Review. This article describes the process of formation of the Faculty of Law of the Penza State University. Despite the fact that the Faculty is relatively young, it has accumulated a lot of experience in teaching, scientific research, international cooperation, participation in different projects. On the basis of the Faculty of Law the Center providing free legal aid to the population was formed. An important role in scientific work of the Faculty is played by the Scientific and Educational Center "Comparative Legal Policy" and the Research Center "The Challenges of Modern Federalism". The Faculty is actively developing international cooperation. Many University professors have undergone scientific internships in foreign universities; have repeatedly received grants for scientific research from the Russian Fund of Fundamental Research, Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund, and foreign funds. Scholars from different countries (Germany, Belgium, the United States, China, etc.) are often invited as visiting professors of the Faculty of Law.

Review. The problem of formation and development of judicial rulemaking in Russia remains relevant for both legal science and judicial practice. The analysis of different opinions on this issue with due account for the jurisprudence of the higher courts allowed the author to define judicial rulemaking, understand the essence and the role of judicial rulemaking of the highest judicial bodies in the legal regulation of social relations. Evolutionary development of the legal system has allowed defining a normative function of the judiciary and the related problems of its legal recognition in Russia. In the literature there is no single point of view with regard to judicial practice as a source of Russian law and a normative function of the higher judicial bodies, and, therefore, the problem of its recognition in the legal system remains unsolved. Two main approaches to the problem of applying judicial practice as a source of law and the judicial rulemaking have developed. Under the first approach judicial rulemaking and judicial practice are acknowledged as a source of law. Under the second approach judicial practice is not considered to be the source of law because judicial bodies do not have rulemaking functions, and their main task is to apply the law, not to make it. In fact, both the Constitutional Court of the RF and the Supreme Court of the RF serve the rulemaking function, although this function is not enshrined in law, and this activity in no way violates rights and freedoms of citizens, but rather protects their infringed rights, freedoms and legitimate interests in cases of loopholes and fouls in a regulatory enactment (a norm), or if a regulatory enactment contradicts the Constitution of the RF. Judicial rulemaking is a non-core activity of the highest judicial body, it is not permanent as compared with legislative lawmaking and it takes place when the court in its operation faces with a gap or foul in law or legislature or with the rule of a legislative enactment that needs interpreting. Then, to resolve the dispute the Court establishes a judicial rule that becomes a supplementary regulator of social relations as soon as it resolves the dispute. In such cases the mechanism of judicial rulemaking starts its operation as a necessary and integral part of the legal system. Judicial rulemaking is the process of developing general rules of legal regulation and their interpreting by the highest judicial bodies in the process of their performance (in accordance with a certain type of court procedure) and their further consolidation in a judicial act.

Review. Ensuring public safety is one of major challenges of modern times. Protection of public order is central to ensuring public safety. The paper provides for recognized definitions of public safety and public order. The leading part in protection of public order is allocated to law-enforcement activity, the essence of which represents protection. Therefore, the analysis of a concept and essence of law-enforcement activity, mechanisms of its implementation, and determination of promising directions of its perfection constitute an arduous task. The author makes an attempt to approach the true essence of law-enforcement activity, the relevance of which is conditioned by the necessity of enhancing effectiveness of protecting rights and legitimate interests of citizens and ensuring law and order. The paper emphasizes the relevance of examining the concept of law enforcement activity and its content, as well as the ways of implementing and improving law-enforcement activity. The paper provides a general description of law-enforcement activity, its essential description, subject matter and main functions. The paper gives a detailed consideration of the subject matter of law-enforcement activity, analyzes aims and tasks of law-enforcement, provides the readers with justifications of its distinctive features and structure. The author examines the content of separate types and forms of law-enforcement activity and compares them with the views of other researchers. He also examines the grounds for the classification of law enforcement activity. The author carries out an evaluation of crime prevention as an independent type of activity that is not included into law enforcement. The paper examines the role of not-government institutions in implementation of law-enforcement, inter alia, the Bar, Public Councils of Regional Offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of territorial entities of the Russian Federation, agencies providing security and criminal investigation services and public formations. Distinctive features of law-enforcement activity are given in broad and narrow senses; the author describes government and not-government entities that implement it. The author also clarifies a definition of public law-enforcement work, its importance for ensuring public safety and securing public order. The paper classifies objects and subjects of law enforcement providing the grounds for allocating them to certain categories.

Review. The article analyses the constitutional status of the official language as a connecting element of the Russian society. The author describes the importance of searching for spiritual ties that unite modern society. Law cannot disassociate itself from the search for spiritual ties and development of certain ideology that outline the development of a nation state. The author indicates that the central place in the system of unifying elements belongs to the Russian language. The paper differentiates the state language and the official language. It also criticizes the idea of refusal of implementing a state language at the level of legislation of Republics of the Russian Federation. The author considers the peculiarities of constitutional regulation of state languages in territorial entities of the Russian Federation (in particular, in the Republic of Mordovia). The paper carries out an analysis of general conclusions made in legal theses devoted to the status of a state language. It also shows the risk of narrowing the scope of use of a literary language.

Review. The article gives an analysis of main provisions of the Federal Law "On Consumer Lending (Consumer Loan)", identifies the problems in legal regulation and produces recommendations on how to resolve them. Both the need for the development of consumer lending, including providing guarantees of consumers' rights when using consumer lending, and the development of the mechanism of protection of such rights in case of their infringement are essential for the development of not only consumer lending but for the market of banking services and economy as a whole. Accordingly, to provide borrowers with comprehensive protection of their consumer rights and legitimate interests under the Federal Law "On Consumer Lending (Consumer Loan)" we must perform the following tasks: - development of forms and methods of government control over compliance with banking legislation, competition legislation, advertising laws, consumer protection laws, and development of the ways of interaction between the Central Bank of the RF and its territorial branches when providing banking supervision and the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, its territorial agencies and The Federal Service of Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing; - raising the level of legal culture and financial literacy of the population entering into contractual relations with banks; - raising the professional level and the level of legal culture of employees of credit organizations working in bank collections departments with borrowers who are physical persons. Admittedly, the law contains a number of provisions that cause uncertainty in their trouble-free application, and a lot of time will be required to evaluate their effectiveness. Despite this, it should be noted that the idea of adopting this law deserves respect and gives hope that this mechanism will enable those citizens who, for objective reasons, find themselves in insolvency situation to get rid of endless persecution by creditors, endless charge of interests, and imposition of penalties and fines. Anyway, further development of consumer lending in Russia is possible, but only under the conditions of eliminating all problems and improving the credit system as a whole. The authorities have already prepared the development strategy, and there is nothing left but to carry it out meticulously and consistently.

Review. Law as a specific set of social norms performing the role of a social regulator needs exceptions in the same way as the rules themselves. Neglecting a diverse nature of social relations, facts, and human personality will ultimately lead to injustice. At the same time, exceptions in law must be set forth in a regulatory rule. An exception-norm is objectified in the outside real world in any meaningful legal form. In the legal system of Russia, with all its variety and specific character, the leading role belongs to such a form of law as a regulatory legal act (RLA). Therefore, the biggest part of exception norms finds their term in RLAs. Exception-norms are expressed in RLAs in different ways. Autonomous exception-RLAs may exist, although quite rarely. More often exception-norms are implemented in separate articles (provisions) of the RLA or in its structural elements: parts, titles, subtitles, paragraphs. Sometimes exception rules are given in notes or annexes to an RLA. A legislative reservation is the most commonly-used and convenient way of implementing an exception into the wording of an RLA. Despite certain difficulties, it is a reservation that is the most efficient way to combine a rule and an exception as a prescription of law. The acceptable synthesis of rules and exceptions that is achieved by means of a reservation allows a RLA to regulate social relations to the fullest extent.

Review. The paper considers legal foundations of fight against threats of use of nuclear and biological weapon in Russia and abroad. It also analyses the content of international legal acts in this sphere (The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1979); The Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005); The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (1971)). The author examines the peculiarities of imposing criminal responsibility for such wrong-doings in accordance with The Criminal Code of the RF. The author concludes that it is necessary to clarify terminology (inter alia, with regard to the definitions of nuclear and biological terrorism, as well as their interrelation with technological terrorism), and gives his own definitions of the concepts. The author suggests that it is necessary to include into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation an independent corpus delicti that concerns nuclear threat on behalf of terrorists, and to amend the rule of Article 355 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (to supplement the disposition of the Article with a direct reference to nuclear weapon). The paper also provides an analysis of legal foundations of fight against terrorism on transport. The author examines international law regulations (in particular, The Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (1963); The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1971); The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation (2010), etc). The author draws the conclusion concerning sufficient prevalence of terrorism on transport in Russia, and provides statistical data with regard to the issue of the attitude of the population of the country to this threat. He also justifies the necessity to set forth the concept of "terrorism on transport" in legislation. The author states reasons for increasing criminal responsibility for committing an act of terrorism combined with encroachment on facilities of transport infrastructure (by means of referring this act to the category of aggravated crimes - Part 3 Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Review. The article analyses the law enforcement activity of law enforcement agencies. It also gives estimates of interaction between state security bodies and the militia in the sphere of ensuring public order and struggle against crime in 1917-1934. The article describes the main forms of interaction, and the effectiveness of such interaction including dealing with certain categories of crimes. The author outlines the main stages of the formation of state security bodies and the process of their activity becoming politically determined.

Review. The article examines the legal basis of genetic research: The key provisions of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ "On Fundamentals of Protection of Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation" and Federal Law of July 5, 1996 No. 86-FZ "On State Regulation in the Sphere of Genetic Engineering. "The author defines the legal regime of gene diagnostics, genetic counseling, and gene therapeutics. The article describes the German experience in this sphere of activity. General provisions of the Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on the regulation of genetic engineering and the Law for the Federal Republic of Germany dated July, 31 2009 on genetic testing are subjected to thorough analysis. The author outlines peculiarities of international law regulation of genetic engineering activity aimed at treating human beings. The Convention For the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being With Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (Oviedo, 1997).

Review. The article analyses contemporary theories of punishment in criminal law of Russia and Canada. The criminal law doctrine of Russia distinguishes the following theories of punishment: a) absolute theory; b) relative theory; c) mixed theory; The criminal law doctrine of Canada distinguishes: a) retributive theory; b) utilitarian theory; c) theory of restorative justice. By means of comparative analysis the article reveals similarities and differences of punishment theories in Canada and Russia. The author analyses the Canadian theory of restorative justice that has been implemented in the theory and law-enforcement practice in the RF. Subject to the provisions of the criminal law doctrine statutory objectives in the Russian Federation can be classified as: retributive, i.e. restoring social justice; utilitarian, i.e. rehabilitating the convicts and preventing new crimes. Analyzing the Canadian legislation the author points out at the fact that the retributive objective means condemnation of illegal actions and causing harm to a victim of a crime or to the society as a result of committing a crime; the utilitarian objective means deterring a criminal and other persons from committing crimes; providing convicts with assistance; isolating criminals from the society, if necessary; the restorative objective involves enforcing recovery of damage caused to victims or the society; fostering in criminals the sense of responsibility and awareness of damage caused to victims and society. Having analyzed the provisions of the Criminal Code of Russia and of the Criminal Code of Canada, the author draws the conclusion with regard to the unity and interaction of purposes of punishment in Russia and the existence of both general and additional purposes of punishment in the criminal legislation of Canada. The author determines that the list of additional purposes of punishment in Canada allows the court in Canada to differentiate and individualize criminal punishment.

Review. Due to unique favorable geopolitical and special historical conditions that existed in the USA, the model of federalism in this country cannot be called classical or likely to follow. Nevertheless, it cannot but cause interest among researchers. In the course of the American Revolution the confederate scheme of organization of the state life had been implemented that several years after winning of independence was replaced by Federation. Probably, a weak federal center and weak states originally could coexist simultaneously within the framework of strictly determined powers of a dualistic model. However, since a single internal market at the end of the XIX century was formed, functions of the federal state became more complicated and the state apparatus considerably increased, a transition to a co-operative model of federalism with a strong center and the states-recipients of federal funds was initiated. The Great Depression of 1930s and Rusvelt's New Deal policies became a milestone on that path, and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson and its extensive aid programs in 1960s became the culmination of that process. It is typical that the process of strengthening the federal center was supported by the Supreme Court, especially when the Supreme Court was presided over by Earl Warren in 1953-1969. However, in 1970-1980s during the presidency of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan the intention to reduce the extent of central government intervention and activity of the federal center was stated. At the same time the slogans «of new federalism» were soon replaced with another theoretical construction, namely, by the idea of «competing federalism» increasing the degree of responsibility and independence of state governments and local governments for the sake of human well-being. This model reflects peculiarities of growing political turbulence during the modern post-modernism epoch more accurately. Simultaneously, this model probably allows reducing the risks of state instability caused by the negative effect of globalization and increasing transparency of the society. It is also characteristic that starting with 1990s The Supreme Court of the United States has demonstrated unambiguous solidarity with the ambitions of the federal center. Cultural and political contradictions in the American society are escalating (independently of whether the issue concerns immigrants or sexual minorities), polarization of political parties has become worse (especially starting with the Presidential Elections of 2008). The opinion appears that under the circumstances of increasing political differentiation between states and the absence of acceptable consensus between states and the federal center a new phenomenon of "fragmented" or polarized federalism has formed, which poses great danger to a federal state.

Review. The article attempts to synthesize the experience of legal regulation of relations in the sphere of labour and social welfare of the population in foreign countries in the 21st century. On the basis of comparative - legal analysis of acts of modern social legislation the author identifies the main trends in the development of this legislation, such as the increasing role of international legal standards in the social sphere; the institutionalization of social responsibility of enterprises; scaling up support for those most prone to social risk (youth, women, persons with disabilities, senior citizens); specification of legislative regulation of atypical forms of employment (remote work, houshold employee, precarious work, etc.); codification of the principles of the concept of "flexicurity" (balance of flexibility of labour relations and social protection of workers); health reform, aimed at narrowing the guarantees in the sphere of obligatory health insurance; reforming pension systems to optimize their funding (increasing the retirement age, reducing the opportunities for early retirement, extension of funded component of the pension, changing of the order of pension indexation, increase in premium rate, etc.) The novelty of the research lies in the fact that there has been made an attempt to conduct systematic analysis of the main trends of the development of social legislation of foreign countries in the 21st century. The article presents the author's interpretation of the basic stages of development of social legislation of foreign countries. The author provides some findings that can be used to develop further reforms of domestic social legislation. The effectiveness of specific measures of legislative regulation of social workers is illustrated by examples of individual countries.

Review. This article analyzes one of the most important trends of the State policy - the problem of criminal policy reformation from the comparative and legal point of view. The emphasized problem is seen through the prism of modernization and post-modernization transformations of public-law institutions. The priority trend of modernization of criminal justice policy as a result of the triumph of politically responsible State and the principle of separation of powers has become its humanization as a particular liberal value. Despite the positive nature of the first modernization reforms in the field of criminal policy, further there was formed a more balanced approach to the process of humanization under the influence of objective reasons. Under the post-modernization development of liberalization of criminal policy in the context of its further humanization is rather pragmatic, which is attributable to the realization of the limited resource of criminal law in the fight against crime. The central problem of modern criminal policy reform is the issue of the effectiveness of the criminal law. Promising solutions to the problem, according to the author, are the principle of punishement limitations, prevention and recovery nature of criminal policy. The principle of punishemnt limitations is quite realistic and economically viable because there is no opportunity to pursue the full implementation of all of the crimes committed. For the modern criminal policy it is typical to totally neglect preventive approaches, to underestimate crime prevention as the most humane way to deal with it. The primary task of the State can be the development of preventive effect on crime as both a humanistic and pragmatic goals. Along with preventive effects one more prospective trends of criminal policy should become its orientation to a remedy for victims. Restoring criminal policy involves not only minimizing the repression, but also reduce the scope of the competence of criminal justice through the decriminalization of a large part of crime, alternative criminal justice institutions (in particular the conciliation procedures), etc. So, if modernization of criminal policy equates its humanizing, under post-modernization development process of humanization of criminal policy seems pragmatic rather than liberal.

Review. The article provides an overview of little-known in the Russian science of Constitutional Law case studies and reports of the European Commission for democracy through law (Venice Commission) on federalism. The author focuses on relevant studies and reports made by the Venice Commission prior to the entry of the Russian Federation into its structure (2001). The article presents reports of 20-21 June 1997 on the Federal and regional authorities; of 10-11 December 1999 on "Self-determination and secession in constitutional law; of 10-11 December 1999 on "Federal and regional entities and international treaties"; of 13-14 October 2000 on "The General legal framework facilitating the settlement of ethnopolitical conflicts in Europe" and Final Report of March 21, 2014 on the Crimean referendum. The overall conclusion was the provision that the Venice Commission has contributed to the study of issues of federalism, which in modern conditions are particularly relevant: the model of unitary State gradually loses its dominant role as expanding the powers of the regions, not only in federal but in unitary countries. This tendency is a characteristic of constitutional development in recent years. The Venice Commission findings identified common features of federalism and outlined the variety and complexity of its constitutional forms.

Review. Human rights in the hierarchy of values of any society should occupy a special position. In the Russian Federation, this fact has drawn more attention in the society in the past years. The Commissioner for children's rights as the special officer aimed at protecting the rights of minors, plays a significant role in the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the citizens. The examination of the experience of establishing the institution of children regional ombudsmen and their constitutional legal status will help to analyze the level of development of the institution as an independent mechanism for monitoring, protecting and guaranteeing the rights of children in our society. The Commissioner for children's rights is quite a new institution in the Russian Federation. However, during its operation, it has shown itself in a positive way, both at the Federal and regional level. The article analyses the role and place of the The Commissioner for children's rights in the system of public authorities as well as the constitutional legal status of this institution. The status of children's ombudsmen in other countries is also considered. Considering the interests of minors, the regulation of constitutional and legal status of the Commissioner for children's rights in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is required. This is confirmed by the fact that the experience of regional commissioners for children's rights also suggests that the institution has become an important link in the system of securing rights and lawful interests of children, finding its own niche in the current system of public authorities, facilitating the observance and protection of children rights, without substituting the activities of other actors, but acting in close contact with them.

Review. The first part of this article explains the concept of sovereignty as a characteristic inherent in the modern State which should be reflected in the supremacy of its authority in its own territory and independence from any external power. This view prevailed in the middle of the 17th century, when the idea"the State is me" proclaimed by Louis XIV was relevant to many countries. The sovereignty then was more or less absolute. Today, the situation is different: the supremacy of the authorities of the State within the country is limited by separation of powers and the autonomy of self-governing territorial units, as well as constitutionally recognized rights and freedoms of man and citizen. The independence of States outside is limited to participation in international organizations and treaties with other States. Among the trends in the development of constitutional law it is important to emphasize its internationalization, which is expressed in borrowing foreign experience in constitutional construction, as well as in the synthesis of national constitutional and legal provisions in the universal and regional international instruments. The process of economic, and later political, integration of a number of Western European countries which began in the 50s of the last century lead to the creation of the European Union (EU) currently consisting of 28 States. One of the consequences of the process is the emergence of supranational law governing relations within the integration association along with international law. Supranational law occupies an intermediate position between international law and national law. The possibility of integration is often provided for under national constitutional law. As far as our country is concerned, it is naturally involved in economic integration with other countries, although only post-Soviet countries so far. In conclusion, the question on relations between the European Court of human rights and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is considered.

Review. The author concludes that the Treaty on network form of implementing educational programs is most similar to their legal characteristics to the agreement on joint non-business activities. Networking is necessary for the joint educational activities but it does not imply the creation of new legal entities; its members are independent and operate on the basis of their own founding documents and local acts. However, this Treaty has a number of distinctive features. The subject matter of the contract is exposed as joint actions of educational activities of several organizations through the distribution of responsibilities between them on the scope and exercising of educational activities, as well as on the type and the amount of resources. It is proposed to clarify the list of essential conditions of this contract in the law and exclude the conditions relating to the status of students, the Organization of academic mobility of students, the order of implementing changes, and termination of the contract. The author justifies enshrining in the law requirements on the conclusion of the Treaty on network form of implementing educational programs in the simple written form by creating a single document. He supportes the conclusion of a Treaty on networking and collaboration as a framework agreement, which can determine the structure, principles and general rules of the relationship of the parties, and along with it the separate treaties (applications).

Review. The article is devoted to the problem of death penalty, the possibility of its return in the modern legal practice. The author explains the haste of the steps for its instantaneous withdrawal from the practice of the courts in our country and warns of the perils of the continuation of similar activities in this direction. According to the author, the death penalty should be returned, but it must be, as stipulated by the Constitution of the RF, an exceptional measure of punishment, that is assigned in the most extreme cases. Such cases may not be much. We, all members of the society, have changed a lot. The judiciary has also changed, almost no working judges who had occasion to impose the death penalty. At the same time, the attention is drawn not to the right of a State to execute a criminal (which is widely discussed and written about), but to the fact that the perpetrator has lost the right to life. He, by his own actions, opposes himself to the society and the State. He does not want and cannot live under law and order. It is not necessary to forcibly hold him in the legal field, it is necessary to help him break free from the oppression and, thus, protect ourselves and the entire society from the possible recurrence of such conduct on his part and on the part of those who sympathizes with him. In the event of a return of the death penalty, it cannot return intact. The law must undergone significant changes. In particular, provision should be made for suspension of sentence to death. This right must belong to the Court and the President. It is also necessary to introduce additional checks on the validity of the sentence. In doing so, check should be neither judicial, nor prosecutorial. With time, professionals undergo a certain professional deformation, when in similar situations they make similar decisions, but often some very important and even little things fall out of their sight.

Review. The article discusses the issues of the death penalty as a form of criminal punishment. The author examines the rationale of its maintaining in the criminal legislation of Russia. It is stated that the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of establishing the death penalty and the legislature determines the conditions and procedure for the application of this penalty, i.e. recognizes the legitimacy of this institution. In this connection, the article is subjected to critical analysis of the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation about the impossibility of the use of the death penalty in Russia today. Through the prism of a historical analysis of this kind of sentence and the modern practice of its application (or non-application) in different countries of the world it is stated whether there is a possibility, the need and rationale for the use of the death penalty in combating crime in Russia. As a result, the author concludes that the death penalty as a form of criminal punishment in Russia must be applied, at least for the most egregious and high-profile cases of murders (especially those that involve crimes of terrorist focus).

Review. The article is devoted to crimes that in fact have not been considered as an object of independent study in domestic science. These are necrophilous murders and necrophilous murderers. These murders are committed by those who love death, see it as a continuation of their existence, and are eager to find out what it is; the death appeals to them. That is why they kill easily and without remorse. The other part is hidden in someone else's death. There are no statistics on such people or committed crimes, they have never been emphasized as a scientific problem. Therefore, the article presents various cases of murders which the author considers as necrophilous murders. These crimes are committed at different times by different people and in different places, but they all share a craving for death, which is unconscious in the sense that the perpetrators do not understand why they did it and what forced them to do it. Some people call some external forces that allegedly forced them to commit murders. The analyzed charges of socially dangerous acts, the stories of those who committed them, the author's comments and evaluation leave no doubt that such necrophilous actions are in fact exist. All of this require not only defining a particular criminological category in science but also establishing particularly severe penalties. The relevant proposals are contained in the article. Their implementation may be of particular relevance in practice. Each time a task may occur whether the murder is of necrophilous character, especially if it is intertwined with other motives. A list of necrophilous features of murderers is given at the end of the article.

Review. Based on the analysis of comparative legal studies in one of the "post-Soviet" legal systems -the Belarus legal system - the author characterizes legal research as an educational component of the national legal education. The basic patterns and vectors of development of this discipline are revealed. The article defines pragmatic Belarus legal comparative literature, peculiarities of the development of the teaching of science in schools of Belarus. It is proposed to develop an independent course of study "The universal theory of law" ("Comparative law"). The author draws attention to the need for prior doctrinal convergence of legal systems for their subsequent normative integration. The system of teaching comparative law, different from the existing traditional approach, is shown and proved in the article. Apart from existing way of considering current legal systems, it is proposed to study the features of the regulatory identity, specificity of legal doctrine and jurisprudence of the respective legal systems. Particular attention should be paid to the peculiarity of legal conceptual base (concepts and categorical apparatus) as a component of doctrinal basis of the legal systems belonging to a particular general group. It is suggested to include the following independent sections in the structure of compulsory courses: "Legal reception", "National legal system on the legal world map". Particular attention is given to the training of specialists in the field of comparative constitutional law. It is suggested that this component of legal education should be regarded as compulsory. At the same time there is no descriptive approach to the teaching of comparative constitutional law, existing today in the teaching of constitutional law of foreign countries. The author indicates the need for further development of the science of comparative law in part of justification of its own subject of research, object of comparative law and the method of comparative legal studies. He also outlines some approaches for identifying data components both from the comparative law and relevant academic discipline standpoints. The analysis of the status and development of national legal comparative studies is based on general trends in comparative law science in the world and in the Russian legal system. The article provides proposals for improving the teaching of comparative law and the further development of the science of comparative law. The author focuses on the development of the methodological implications of comparative legal studies.