of the objectives of this cooperation; disclosure of the specifics of its political and legal framework; establishment of its subject composition; priority areas clarification. The conclusion of the study is the conceptual position that the EAEU’s external cooperation on innovation, science and technology in modern conditions ensures not only the technological modernization of the economy of the Member States as the basis of global competitiveness, but also regional competitiveness in achieving the sustainable development goals. In accordance with this, the author identifies a number of tasks that need to be solved by the Union, namely: the formation of a regional strategy for sustainable development, increasing the importance of environmental issues in the framework of the Eurasian integration project, the development of a strategy for international scientific and technological cooperation of the Member States, taking into account their membership in the EAEU and further — the transition to a coordinated and then unified policy in the field of the MINTS with international organizations, other regional associations of the states and foreign countries.

At the present stage of the European Union development, energy policy is a strategy aimed at achieving the energy independence of the region and ensuring the energy security of all EU members. In this regard, it should be considered reasonable to transfer the issues of energy strategy development to the supranational bodies of the Union. At the same time, energy policy should be considered in close connection with the environmental policy of the European Union, as environmental protection is a topical issue in the European region. The result of cooperation between the countries of Europe is the implementation of such initiatives as the development of renewable energy sources, the production of alternative fuels, the introduction of «green taxes», the operation of a common system of environmental management and environmental audit, the action of a kind of system of environmental certification of products («eco-label»). Similar problems are faced by such an integration association as the Eurasian Economic Union. In this regard, the experience of the European Union should be taken into account when addressing energy and environmental issues in the framework of the common policy of the EAEU Member States. In particular, the paper justifies the necessity of concluding a multilateral agreement on the protection of the environment in the EAEU framework. Currently, the basis of scientific and technical cooperation of the EAEU Member States is the priority technological platforms, which are understood as objects of innovative infrastructure network, making it possible to ensure the integration of states, science and business to combine and concentrate the necessary resources in the most important areas of scientific and technological development of the Eurasian Economic Union, including in the fields of energy and environment.

The journal «Herald of Civil Procedure» annually gathers outstanding scholars and practitioners in the field of civil procedure in Kazan. Within the 5 years, the Symposium of the journal has become a real tradition, gained annual participants, friends and listeners, as well as created a platform for large-scale discussion at the highest level. The first and each subsequent symposia are very similar to each other, but every year there is something new, a kind of highlight, giving the event a uniqueness and impetus to move forward, develop, and improve the level.

The first Symposium was held in the Spring of 2014, its theme was designated as «The Evolution of the civil process: issues of comparative law and national law». The second Symposium, held in 2015, was devoted to the reform of the civil process and its current state. The 2016 Symposium, the third in a row, was named «Kazan arbitration day: development of the rule of law and regional problems». The fourth Symposium of the journal «Herald of Civil Procedure» was named the «Electronic justice and information technologies in civil proceedings» and was held on September 29, 2017.

In 2018 the V Annual Symposium of the journal was devoted not only to civil procedure, but also to some aspects of substantive law, as it was devoted to the issues of evidentiary law, which made it possible to invite academics and legal practitioners, as well as experts in the field of evidence and establishment of evidence to participate in the event. A striking contribution to the Symposium was the participation of academics-representatives of various law schools of Russia, practicing lawyers, representatives of the judicial community, as well as academics of Kazan University.