The paper is devoted to examination of the main approaches to the definition of the concept of «public power» that has developed in the theory of state and law, in constitutional and administrative law. The analysis of theoretical and legal views allowed the author to conclude that public power in the theory of state and law is defined as an institutionalized legal social power supported by the force of coercion and exercised within a certain territory or social community. General theoretical conclusions and provisions have been developed in public law (state law) studies. The Russian theory of constitutional law is dominated by the concept of public power as the people’s power, according to which all power in the Russian Federation belongs to its multinational people. In addition, in constitutional law, a systematic approach to the definition of the concept of «public power» is widespread. As a rule, the systematic approach distinguishes three types (forms, levels) of public power: direct public power (direct democracy, public power), state power, municipal power. In administrative law, the research of public power has not been as widespread as in constitutional law. At the same time, the analysis of scientific sources allowed the author to single out institutional (public power is viewed through the prism of government bodies) and functional (public power as a set of functions and powers of government bodies and organizations endowed with state authority) approaches as the main approaches. The author concludes that regardless of the initial positions used by various public law doctrines the basic properties of public power include legitimacy, complexity, institutionality, functionality.

The paper analyzes the concept of a civil contract consolidated in the current legislation of the Russian Federation, which allowed the author to conclude that this concept constitutes an established legal phenomenon that has been set out in regulatory acts. The author separately outlines some aspects of state contracts, since similar agreements for the carriage of sea cargo form an independent institution of law stemming from the specified legal institute. The paper also discusses the peculiarities of a private law contract with due regard to doctrinal studies, including the studies conducted in connection with the adoption of the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation. The author determines the main trends in studying the private law contract as a method of regulation in international maritime law in general theoretical and practical aspects. The paper considers both general theoretical trends aimed at examining global issues and individual issues concerning separate and highly specialized problems, including new problems that have emerged in connection with the development of society, completely new forms of interaction, e.g., the digitalization of public relations. The author analyzes the practice of applying a private law contract in international maritime law, as well as the judicial practice of considering disputes on the designated topic. The author has examined the Russian legislation regulating relations under consideration, taking into account amendments both at the federal level and at the departmental level. The paper also provides for the classification of the indicated amendments and alterations regarding the level of the actors who have initiated them. As a result of the study, it is determined that we can observe the process of formation of absolutely new legal relations that develop in the process of applying a private law contract as one of the ways of regulation in international maritime law, taking into account the geopolitical realities, namely, imposed sanctions, restrictions and contradictions and difficulties created with their help. It is concluded that the current legislation is currently being reformed, and the author suggests improvements.

Possession constitutes a complicated phenomenon of civil law to understand, which leads to numerous studies of its legal nature. Possession has a long history, during which its contents have been transformed. The author analyzed the difference in the content of possession using the civil legislation of Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Spain as cases for the study. The ambiguity of the concept of possession leads to the situation when in the doctrine this term is used to describe phenomena that do not relate to possession as an institution of property law. Thus, scholars often use the term «possession» in relation to digital assets, tokens, etc., when researching and describing concepts related to the digitalization of civil turnover. The author substantiates the impossibility of using the terminology of property law to digital objects. The paper analyzes the significance of transfer of possession during the transfer of ownership under the contract of sale and in the event of possession arising under a works contract. The conclusion is formulated according to which possession can be associated only with physical entities and it is inherent exclusively to the legal regime of things, but not other objects of civil rights. The concept of bona fide prescription possession is formulated and a conclusion is made about its legal nature. The author highlights and argues the point of view according to which the doctrinal classification of possession, depending on the type of thing (movable or immovable), into ordinary and «bookish» for the purposes of differentiating ways of its protection is controversial. Attention is drawn to the fact that possession can act as a fact and as a right. At the same time, as a legal fact, possession must be differentiated for the purposes of protecting the interests of the authorized party.

In the theory of criminal law, there are many approaches to understanding the concept and content of computer crimes. Some authors adhere to a strictly normative approach, using the term «crimes in the field of computer information» and referring to this category of acts provided for by Chapter 28 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Other authors operate with concepts «computer crimes,» «information crimes,» «cybercrimes,» «crimes in the field of high technologies,» «Internet crimes,» etc. The paper also presents an analysis of foreign regulations, demonstrating a significant difference in the directions of regulating criminal liability for computer crimes. The lack of a uniform approach creates obstacles to effective scientific and legislative activity. The author attempts to develop the most comprehensive and accurate definition covering crimes related to the use of computer technology. The author proves that the term «computer» is outdated and requires replacement, as the term «electronic computing machine» previously used in the criminal law. Recent changes in various branches of law are characterized by the use of the adjective «digital,» which is applicable to criminal law. Starting from the concept of digital information that was earlier developed by legal scholars the author proposes a new definition covering crimes related to the use of computer technology. When forming a definition, the author, first, takes into account the object of encroachment, and as additional features — tools, means or method of committing an act. According to the results of the study, the author gives the concept of crimes against the security of digital information — these are socially dangerous acts that cause harm or put in danger of harming the state of security of the processes of searching, collecting, storing, processing, providing, distributing digital information committed using information and telecommunications technologies or violating the rules of their use.

The paper analyzes the Russian doctrine of international law and gives a critical assessment of its state, because the problems of Antarctica traditionally belong to international maritime law. However, the author defines the concept of international Antarctic law as an intersectoral international legal institution with a certain independence within the framework of international territorial law. It is noted that the problems of Antarctica have gone beyond the cognitive interest of the academic community, moving into the context of a clash of geopolitical interests among states, which caused the attempts of five states to establish their sovereignty by means of sectoral division. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 established a notification procedure for the establishment of Antarctic stations, the modern administrative regime is provided by the activities of institutional mechanisms. With about 100 Antarctic stations and bases opened by States, their international legal status remains uncertain. The problem has acquired particular importance because Russian stations are located in the sectors of territorial claims, which generates competitive processes. By concluding bilateral agreements with States that have put forward territorial claims, it is possible to partially neutralize the competition of jurisdictions in certain areas of cooperation. In the documents adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATC), attention is paid only to the problems of the station placement and issues of their verification during inspection activities. In order to fill the gap, the author proposed the definition of the Antarctic station as a legal enclave of the State, which is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the founding State and establishes immunity from the jurisdiction of other states. The maintenance and development of Russia’s presence in Antarctica is ensured by Russian Antarctic legislation. In order to develop the Russian expeditionary infrastructure (including Antarctic stations and field bases), it is important to develop and adopt a regulation on the status of the Russian Antarctic station, in connection with which measures to improve legislation are proposed.

International intergovernmental organizations, as subjects of international law, play an important role in modern international relations. States have a key place in their activities. Currently, there are various legal forms of participation of states in the work of international organizations. Each form has its own characteristics, which are expressed primarily in the availability and scope of rights and obligations, as well as the level and conditions of interaction between States and international organizations. At the same time, the issues of the state’s participation or non-participation in the activities of an international organization, in choosing the form of such participation, are exclusively within its jurisdiction, which is one of the elements of state sovereignty. It is obvious that states have a variety of reasons for choosing the form of interaction with an international organization, while, as a rule, they are based on their own interests. The paper provides a comparative legal analysis of modern forms of state participation in the activities of international organizations, provides their practical examples, and notes the differences, advantages and disadvantages. Special attention is given to the institution of membership, which has a special status among the existing forms of participation of states in international organizations. The peculiarities of the legal status of a member of an international organization, its varieties, methods and grounds for the acquisition, suspension and loss of membership are revealed. The legal aspects of the interaction of states with international organizations as candidates for membership, partners, observers, specially invited countries are considered. The analysis suggests that the existence of different forms of participation of states in international organizations is an absolute achievement of modern international law, allowing the state to adopt the most appropriate ways of cooperation with international organizations.

The paper presents the author’s vision of the content of municipal procedural activity, the grounds for its separation from the structure of general municipal activities carried out by local self-government entities when solving issues of local importance and other issues enshrined in Federal Law No. 131‑FZ of 06.10.2003 «On General Principles of Local Self-Government Organization in the Russian Federation». The author proposes to consider municipal procedural activity as dynamic purposeful, normatively conditioned activity of local self-government bodies carried out by adopting them in the development of the procedural norms of municipal legal procedural acts. These are to be contained in the laws and applying procedures that ensure the implementation of their powers to resolve issues of local significance and other normatively conditioned issues. This activity also means to include ensuring the implementation of local self-government and participation of bodies of territorial public self-government and other public associations. The author believes that the application of municipal procedures in practice is a legal condition for local selfgovernment bodies to resolve issues of local significance and other regulatory issues. Municipal procedural activity is an integral subspecies of municipal activity, which includes constituent, law-making, control, personnel, financial and other activities carried out by subjects of local self-government. The realization of municipal procedural activity is conditioned by the provisions of Part 3 of Article 132 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (as amended in 2020), which established the need for interaction between local self-government bodies and state authorities for the most effective solution of tasks in the interests of the population living in the relevant territory. The need to solve this problem increases the importance of scientific research on the problems of improving municipal procedural activity as a subspecies of procedural support for the activities of local self-government bodies.

The paper considers certain aspects of the classification of sexual crimes, due to the note to Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on equating persons under 12 years of age with those in a helpless state. Using practical examples, the features of various objective characteristics of sexual assaults are identified, combined on the basis of the analyzed note under the action of one norm — Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. By virtue of the note under study, indecent acts of persons in relation to the specified age, including those committed without contact, constituted the jurisdiction of the norm on violent acts of a sexual nature. The external circumstances of the acts that currently constitute violent sexual assaults indicate their significant difference. According to the author of the paper, a law enforcement officer should be able to impose punishment for a crime based on the immediate characteristics of the committed act, and, taking into account the broad collective construction of Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, be able to impose a less severe punishment than exists today. Reducing the terms in the considered compositions will make it possible, firstly, to proportionately determine the punishment for committing contactless intellectual (contactless) depraved acts against persons under the age of 12, and, secondly, restore the hierarchy of severity of punishments for acts, based on the importance of the good protected by law. Measures are proposed to change the legal technique of constructing the norms of Chapter 18 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, aimed at independently fixing violent acts of a sexual nature against persons under the age of 12. The author substantiates the expediency of including in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation an independent norm on violent crimes of a sexual nature committed against a minor.

The paper discusses the conceptual foundations of the legal regulation of relations related to the results of operational investigative activities. Taking into account the life cycle of the results of investigative activities, the following information processes (groups of public relations) are identified, the quality of legal regulation of which determines the possibility of their use and, accordingly, the achievement of the purpose of investigative activities and the purpose of criminal proceedings: the formation of the results of the investigative activities, the storage and destruction of the results of the investigative activities, the presentation of the results of the investigative activities, the use of the results of the investigative activities. The formation of the results of the investigative activities determines the existence of all subsequent social relations associated with them. At this stage, two groups of relatively isolated public relations have been identified: determining the existence of grounds and compliance with the conditions for conducting investigative activities; directly conducting an investigative activities and processing the results obtained. The quality of the legal regulation of these relations determines the possibility of stable formation of the results of the investigative activities and certainty in their assessment by the recipient. The presentation of the results of the investigative activities includes a set of public relations arising in connection with their transfer to the information environment external to the investigative activities. The legal regulation of these relations should ensure the protection of information about the investigative activities, thereby guaranteeing the sustainability of this activity as a whole. The use of investigative activities results includes public relations related to the introduction of investigative activities results and their adaptation to the requirements of legislation defining the recipient’s activities. The regulation of the processes of using the results of the investigative activities may provide additional requirements for them, but these must have objective grounds and can be transformed due to the improvement of the quality of the formation of the results of the investigative activities. It is proved that due to the heterogeneity of public relations related to the results of the investigative activities, there are no prerequisites for the formation of a single legal institution of the results of the investigative activities. Based on the analysis of theoretical ideas about the system of operational investigative law, the existence of separate legal institutions containing norms regulating these social relations is substantiated.

In the light of doctrinal discussions regarding the expediency of supplementing domestic criminal legislation with the category «criminal offense», the paper examines the legislative initiatives of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2018 and 2021. The author records both the revision of the original draft law and the unresolved nature of a number of significant issues. These include the ratio of criminal misconduct and insignificance; the totality of the commission of a crime by a person and a criminal offense; the legal assessment of the commission of acts by a person, a number of which (or all) the relationship between the circumstances of exemption from criminal liability in connection with the application of other measures of a criminal nature (due to the recognition of the act as a criminal offense) and other circumstances of exemption from criminal liability (for example, in connection with active repentance or reconciliation with the victim). It is argued that a thorough revision of the list of criminal offenses is necessary. Specific practical recommendations are formulated for its formation by not only classifying crimes as such, but also by criminalizing common administrative offenses (as an example, data on the number of persons brought to administrative responsibility under Articles 6.1.1 (beatings) and 7.27 (petty theft) of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation are given). The author speaks about the expediency of including the institution of criminal offenses in the domestic legal system due to the predominance of the expected positive effect and the debatable nature of a number of arguments against the introduction of criminal misconduct (rejection of the concept of a «small but tough» criminal law; blurring the boundaries between crimes and offenses; leveling the difference between punishment and other measures of a criminal nature, etc.).