Territories with a special regime for business that have shown themselves to good advantage in a number of foreign countries have not yielded the expected positive results in Russia. In this regard, the issues concerning the future of special and free economic zones, regional development zones, areas of advanced social and economic development and Free Port of Vladivostok should be considered. The paper analyzes the draft Federal Law “On Preferential Regimes”. Under the draft Federal Law, it is proposed to transform most territories with a special regime for business activity into a new type, namely: special free economic zones. The paper has determined the advantages of the enactment: additional grounds for termination of the special free economic zone in case of its inefficiency; expansion of the list of preferences granted to residents; possibility of formation of portfolios of preferences in compliance with the needs of a particular region; requirements for managing companies to ensure their adherence to fair competition. The author indicates such shortcomings of the draft law as: the possibility of imposing supplementary requirements on residents of the special free economic zone and their investment projects in addition to requirements provided for by the draft law; imperfection of the contractual form of business activity implemented by residents of such zones, and the fact that the draft law’s provisions concerning transformation do not apply to a number of territories with a special regime for business activity (special free economic zones of Magadan and Kaliningrad regions, free economic zone of the Republic of Crimea). It is concluded that the idea of unifying existing territories with special regime cannot be embodied in the current version of the draft federal law “On Preferential Regimes”.

The paper justifies the statement concerning the multiplicity of the concept of “bankruptcy”, and interpretes the relevant meanings. The author states that bankruptcy can be considered as: 1. an economic condition, failure to satisfy creditors’ claims, including the failure recognized by the court; 2. a procedure; 3. an objection on behalf of the debtor; 4. a basis for a special settlement regime with creditors and such a special settlement regime itself; 5. a type of enforcement proceedings; 6. a way of authorizing insolvency; 7. a model of administration; 8. a basis and order of liquidation of a legal entity. A preliminary agreement concerning the meaning of the term “bankruptcy” is necessary at all stages of the life of law: when a rule of law is created, applied and when it is being subjected to doctrinal debates aimed at identifying its meaning. Particular attention in the paper is paid to the concepts of insolvency and property insufficiency. The author argues that it is necessary to distinguish the signs of bankruptcy from insolvency, and the former from the grounds for initiating proceedings. In author’s opinion, the introduction of the category of insufficiency of property in 2009 as grounds for mandatory filing for bankruptcy by the debtor’s principal was a step backwards and does not meet the needs of the modern economy. To remedy the situation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation introduced the category of objective bankruptcy that is also ambiguous. The paper also focuses on bankruptcy as a special settlement regime with creditors based on the application of the principle of equality of creditors (pari passu). It is stated that this principle is the reason for the emergence, along with the executive proceedings, of a special regime, namely: bankruptcy.

Based on approaches existing in domestic science to the interpretation of the term “a people”, the author concludes that in constitutional law the term under consideration is used in at least two different meanings: 1.as a source of power; and 2. as a subject of constitutional rights. The author highlights the irreducibility of this duality and substantiates the thesis that the concept of the people as a source of power is one of the limiting concepts of constitutional law and, therefore, cannot be defined within its framework. Awareness of this problem leads some Russian lawyers to denying the principle of popular sovereignty, and other scholars try to equate the concept of “a people as a source of power” with the concept of electoral corps. Arguing both these approaches, the author highlights that according to Gödel’s theorem on incompleteness, constitutional law as a system of formally defined norms cannot be complete and uncontroversial at the same time. Attempts to construct a “pure” constitutional-legal theory free of any extra-legal elements where definitions of all concepts the theory operates would be derived from the theory itself lead to intractable contradictions. If the system of constitutional law is built as non-contradictory, it is inevitably incomplete, in particular it uses concepts that cannot be defined within its framework. The author investigates such concepts and categories belonging to a higher level of abstraction as meta-categories, or marginal concepts, of the science of constitutional law. The category “the people as a source of power” is one of them. Concerning the dilemma of completeness and consistency of constitutional law as a system of formally defined norms, the author prioritizes consistency.

The paper deals with the issues of interconnectedness and the role of constitutional amendments introduced by the President of the Russian Federation to the current Constitution of the Russian Federation on January 20, 2020. In assessing the meaning and content of a great deal of amendments to Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the author concludes that they have additional, however, sometimes more important value in the context of the hierarchy of constitutional norms, which is directly related to the chapters of the Constitution that are not subject to any revision. Despite the formal inalterability, the foundations of the constitutional order have in fact as a result of the amendments gained such new provisions as: “the stateconstituing people that is a part of the multinational union of equal peoples of the Russian Federation”; “ban on alienation of a part of the territory of the Russian Federation and calls for such actions”; “non-enforcement of decisions of interstate bodies adopted on the basis of the provisions of international agreements of the Russian Federation in their interpretation contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation”; “the state guarantee of minimum wage not less than the minimum living wage of the working population.” The rules governing certain fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen (art. 37–39, 44 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) have been supplemented with new content without being formally altered. Ambivalence of local self-government leading to opposition between local and state authorities, partly resulting from the provision of Article 12 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation concerning the autonomy of local self-government bodies. Their failure to enter the system of public authorities is partially minimized by the provision on their unity in the system of public power. However, many, and at first glance minor, amendments to Chapter 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation significantly reduce the potential of power for the local population, turn the constituent rules concerning its powers to the reference rule. The conclusion draws attention to some issues in the activity of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the implementation of these constitutional amendments.

Based on statistics and survey results the author highlights that there is a markedly lower quality of criminal justice as compared with arbitrazh (commercial) disputes. The comparison is based on six indicators: the distribution of cases among judges, the capabilities of the information system, the policy of the use of telecommunications technologies, the observance of procedural deadlines, adherence of the court to timelines and the use of mediation procedures. The selected parameters have been developed by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice and reflect not only the organizational but also the procedural features of each of the types of proceedings under consideration.

The author supports the concept of judicial law, and, therefore, the study is devoted to finding unreasonable differences in the quality of justice in some types of justice. These include: automated distribution of cases in courts of general jurisdiction which is affected by the will of operators to the extent in which it is implemented in arbitrazh courts; lack of necessary “e-justice” tools in "Pravosudie" Stat Automated System (GAS "Pravosudie"); insufficient use of video-conferencing by the courts of general jurisdiction, unwillingness to conduct an electronic case and remote formalization with cases; continous consideration of criminal cases in comparison with arbitrazh and other cases; disrespect of the courts of general jurisdiction for the time of the proceedings’ participants; refusal of the court to promote amicable settlement of criminal disputes. Fully aware of all the differences between criminal and arbitrazh proceedings on many grounds: both the existence (or absence) of formalized pretrial proceedings and qualitative characteristics of the parties and their representatives and the specific weight of the cases dealt with by the courts in the total scope of all legal cases in the country, the author nevertheless considers that according to the indicators applied by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice all types of domestic proceedings are still comparable, and the apparent differences in accessibility and quality of justice are not unavoidable. 

The paper is devoted to an actual problem of the legal theory and practice, namely: the institution of circumstances excluding criminal nature (criminality) of an act (Chapter 8 of the Russian Criminal Code). As a manifestation of criminal and legal compromise steadily strengthening its position in domestic criminal legislation, this legal phenomenon is intended to encourage citizens to commit actions that contribute to localization or minimization of threats to the interests of the individual, society and the state protected by the law. At the same time, despite seemingly clear legislative enactment, the institution of circumstances precluding the criminal nature of an act evokes hot scientific debates. Among forensic scientists there is no uniform opinion concerning the legal nature of the criminal law institution as a whole and some of the individual types of circumstances constituting the institution under consideration, in particular. The legal literature substantiates the idea of the need to expand the legislative list of such circumstances. Investigators and judges often face difficulties in practical application of the rules enshrined in articles of Chapter 8 of the Criminal Code (especially provisions concerning necessary defense, extreme necessity, reasonable risk). The reasons for theoretical and practical problems related to the circumstances excluding the criminal nature of the act are largely preconditioned by the insufficient research of the institution under consideration in the general theory of law. This fundamental theoretical legal science lacks general legal equivalents of the criminal law concepts “criminality of the act”, “circumstances excluding criminality of the act.” It is proposed to introduce into scientific circulation the general legal equivalent of the concept “criminality of the act” — “delinquency of the act”, representing the set of such features of the offense as public harm, wrongfulness, culpability and punishability. This new legal design will allow us to investigate the phenomenon of circumstances excluding criminality of the act in the light of a general theory of law, to determine the possibility and limits of their subsidiary application in various branches of law. Thus, categories of circumstances excluding criminal, administrative, civil. disciplinary delinquency of acts will acquire the right to exist in differnt legal sciences and relevant branches of law. This, in turn, will contribute to improving the effectiveness of protection of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the individual, ensuring the interests of the society and the state.

The paper deals with the issues of ensuring access of citizens to justice in the conditions of introduction of digital technologies in criminal proceedings. The authors substantiate the obligation of the judiciary to ensure effective interaction with citizens and professional participants of procedural relations through electronic services and information resources. The paper analyzes socially useful effects from introduction of digital technologies in the mechanisms of court proceedings, as well as some emerging risks. Based on content analysis of Internet sites of the courts, the survey of different social groups, and analysis of the unfolding scientific discussions, the authors draw generalizing conclusions concerning the degree of accessibility of information posted on the relevant Internet pages, readiness of the society to widen the boundaries of digitalization in the field of legal proceedings, problems of introduction of digital technologies in criminal proceedings in comparison with other types of judicial proceedings. Proposals are made to optimize the information support of the activities of the courts. The authors conclude that due to introduction of digital technologies in the field of judicial proceedings a qualitative shift has taken place towards automation and simplification of clerical mechanisms. Search for the necessary information in the vast information field has become easier, as well as other positive social and legal changes have become possible. However, at this stage a complete transition to “digital proceedings”, at least in the field of criminal proceedings, is not possible, on the one hand, due to the very legalistic nature and essence of criminal procedure that requires participation of a human both at the pre-trial stages of the proceedings and at the level of administration of justice. On the other hand, the society is not ready yet to abandon traditional forms of interaction with the judicial system. The latter could inevitably lead to a violation of the right of citizens to access justice, since digital technologies are not yet available for a large group of the population due to a number of objective and subjective causes.

The paper shows how Russian thinkers understand culture and its unifying role in society and the state. The imperfection inherent in Russian society determined the movement of thought from existing to what is due. In a complex, long-term process of searching for what is due, Russian thinkers have developed high-quality ideas aimed at an ideal understanding, a just structure and action of the state. Justification of the ideal structure of state life was associated with the comprehension of the meaning of life, the national idea, the essence of power, the state. It was argued that without their understanding, the state cannot determine not only the highest goal, but also specific historical tasks. It cannot develop just and effective state decrees. Due to the modern westernization process in Russia, the priority of material culture focused on material enrichment, success, and prestige in society was established at the official level. This led to the loss of culture’s true role and national characteristics. By proclaiming a quantitative criterion, modern culture has separated people, ceased to fulfill a unifying mission in society, the state, and to serve the quality of national life. Repressed at the official level, Russian culture is preserved in various spheres of the national consciousness and the unconscious. The task of reviving, preserving and exalting Russia requires a real restructuring of the Russian state in accordance with the principles of its own political and legal culture. The search for the solution to this problem encourages an in-depth analysis, second thought and new interpretation of the established understanding and role of culture in the structure and life of a state-organized society developed by Russian thinkers.

The paper is devoted to the study of the moral principles of law in the works of the outstanding educator, philosopher, lawyer and founder of revolutionary ideas in Russian science Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev. Investigating the question of the relationship between morality and law in general, the author considers four conceptual models: a single regulatory and protective system (mononorms); the absence of common origins and features; understanding of law as a minimum of morality; complementary, but independent social regulators. The author concludes that the problem of the relationship between morality and law, despite the interest the representatives of the humanities have in it, needs further conceptual certainty by referring to the political and legal views of specific scientists. In the context of the A. N. Radishchev’s general legal views, the author examines the moral nature of the national state, the inviolability of natural law, the legal status of a person and procedural guarantees of the rights of the accused (defendant). The civil-legal views of A. N. Radishchev are considered separately. The author examines some questions of legal capacity through the prism of class distinctions denial, and analyzes the possibility of a person to use the services of a representative. The paper considers the proper moral aspect of A. N. Radishchev’s views in relation to the institution of property and concludes that the educator’s desire to recognize things as objects of property law and any person a subject of law. In terms of contract law, the author concludes that A. N. Radishchev reasonably believed that the subject of the contract must not contradict the law, and in the case of deliberate non-compliance with this principle by the parties, recognized the contract as invalid. As for the educator’s outlook on family law, it is focused on their value component: the voluntary nature of marriage; equality of spouses; proportionality of persons’ age when entering into marriage; the inadmissibility of understanding marriage as a simple civil transaction; the duty of parents to take care of children; the duty of children to selflessly and cordially honor their parents; freedom of inheritance by will with mandatory consideration of the interests of "illegitimate" children and "cohabitees".

Secession in the 20th-21st centuries have become subject to legal regulation at the level of current legislation issued on the basis of the provisions of the national Constitution. The paper analyzes three of the laws on secession. Two of them (the USSR and Canada) regulate the implementation of secession from the state, the third (China) prohibits secession. All the three acts are based on the interpretation of relevant constitutional norms. An analysis of these laws in terms of the purpose for their issuance, content, features, and the degree of achievement of the officially formulated goals shows a significant discrepancy between the officially set goals and the legal tools of legislative techniques used to achieve them. Despite the different names and officially stated goals for secession laws adoption, all the three laws are aimed at either preventing secession or significantly delaying the process. In the Soviet and Canadian laws that formally permit secession, the main role in the process of "delaying" the issue is assigned to the central authorities of the state, which are given broad powers and opportunities to recognize the results of a referendum held by the relevant region as invalid. Due to the nature of Taiwan’s status and its relationship with China the PRC law can hardly be seen as an attempt to create a legal mechanism of counteraction of secession. It is rather a political warning, made in the form of a legal act, of the inadmissibility, in the opinion of the PRC, the international legal formalization of the independence of Taiwan. The legislative regulation of secession issues does not yet contain new mechanisms that clearly ensure the democratic nature of state decision-making. However, no matter how weak the legislative regulation of secession issues is, it is a step forward in comparison with the use of force to solve regional problems.

From the second half of the 20th century the revisionist movement has spread among scientists, public and political figures. Publicists and scientists are known for criticizing the testimonies of concentration camp prisoners and their executioners, as well as denying the possibility of mass extermination of prisoners in terms of the technical capabilities of gas chambers.

Attempts to reinterpret historical events often border on extremism and pose a threat to national security, leading to a significant deterioration in international relations. At the international level, a number of acts have been adopted indicating that the Holocaust is a fact established by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, and calling on states to reject any denial of the Holocaust. International organizations that oppose attempts to rewrite history include the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and UNESCO.

At the national level, responsibility for denying and justifying the Holocaust has been established in a number of states. The first group includes states that are responsible for denying and approving the Holocaust and other crimes committed by the Nazis (Germany, France, Austria, Israel). The second group includes states that equated Nazi crimes in their legislation with crimes of communism (Hungary, Czech Republic, Lithuania). The third group consists of states that prohibit the denial and justification of any genocide (Switzerland, Luxembourg). Some states (for example, the United States) refused to introduce such bans, citing freedom of speech and belief.

In 2014, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation introduced article 354.1 "Rehabilitation of Nazism", which sets forth responsibility for denying the facts established by the Nuremberg Tribunal verdict. At the same time, the legislator should not selectively approach the protection of historical events. It would be fair to criminalize the denial of genocide and other international crimes recognized by the international community, regardless of any criteria relating to the perpetrators. 

The purpose of the study is to determine the prospects for improving the special system of compensation for harm caused to the employee’s health as a result of accidents at work and occupational diseases in Russia based on the experience of legal regulation and development of such a system in the United States. The choice of the United States is determined by the specifics of regulation and the use of special systems for compensation for industrial damage in this country, which combines the best practices in this field in the world, as well as experimental approaches. The author substantiates the thesis about the compensatory nature of compulsory insurance for the industrial harm risks. It is noted that the national legislator should implement the approach in which the list of legally significant circumstances established for receiving insurance payments under this type of insurance includes only the fact of harm, its size and the fact of the origin of harm from the sphere of production or from industrial (professional) risks. In case of loss of earning capacity, it is important to adhere to a single method of assessing harm to health in terms of lost earnings (income), based either on the loss of ability to work, or on the projected or actual losses of the injured person, which is customary when applying depreciation methods, future losses and actual losses in the United States. At the same time, the method of future or actual losses in the future can be used in Russia for the injured persons returning to work. It is determined that it is advisable to compensate for industrial harm in terms of expenses for medical, social and professional rehabilitation of the injured person, which will free the judicial practice from disputes regarding the validity of providing specific types of assistance and care, as well as the need for them for the injured person.

The paper is devoted to a comparative legal analysis of some norms of the criminal procedure laws of the CIS countries concerning evidence and establishment of evidence in criminal procedures. The paper analyzes the legal definitions of the concept of "evidence" in the CIS countries codes. It is noted that the wording used in article 74 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation is less specific than the content of the relevant norms in the legislation of other CIS countries. In particular, the replacement of the phrase "this data is established", which was used in the RSFSR Criminal Procedure Code, with the phrase "evidence is" in part 2 of article 74 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, which led to an illegal identification of the sources of evidence and the evidence itself, is critically evaluated.

Some features, advantages and disadvantages of the norms of criminal procedure laws of the CIS countries containing a list of sources of evidence are revealed. The conclusion is made about a clear advantage in this respect of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, part 2 of article 74 of which contains a complete and universal list of sources of evidence. At the same time, the need to include in this list, along with the testimony of the suspect and the accused, such a source of evidence as the testimony of the defendant is argued.

The paper analyzes the legislative consolidation of the concept of "evidence" in the criminal procedure codes of the CIS countries, which allowed us to critically evaluate the definition given to this concept by the Russian legislator. According to the author, the absence of the purpose for the establishment of evidence in article 85 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, namely the purpose for establishing the circumstances listed in article 73 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, as a lawful, reasoned and just resolution of the case, is a significant shortcoming of the Russian criminal-procedural law that requires special legal address. 

The paper is a review of the textbook "International Commercial Arbitration", prepared by a group of authors under the scientific editorship of leading experts in the field of alternative dispute resolution, i.e. O.Yu. Skvortsov, M.Yu. Savranskiy, G. V. Sevastyanov. The significance of this publication is due to the need to develop a sustainable pro-arbitration approach in Russia, strengthen contractual principles in the field of legal conflict resolution, and develop international commercial arbitration (hereinafter referred to as the ICA) as an important component of increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Russian jurisdiction. Legal science representatives and practicing lawyers have been in an active discussion about the role of arbitration institutions and arbitrators in modern civil commerce, the nature of arbitration, effective forms and methods (models) of interaction between state justice and arbitration, the limits of assistance and control of state courts in relation to arbitration courts, as well as the limits of the will of civil commerce participants in choosing forms and methods for resolving legal conflicts, and the importance for Russia, in the conditions of new challenges in the economy, and formation of a balanced Pro-arbitration policy. The reviewed book is the result of serious and very deep study of the ICA history and its contemporary state, all its major institutions. It contains the latest information about the most important directions of its modernization from the point of view of international standards and in the context of the Russian arbitration reform, demanded by both domestic and foreign business. The comparative legal research method chosen by the authors and reference to the best practices in the field under study made it possible not only to identify problems, current challenges and new trends in the field of arbitration, but also to propose a set of measures to solve existing problems in order to increase the role and authority of the ICA in Russia, increase confidence in the arbitration form of dispute resolution by state courts, expand the arbitrability of disputes, and increase the competitiveness of domestic jurisdiction.