The paper analyzes the issues of interpretation and application of the presumption of spousal consent in transactions involving the common property of spouses. Presumption of spousal consent to carry out transactions with common property is considered in the context of its correlation with the principle of equality of spouses, including property relations. The paper deals with the jurisprudence on this issue, including the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The author has determined practical problems in the field of application of this rule of law. The author comes to the conclusion that the legal regulation of the legal regime of property of spouses, in force at present, has a number of shortcomings that not only violate the rights of co-owners of the specified property, but also, in our view, are often contrary to the law. In particular, the current jurisprudence with regard to paragraph 1 of section 2 of Article 35 of the RF Family Code contradicts both the constitutional rule enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation providing for the protection of the interests of the owner and the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation establishing the principle of equality of spouses in property relations (Articles 21, 31, 35). The paper gives reasonable proposals to improve the legislation. To this end, the author suggests the following wording for Paragraph 1 of Section 2 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation: “When one of the spouses carries out a transaction in the administration of the common property of the spouses, it is assumed that one spouse acts with the consent of the other spouse. This assumption applies exclusively to the legal relationship of spouses with third parties.”

The paper has examined the federal legislation, as well as law enforcement related to such a measure of constitutional and legal responsibility of the head of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation as removal from the position of the governor by the President of the Russian Federation due to loss of trust. The paper analyzes the evolution of legal consolidation and application of this constitutional and legal sanction for the period from 2005, the bases and mechanism of its implementation, as well as a number of problems related to the practice of its application in Russia. The author has identified gaps and conflicts (contradiction of the grounds of this constitutional sanction to the main and basic legal principles of direct democracy and presumption of innocence), has analyzed “uncertainty” (revealed the legal fictiousness of the grounds for the loss of trust) and “amorphousness” of its application (inconsistency of the procedure of prosecution with the principles of federalism, norms of criminal procedure legislation and internal conflict of norms of law, i.e. “corruptional” grounds of the loss of trust). The author suggests a different model of application of such a sanction as removal from the position of the head of the constituent entity. Thus, he suggests that deprivation of the President of the right to remove the governor of the constituent entity due to the loss of trust for corruption contradicts the foundations of the federal system and the legal nature of the institute of higher official of a constituent entity. It is proposed to assign the right to apply this sanction to the highest representative (legislative) body of the constituent entity of the Federation, permitting the President of Russia to remove the senior officer for promulgation of legal acts that do not comply with the Constitution and federal laws (confirmed by a court decision) and failure to comply with the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

Adoption of environmentally unreasonable urban planning decisions leads to significant environmental problems in certain territories causing massive violations of the right of citizens to favorable environment as a result of deterioration of environment or certain natural objects. The author has investigated the legal mechanisms of ensuring environmental rights in the implementation of urban planning activities in the context of their effectiveness. The paper has demonstrated the connection between town-planning and relations regulated under environmental law, analyzed objective and subjective environmental factors of town-planning, elucidated the necessity of taking into account ecological factors at the stage of territorial planning, determined the place and importance of urban planning activities in the mechanism of ensuring environmental rights of the man and citizen.

The author has examined constitutional foundations of ensuring environmental human rights in the implementation of urban planning activities, implementation of human rights in the principles of urban planning legislation. The author has determined an environmental component of the legal regulation of urban planning, the correlation between such basic concepts of town-planning and environmental legislation as “the right of citizens to a favorable environment,” “favorable conditions of life,” “sustainable development of territories.” The paper has also analyzed legal mechanisms enshrined in the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation for the consideration of environmental factors and requirements in the process of territorial planning as a fundamental type of urban development at the stage of substantiation and preparation of draft documents of territorial planning of public entities of the Russian Federation and at the stage of coordination of projects between bodies of public administration and local self-government. The paper reveals a declarative and formal nature of the relevant procedures, substantiates the absence of effective legal mechanisms of taking into account environmental factors and requirements in the current town-planning legislation. The author suggests ways of improving the legal regulation of enforcement of environmental rights in the implementation of urban planning.

In June 2019, the official website of the Government of the Russian Federation published the Concept of the New Code of Administrative Offences, the enactment of which is planned for 1 January 2021. This Concept indicates that the factors that reduce the effectiveness of the existing Administrative Code of the Russian Federation include, among other things, problems in law enforcement at the stages of initiation and consideration of cases of administrative offenses, contains general guidelines for reforming the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation and highlights certain challenging issues that need to be resolved in its forthcoming modernization. At the same time, it does not seem to address all the issues that need to be addressed. Thus, the analysis of administrative-jurisdictional practice of the first instance shows that the protocol on administrative offense is considered by subjects of administrative jurisdiction ( extrajudicial, quasi-judicial, and judicial) as one of the types of evidence in the case of an administrative offence. Moreover, it is not uncommon that such a record is the only evidence on the basis of which an administrative penalty is imposed. And the analysis of administrative and jurisdictional practice of the second and subsequent instances (up to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) allows us to conclude that this approach is justified and quite legitimate. But is it really true? And to what extent is it lawful and legitimate to consider the protocol on an administrative offense as evidence in the case of an administrative offense? This paper is devoted to searching for answers to these questions through the prism of understanding of the functional purpose and juridical (lawful) nature of this type of administrativejurisdictional acts.

The paper deals with the essence of criminalistic characterization of the crime, its necessity and role in the criminalistic methodology. The attitude of the scientific community to this scientific category for half a century of its existence has undergone dramatic changes: from enthusiastic exaltation as a universal means of solving crimes to a useless “phantom” of criminalistics. However, despite criticism from a number of highly eminent scholars, criminalistic characterization of the crime has not disappeared from academic intercourse and has firmly enshrined its role in criminalistic methodology. The paradox is explained by its systemic need in the arsenal of this section of criminalistics. As the only acceptable indication of the empirical knowledge of the crime and the ways of its disclosure developed by criminalistics, the criminalistic characterization of the crime not only amounts to core of individual forensic techniques, but also defines the structure of the entire forensic methodology as a branch of the science. Attempting to abandon it leads to the emergence of various substitutes that are similar in content, but less successful with regard to terms. For these reasons, the criminalistic characterization of a crime cannot be rejected by forensics despite any criticism. It seems that the “phantom” is not the very idea of criminalistic characterization of the crime, but the method by which it was “filled.” A systematically necessary and successfully named design was unsuccessfully methodologically connected by its creators with statistical measurements of correlation dependencies between the main criminalistically significant elements of a crime. However, such measurements are unsuitable for a specific investigative methodology. The “filling” of criminalistic characterization with relevant information concerning criminal activity should be provided by the totality of methods available for empirical sciences without being limited to statistical measurements of the links between its elements.

Despite the prolonged use of certain forms of interaction between the investigator and investigative agencies at the initial stage of pre-trial proceedings, the criminal procedure legislation still lacks some aspects of their implementation. This makes it necessary to study the current situation and substantiate the theoretical and practical provisions concerning interaction between an investigator and investigative agencies in the context of verification of the report of the crime in the light of the planned digitalization of domestic criminal proceedings. The author suggests that the forms of interaction, the application of which is expedient at the initial stage of pre-trial proceedings, include two procedural forms (giving written instructions to an investigative agency about carrying out operational search activities, obtaining explanations, obtaining assistance in carrying out investigative and other procedural actions) and two organizational forms (joint planning and formation of an investigative and task force). In order to increase the efficiency of criminal procedure at the initial stage of pre-trial proceedings, to ensure clarity of the language of criminal procedure law and its compliance with law enforcement, the auther proposes to amend Part 1 of Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by supplementing it with the right of authorized officials and bodies to give to investigative agencies mandatory written instructions for obtaining explanations, and to receive assistance from the investigative agency in carrying out verification actions. At the same time, the paper demonstrates the author’s approch to excluding obtaining explanations from the general list of procedural actions specified in Part 1 of Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation and conducted by authorized subjects of verification of the report of the crime. Also, the paper analyzes the importance of introduction of electronic document circulation into criminal proceedings from the point of view of efficiency of interaction between the investigator and investigative authorities at the initial stage of pre-trial investigation.

The paper analyzes philosophical and philosophical and legal approaches to the definition of such concepts as ontology of law and existence of law in the history of world legal thought. The author has elucidated the views on the ontology of law in the history of the Ancient World, Middle Ages, New and Modern Times. Thus, the doctrine of existence was central to the philosophical and legal constructions of Antiquity. In the Middle Ages, ontology was associated only with God, in the era of modern times the existence of law, depending on the philosophical and legal doctrine, was defined as an absolute idea, as a manifestation of the will of the State, as rights of the individual, or as the Divine Providence. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of various approaches to the definition of the content of ontology (existence) of law in economic law as a new innovative component of the Russian system of law in the era of an information society. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of ontology of law in natural legal and positivistic doctrines of legal understanding, the general and special features of the content of ontology of law in philosophical and legal doctrines of the past. The 19th-20th centuries witnessed the development of a “new philosophy” focused on scientific and technological progress creating a new economic reality, when the existence of law is presented as an object of ontology in the unity of interpretations of the objective and subjective giving the opportunity to know the reality in its various hypostasis. The legal environment as a subject matter of the philosophy of law at the present stage of development of the digital economy focuses primarily on propaedeutics and characterization of property rights as a necessary condition of the development of modern society. The author has come to a reasonable conclusion that in the framework of the Russian ontology of law it is necessary to apply a converging approach in order to strengthen social orientation of the Russian economy with due regard to integrative legal understanding.

The paper is devoted to the moral aspect of the criminal law doctrine created by the outstanding Italian thinker, publicist, jurist and public figure Cesare Beccaria. Investigating the background of the origin of the moral foundations of law, the author turns to the very origins, the so-called mononorms, which had a syncretic character and combined moral, religious, legal and other protective and regulatory principles. The processes of labor division and the complexity of forms of social life led to the separation of moral regulation based on tradition from the actual legal tools. In the context of the views of Western and domestic thinkers, a number of doctrinal approaches to determining the relationship between morality and law are studied, resulting in the conclusion that these social regulators should be considered in close relationship, since they have common roots, perform one-order functions and in each case regulate the behavior of a particular individual. The general questions of the origin of punishments, their proportionality with illegal acts, the urgency of the application of punishment, the purpose of punishments, as well as the reasons for their appointment are examined within the framework of political and legal views of Cesare Beccaria. The moral aspect of punishments such as monetary fines, dishonor, banishment and confiscation, and the death penalty are considered separately, and the humanistic principles of preventive measures such as torture and detention are revealed. In the context of the doctrine of Cesare Beccaria on crimes, the author examines the features of harm that the criminal causes to the nation, as the basis for the classification of an act as a crime. The author focuses on the gradation of crimes into breach of public interest and encroachment on personal and material benefits of individuals. Crimes against public peace and smuggling are investigated in the context of breach of public interests. Within the framework of crimes against the interests of individuals, the author analyzes duels, as well as the moral aspect of establishing legal responsibility for suicide. In conclusion, the author considers the attitude of Cesare Beccaria to the issue of crime prevention.

The paper considers the strategic directions of legal support for the spatial development of the Arctic ecological zone of the Russian Federation. It is proved that a key principle of the development of the Arctic is the principle of preservation and the balance between economic activity, human presence and conservation of the environment. Therefore, the existing strategic planning documents defining strategic guidelines for spatial development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation shall be brought into compliance with the basic documents of state strategic planning in the field of environmental protection and ecological safety, as well as in national, economic, and other types of security. The authors substantiate the conclusion that it is necessary to develop and adopt a separate strategy for marine (aquatic) spatial development, which contains key types of economic specialization in relation to individual water areas, promising marine reference zones of economic growth, as well as the main directions for environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety. According to the authors, the implementation of the tasks specified in the strategy of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to determine the status of the whole Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (strategic, environmental, economic, social, etc.), and, given the special international and national status of the Arctic, its special position as a testing ground for ideas and environmental-economic investments, to develop and adopt the basic law "On environmental Arctic zone of the Russian Federation" or to integrate environmental requirements into the project of the Federal law "On the development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation".

The paper criticizes the relatively recent view that traditional legal norms cannot be applied to public relations regulation in cyberspace. Researchers are debating whether it is permissible to regulate relationships arising from the use of computer technologies, such as cryptocurrency turnover and other relationships on the blockchain platform, by means of law. Opponents of legal regulation of cryptocurrency turnover refer to the impossibility of regulating computer technology by legal means. It is known that the lack of legal regulation of public relations is no less harmful than their overregulation. The author analyzes classical, "modernist", and eclectic approaches to the legal regulation of public relations in cyberspace. According to the author, public relations in the web space, including those that arise on the blockchain platform, can be regulated not only by national laws, but also by two special new sources of law — computer code (lex informatica) and special customs of cyberspace (lex electronica). Regulation by codes and special customs, which are concentrated on the Internet, gradually form a supranational law of cyberspace. Since the law, algorithmic code, and special customs of cyberspace are different sources of law, the point of view of those researchers who write about the decline of legal regulation and its replacement by code regulation is unfounded. It is premature to conclude that the law is dying out in the transition of contractual relations to cyberspace. Lawrence Lessig’s expression "Code is law" is correct in the sense that code is only one possible source of law.

The paper is devoted to the study of the past, present and future of specialized courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, namely economic, financial and administrative courts. The relevance of the research topic is caused by the ongoing judicial and legal reforms in the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of the vectors of development of which is the specialization of courts. The chosen topic is relevant in the context of globalization and activation of measures to improve the competitiveness of Kazakhstan.

The theoretical and practical significance of the research topic is that the current state of the judicial system of the Republic of Kazakhstan is assessed and its further development trends are predicted based on the disclosure of the reasons for the formation of specialized courts. Taking into account the achievements and defeats, ease and complexity, traditional continuity and international implementation in judicial construction, it is possible to take effective measures aimed at the development of the judicial system. The author describes the own path of the development of Kazakhstan’s statehood that stretched for three decades, which was led by the father of the people, the leader of the nation, the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan — N.A. Nazarbayev. It is very difficult to rethink the merit or overestimate the contribution of the first President of Kazakhstan to the formation of Kazakhstan’s statehood and the development of national law, as well as to the unification of Kazakhs. The author shows the socially significant role of the judicial branch of government, which is manifested not only in the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, the legitimate interests of legal entities, but also in the socio-economic modernization of Kazakhstan. Based on the analysis of the history of the emergence, current state and prospects for the development of specialized courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, conclusions are made that confirm their relevance and justification.

The methodological basis of the research is the historical and legal method of cognition of objective reality. The theoretical basis of the research was the works of famous Kazakh scientists. The normative basis of the research was the first decrees of the President of Kazakhstan, constitutional, statutory and legislative acts of Kazakhstan, as well as strategic, conceptual and program documents on development of Kazakhstan. The empirical basis of the study is regional statistical data on the work of specialized economic courts in the context of the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty for 2016-2018. The author studies the data on the sociological survey on the Republic among the persons who participated in the trials of specialized economic court. Analytical reports and reviews of informational nature on the activities of courts, including the state of administration of justice by specialized courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2018 are considered. For an objective assessment of the current state of the current regulatory framework of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the author uses world statistics.

The paper analyzes the process of modern codification of civil law in China, provides a historical overview of the codification of civil law in China, raises the problems of private law codification and analyzes the political, economic and other sources of these problems. It is noted that only criminal (public) law was present in traditional China. Legal traditions based on the rule of criminal law continued for more than 2,000 years until the early years of the twentieth century. China has not embarked on the path of modernizing the legal system and codifying civil law. In 1929-1930, the first Civil code in the history of China was adopted. It was built on the Swiss and German civil codifications model, simultaneously reflecting the experience of the Japanese, French and Soviet codifications of civil law. After the PRC was formed, the stage of extensive borrowing of Soviet socialist law, including civil law, began. However, attempts to codify the law failed, the reasons for which lie in legal nihilism and a lack of necessary attention from the authorities. The transition from an administrative planned economy to a free market one prompted the legislator to temporarily abandon the idea of codifying civil legislation. Instead of one codified law, it was decided to adopt several special ones. In the 21st century, a new stage of codification of civil law in China has begun. In 2002, the fourth draft of the civil code of the PRC was published, which for no apparent reason has sunk into oblivion. In 2014, the process of codification of civil legislation has become more active, and in 2017, part one of the future civil code of the people’s Republic of China was adopted. In accordance with the civil law codification plan in March 2020 the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China should be adopted as a whole.

The paper examines the experience of the United States of America in recording and classifying convicted sexual offenders. The Federal register is a comprehensive criminal and administrative law tool for crime prevention. It has its origins in similar state registers. The author examines the principles of maintaining the register, the grounds for inclusion in the register and exclusion from it, the volume of data to be published, the frequency of data updates, and conducts a criminological characterization of the Institute. The paper analyzes the case law of the Supreme courts of the United States regarding the constitutionality of the rules and principles that form the institution of the registry, their retroactive application, and compliance with procedural and material guarantees of a fair trial. The author concludes that it is possible to introduce a similar Federal register in Russia, but taking into account the shortcomings identified in the study. Currently, the efforts of the legislator in this part are obvious (increasing criminal responsibility for violent sexual crimes with the establishment of restrictions on freedom, the emergence of new tools of "deterrence" in the hands of law enforcement agencies, such as administrative supervision). However, the measures are not comprehensive, often overlap, and do not achieve the stated goal (execution of restrictions under administrative supervision after serving the restriction of freedom). The author believes that it can be an independent institution, implemented from the stage of execution of the sentence, accessible to law enforcement agencies and victims, and in cases provided for by law — for social and educational institutions, guardianship authorities, family and child protection.

Taking into account recent changes in criminal legislation, the paper critically analyzes the features of a newly introduced crime in the criminal code, such as encouraging to commit suicide or assisting with suicide (article 110.1). Special attention is given to the methods of encouraging and facilitating suicide in terms of their validity, accuracy, content and the need to list them in the criminal law. Examples of excessive detail in the formulation of certain criminogenic characteristics are given, which contradicts the principles of legal technique. These include features such as persuasions, suggestions, advice, instructions, information, and a promise to conceal the tools or means of committing suicide. The elements of these crimes are considered in detail from the point of view of their relevance and reflection of the degree of public danger of the committed acts. This statement refers to such characteristics of victims that aggravate criminal responsibility, such as the age of a minor, the state of pregnancy, financial or other dependence on the perpetrator. The author proposes solutions for the classification of disputable situations when the crimes in question are committed against minors, the insane, or persons suffering from mental disorders. The paper considers cases when the studied crimes may be committed by a criminal community, and lists options for the classification of what was done. Special attention is given to the classification of encouragement to commit a terrorist act by self-detonation. The issue of responsibility of a minor who encourages a minor to commit suicide or contributes to his / her suicide has been raised as a matter of discussion. Proposals are made to improve the disposition of the criminal law norm. The author expresses reproaches to the notes to article 110.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides exemption from criminal responsibility in the commission of the investigated crime, and proposes a new edition of notes, which must be placed after the text of article 110.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account characteristics of the main and aggravated offenses.