The paper examines the problems of legal policy formation in the field of regulation of non-stationary and non-chain formats of trade (small trade forms) in Russia on the example of the draft Strategy for the Trade Development until 2025 and Peddling Trade. The paper describes specifics of the implementation of the main goals and objectives of the Strategy related to ensuring a variety of forms of trade and «deregulation» in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author describes the historical experience of the Russian legal regulation of peddling trade and analyzes the use of the traditional permissive regulatory model. Modern legislative attempts to «deregulate» peddling trade in Russia are critically evaluated from the point of view of legal technique and the real volume of regulatory burden for salesmen. Federal «deregulation» does not eliminate, but only strengthens administrative barriers at the local level of regulation, which, as shown in the paper, is often characterized by inadequate and excessive rulemaking contradicting federal legislation and the legal standing of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In this regard, the availability of small forms for private trade initiatives in practice is limited not only by the general requirement to register a citizen’s entrepreneurial activity, which is not mitigated by modern norms on professional income tax, but also by arbitrary municipal regulation. At the same time, the traditional permissive model for peddling trade, uniformly applied throughout the state, but with freedoms for certain types of goods, seems more appropriate and favorable for merchants than the apparent «deregulation», which is confirmed by foreign experience. Thus, the draft Strategy for trade development until 2025 is clearly outdated and needs a serious update that would correspond to the new economic reality formed by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic sanctions and take into account the nature and effectiveness of the legislative changes that have already taken place.

There is no holistic and full-scale theory of parenthood that would include integrated knowledge about recognition of persons by parents and parental rights and obligations arising from such recognition, in the science of family law. There are segments of scientific knowledge about the origin of children and largely distanced from them knowledge about parental rights and responsibilities. This perception of parenthood has become one of the reasons for the «barrier-free», uncritical introduction of sociobiological and other evolutionary approaches promoted beyond the law into the legal discourse. This not only distorts the body of legal knowledge about parenthood, but also does not ensure their heuristic development. The lag of jurisprudence in the scientific description of parenthood and the promotion of the basic ideas on which it is based in law is becoming more and more noticeable. The purpose of the paper is in the scientific desire of the author to formulate the theoretical construction of parenthood in law and give it a legally qualified scientific description. The author’s judgments are subordinated to a legal-dogmatic approach that allows to study law in the form of an internally consistent system of logical categories and legal constructions, ensuring unification of theoretical conclusions with the current legislation. Leading methods are the method of formal logical analysis and the method of deduction, which allows to direct the scientific thought of the author from the general to the particular. The results of the study are expressed in the following author’s conclusions. The absence of the doctrine of parenthood in law is a serious obstacle to the improvement of family legislation. The legal problem of parenthood is twofold. It includes the norms on parental recognition and the norms on legal obligation of persons with legal parental status. The emphasis on this excludes attribution of parental status to persons performing parental functions, but who have not passed the regulatory procedures of parental recognition. It is methodologically correct to structure child-parent relations and give them a scientific description around the normative framework that embodies the legitimate rules of parental recognition.

Despite a widespread development of global spaces, which include the outer space, the existing international agreements have not overcome the territorial principle of intellectual property protection. Legal conflicts may arise when intellectual rights are considered from the point of view of their implementation in outer space, where filing claims to sovereignty is limited. Intellectual property rights protection may formally conflict with the fundamental principles of international space law. In particular, the implementation of the territorial principle of intellectual property protection in outer space faces limitations caused by European integration processes (for example, the principle of order of precedence). Regional and bilateral cooperation of States, within the framework of which issues of accounting, evaluation, use, distribution of intellectual property rights, as well as the claim of appropriate protection, are regulated, is the main vector of regulation of intellectual property protection in outer space. Joint project activities that lead to the creation of the results of intellectual activity, in this case, can be regulated in the agreements between the participants, in instruments of a different kind, for example, in plans for the evaluation and the use of results of intellectual work, in compliance with the applicable international law rules. It seems necessary to develop uniform methods of assessment, accounting for the contribution of participants in joint activities in creation of intellectual property objects, distribution of exclusive rights. In this context, it is advisable to provide at the international and national levels the possibility of allocating a share in the exclusive right to an intellectual property object. The extraterritorial potential of regulating relations in the field of intellectual property protection in outer space allows us to talk about the possibility of developing and using the conventional «international regime» of intellectual property protection, which at this stage of development could be expressed in the universal nature, mutual recognition and cross-border use of intellectual rights — at least for joint results of intellectual activity created during the development of outer space.

The paper examines the principle of systemic unity of state control (supervision) and public control in the context of constitutional law science that, according to the author, is conditioned by the logic of the development of Russian legislation concerning control and supervisory activities and provides the necessary constitutional and theoretical support point for further increasing of cohesion between the state and civil society. Based on a systematic analysis of the basic provisions of legislative acts concerning types of control, the paper shows that this constitutional law principle manifests itself in the following aspects: as a uniform conceptual approach of the law-maker to aim all types of control to achieve constitutionally significant goals and protect constitutionally significant values; orientation of all types of control to comprehensively ensure the rule of law in the areas of controlled public relations; the correlation of the content of the types of control in terms of a combination of both verification measures (or supervision) and analytical and prognostic components aimed at countering the formation of conditions conducive to violations; the correlation of the expected results of control activities within all types of control, namely, the elimination of violations and restoration of the state of protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals and legal entities and public interests; unity of the constructive nature of control activities. The practical introduction into the doctrine and law-making of the proposed constitutional law principle of the systemic unity of state control (supervision) and public control will make it possible to ensure to a greater extent that all control and supervisory activities are aimed at achieving a state of protection of constitutionally significant values, including full compliance with safeguards of human and civil rights and freedoms, strengthening the rule of law, and improving the efficiency of the state and municipal administration.

The paper examines factors influencing the effectiveness of criminal punishment for corruption crimes. The research methodology includes the main method of scientific cognition (dialectical), a systematic approach, general scientific methods: analysis and synthesis (in understanding corruption acts), comparison (law enforcement practices, types of criminal punishment); private scientific methods: mathematical and criminal statistical (in calculating indicators and identifying correlations), sociological (survey of respondents-officers responsible for preliminary investigation, judges, convicts, citizens), analysis of documents, etc. The empirical basis consists of the results of a criminological study conducted by the author in 2018–2020. as part of an interregional research team (Vladimir, Volgograd, Kazan, N. Novgorod, Syktyvkar), as well as criminal statistics data, materials of judicial practice. The paper analyzes the state of the problem of determining the effectiveness of criminal punishment. The results obtained are projected onto the sphere of corruption crimes. The law enforcement practice of sentencing for corruption crimes for the period 2016–2020 is presented on the basis of judicial statistics. The author substantiates the necessity of determining the criteria for evaluating effectiveness of criminal punishment in the area under examination. These include the achievement through punishment of the goals stated by the law-maker. It is proposed to focus on the results of criminological research when assessing the effectiveness of the execution of punishment. Additional criteria for effectiveness can be: the proportion of convicts who consider the punishment imposed on them fair/unfair; the proportion of convicts who have fully/ partially compensated for the damage caused, etc. The conclusion is made about insufficient effectiveness of the most commonly used types of punishment, as well as the low deterrent effect of the fine. It is demonstrated that the humanism inherent in modern anti-corruption legislation is not recognized by convicts, thereby the trust provided by the state is not justified against the background of the corruption acts committed. The author argues the expediency of returning confiscation as a full-fledged type of criminal punishment for corruption crimes. The disclosure of the potential of criminal punishment in the form of imprisonment and the restoration of property confiscation can increase the effectiveness of the criminal law response to the threat of corruption.

The modern digital transformation of Russian society affects criminal proceedings, which results in the expansion of the scope of application of LegalTech tools in the course of criminal proceedings. The purpose of LegalTech in modern criminal proceedings is to optimize not only the professional activities of the governmental participants in the criminal procedure when they carry out procedural actions and make procedural decisions, but also the procedural mechanism for protecting rights, defending legitimate interests by non-governmental participants in the field of activity under consideration. The results of the analysis of domestic and foreign experience (the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Finland, and the Swiss Confederation), alongside with the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, makes it possible to conclude that the investigator should use a video conference system during interrogation, confrontation, and identification.

At the same time, the author presents some arguments confirming the need to implement additional legal, organizational, technological measures in pre-trial proceedings in order to overcome the risks of unjustified restriction of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in these investigative actions.

We are talking about expanding the rights of participants in the analyzed investigative actions, clarifying the legal regulation of the procedure for video recording during the production of these actions, regulating the procedural status of the investigator-executor of the order on organizing the participation of a suspect, accused, victim, witness in investigative actions carried out using a video conferencing system, optimizing the technological support of criminal investigation business.

The author proposes to expand the procedural guarantees of the rights of certain social groups who, due to their state of health, social immaturity, lack of technical equipment, are not able to perceive the LegalTech technological tools, when an investigator decides on the production of an investigative action using a video conferencing system.

A distinctive feature of modern crimes is its qualitative complication and rapid development of hightech crimes characterized by the widespread use of the latest information technologies. As there is quite a low response rate in adapting the norms of law and judicial and investigative practice to new types of crimes, criminalistic theory and practice lag behind the ongoing changes. One of the aspects of this lag is the lack of development of private forensic methods for investigating high-tech crimes. The paper shows that the difficulties in the formation of such methods primarily result from negative factors related to the specifics of its sources. The shortcomings of the system regulation of public relations in the field of countering high-tech crime, contradictions and inconsistencies in the application of criminal and criminal procedure legislation are among such factors for the legal norms source. The difficulties in using scientific knowledge are associated with their weak formation, which is natural for new types of crimes. Low representativeness of empirical data presented by insufficiently developed forensic investigative practice plays a negative role, which significantly complicates the generalization of the experience of investigations. The paper proves that a promising approach to overcoming problems in building a private method for investigating new types of crimes is the development of a predictive method that reflects the most likely features of the relevant crimes, trends in their development and patterns of their investigation. The author proposes and substantiates some principles of creating such a method, including the expansion of the role of the general criminalistic methodology, the use of the provisions of private methods developed for close groups of crimes, as well as the extrapolation of empirical data on crimes with similar criminalistic characteristics to a new group of crimes. It is shown that in conditions of insufficient representativeness of forensic investigative practice, the involvement of the method of expert assessments is of particular importance.

The paper discusses the scientific and law enforcement aspects of understanding the types of intent in criminal law. The law enforcement and doctrinal features of alternative and indefinite types of intent and the problems associated with their establishment in the law of Russia and Belarus are considered. The paper analyzes the law enforcement practice and pressing issues of interpretation of the intentional form of guilt in accordance with the provisions of the current legislation of Russia and Belarus. The purpose of the paper is a rational and critical consideration of the provisions of the science of criminal law in relation to the question of the classification of criminal acts with an indefinite (unspecified) intent. The author concludes that when establishing the elements of an indefinite (unspecified) intent, the criminal act should be evaluated by the actual consequences. However, it is an inchoate offense that possesses the specifics of classification in this matter. Therefore, in such cases, it is necessary to establish the actual direction of the actions of the perpetrator, based on the objective situation of the act committed, the tools used, the means of committing the crime, the physical data of the victim and the accused, etc. The author proposes to pay attention to the following things in cases of crimes against life and health: the nature and method of utilizing the instrument of crime, its danger, the commission of actions that objectively pose a danger to human life; the intensity of damage, their localization, the possession of special skills and abilities to cause physical harm; the striking force of the impact, the physical data of the victim and the accused, the conscious nature of the guilty person’s behavior; the reasons for termination of criminal actions by the accused, his relationship with the victim on the eve of the crime, the subsequent behavior of the guilty and the victim. Research methods used in the paper are formal-dogmatic, comparative-legal, instrumental analysis. Scope of application: jurisprudence, law enforcement practice, lawmaking, lawmaking.

Given the Russian tendency to expand the scope of non-rehabilitating grounds for termination of criminal prosecution/case, the paper examines the legal regulation and law enforcement practice of termination of criminal prosecution with the imposition of various duties and regulations to the accused as one of the alternative ways to resolve a criminal conflict within the framework of the German criminal procedure. The German criminal procedure has a lot in common with the Russian one; both are formed on the principle of lawfulness, or legality. At present, both Russian and German legislators are looking for alternative ways, in addition to procedural coercion or the threat of its use, to resolve the conflict in the process, which contribute to the humanization of criminal legislation, reducing the number of convicts, procedural economy. One of such alternatives in the German criminal procedure is the termination of criminal prosecution followed by the imposition of duties and regulations on the accused. The possibility of termination of criminal prosecution on this basis is provided not only in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Federal Republic of Germany, but also in various sectoral laws, for example, the German Narcotics Law, the German Youth Court Law. An analysis of the statistical data of the Federal Statistical Office in Germany from 2016 to 2020 on the termination of criminal prosecution followed by the imposition of certain duties and regulations to the accused shows the priorities of the German law enforcement officer in terms of choosing individual duties assigned to the accused and, if properly performed, entailing the termination of criminal prosecution. Despite the wide choice of duties and regulations, the law enforcement officer mainly uses the few duties imposed on the accused in order to terminate criminal prosecution. However, the very possibility of a wide choice of potentially possible duties and regulations indicates an individualized approach to the participants of the criminal law conflict in the German criminal procedure, which makes it possible to take into account the interests of all parties to the conflict.

The paper is devoted to the codification of civil law in Azerbaijan over the past 100 years. During the 20th century, Azerbaijan has adopted civil codes three times by codifying the norms of civil law. The development of new civil legislation from scratch after gaining independence in the early 1990s was aimed at the country’s transition from a planned economy to a market economy. The paper discusses a number of pressing problems of the civil legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and puts forward several proposals for their solution. Assessing the results of the civil legislation of Azerbaijan adopted since independence, it is possible to say that, although most of the issues related to the creation and development of the civil law system have been resolved, there is a great need to reform and change the civil legislation of the country. The concept of development and reform of civil legislation in Azerbaijan should be transformed into a unified strategy aimed at more effective regulation of market relations in the country in order to gradually eliminate the «transitional» nature of market relations. The author proposes to optimize civil legislation in Azerbaijan. These should aim at revising a certain part of civil legislation, eliminating contradictions, recodifying old laws; improving norms for the protection of property rights, healthy competition, implementation of agreements and antimonopoly activities; reflecting the practice of law enforcement and interpretation of laws and improving the effectiveness of law enforcement practice; using innovations and successful experience of civil codes in a number of European and Asian countries in the modernization of civil legislation; improvement of the legal language and legislative technique; raising awareness of judges and lawyers through trainings; formation of legal consciousness of citizens through the media; public discussion of the adoption of new laws and amendments to controversial laws that meet modern challenges, with the participation of scientists and experts in the field of private law.

Since its introduction, Chinese Company Law has played a great role in the development of Chinese business system, but with the development of the economy, continuous technological innovation and changes in the world environment, the current Company Law can no longer meet Chinese current economic development and needs to be improved and modified. By examining the current legislative situation in China, the provisions on directors’ liability in China are too strict, which seriously affects the directors’ business judgment in favor of the company’s development in the process of business decision making and does not provide the company directors with the protection they deserve, but instead applies a more stringent standard of liability to directors. At present, there is a double lack of statutory exemption system and intentional exemption system for directors’ liability in Chinese corporate legal system, and in the field of practice, there is a misinterpretation of the judgment standard of directors’ liability for diligence, which needs to be clarified. By analyzing the value and function of the director’s liability exemption system, the article seeks ways to solve the problem of director’s liability exemption, protects directors from unfortunate punishment by introducing business judgment rules, reasonably constructs the intentional exemption mechanism of director’s liability, and clarifies the judgment standard of director’s liability for diligence. The director liability exemption system is reasonably constructed so as to improve the corporate governance problem in China and promote the internationalization level of Chinese company law.