The paper describes the essence of the principle of administrative responsibility that can be imposed only one time. It defines the concept and gives recommendations for improving the current legislation. The paper examines the correlation between administrative and criminal responsibility, administrative and other publiclegal responsibility that is neither formally nor legally related to administrative responsibility. Based on numerous judicial cases, the author specifies the criteria for distinguishing administrative offenses, crimes and other public offenses, the application of which should be carried out by subjects of administrative jurisdiction independently in the course of proceeding. According to the results of the conducted research, the author defines one of the rules of the principle of non bis in idem, namely: parallel or sequential bringing to administrative and other publiclegal responsibility for the commission of identical acts is unacceptable if the compositions of the corresponding offenses by their nature and severity of punishment are of similar nature.

The paper deals with legal relations related to the transfer of part of the duties from the principal to the subordinate, as well as flaws in the legal regulation of this process. The author identifies the reasons for the delegation of powers in the public administration system, comparing them with the commercial area, and describes their specifics in the military field. In addition to the already well-studied reasons for delegating authority (unloading the principal from routine work, stimulating the professional growth of subordinates, etc.), the author focuses on such a reason for delegation as evading managerial decision-making with the transfer of this function to a subordinate in order to avoid negative sanctions for the decision. The paper also analyzes situations where it is impossible for public officials to make effective decisions due to the inconsistency of their official qualifications with delegated duties. Based on the above, proposals are made to improve legislation and organizational activities of heads of public authorities and administration.

The paper is devoted to the current subject of construction within the framework of the state order and the state defense order. This fact is clearly visible against the background of a stable growth in the number of government orders in this area. The paper deals with the topic of construction using budgetary funds, as well as the construction of special-purpose facilities. Studying this issue, the authors concluded that the current regulatory framework is imperfect and does not allow engaging in contract activities with the maximum possible efficiency. The existing problems are highlighted by the fact of a large number of amendments to Federal Law No. 44-FZ «On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services for state and municipal needs» that entered into force at the beginning of 2021. However, despite the impressive list of innovations, the current legislation leaves a number of issues that require further investigation and finding ways to solve them. The authors analyze the issue of who can act as a customer under the state defense order. Taking into account the specifics of the industry, the authors identify and examine the features encountered by construction participants in the framework of the state defense order. Separately, the issue of the need for the order performers to open a special account under such contracts is raised, and a number of exceptions are also indicated when a special account is not opened. The paper also describes the mechanism of treasury support, the process of its work and lists the types of contracts that are subject to mandatory support by this method. When writing the paper, the authors identified the problems that arise at various stages of construction activity and proposed the most effective ways of solving them.

The current legislation lacks the concept of «secrecy of communication». Also, the idea of the circle of subjects the relevant regulatory requirements should apply to remains ambiguous. At the same time, in the conditions of the digital economy, compliance with the confidentiality regime of certain types of information, including the secrecy of communication, requires an unambiguous understanding of by whom, by what methods and to what extent such confidentiality should be ensured. The study analyzes theoretical concepts, as well as judicial practice on the secrecy of communication as a legal institution and on the peculiarities of regulating the position of subjects of communication secrecy. The author identifies groups of subjects of secrecy of communication, namely: subjects who are entitled to communication secrecy; subjects who, by virtue of their professional activities, have gained access to the secret of communication of the former and for whom the secret of communication is a professional secret; subjects who have the right of access to the secret of communication. The author provides a comparative legal analysis of approaches to the definition of subjects of communication secrecy in the models of regulation of communication secrecy of other jurisdictions (Europe and the USA). The paper describes a number of gaps and legal uncertainties in the regulation of the legal status of subjects of communication secrecy due to the emergence of new information objects because of the digital technologies’ development, makes; proposals for optimizing the regulation of the legal status of subjects of communication secrecy. The study was conducted in order to identify ways to optimize the legal regulation of the legal regime of communication secrecy in the Russian Federation, in particular the activities of subjects of communication secrecy. The paper is based on a comprehensive methodological approach. Methods of analysis, analogies, formal-legal, formal-logical, comparative methods, the method of legal modeling are employed by the author.

The study is devoted to the issue of possible ways and directions of improving the institute of harm prevention in Russian civil law. The author substantiates the necessity of securing the subjective right of a person whose rights and legitimate interests are threatened by the danger of harm in the future to have such danger prevented by independent actions both within their own economic sphere and by influencing the economic sphere of the person whose activities create the danger. The subjective right of a person to prevent danger is compared with the subjective right to self-defense within such institutions as necessary defense and extreme necessity; despite the presence of a similar basis in the form of the presence of danger, it is concluded that their significant differences can be found in the ways of eliminating such danger and the legal consequences of the actions of the authorized person. It is proposed to expand the scope of application of such grounds for claim refusal for prohibition and suspension of activities under Article 1065 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation as contradicting to public interests. On the basis of foreign experience of law enforcement, the author substantiates the necessity of constructing legal guarantees in case of the claim refusal under Article 1065 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in connection with a contradiction to public interests in the form of the possibility of awarding a single or periodic monetary compensation to compensate for potential harm. The priority of such a form of payment for future harm as periodic payments is justified. It is concluded that the claim for compensation for future harm is an independent way of protection, and such compensation itself is a kind of remuneration paid to a person for being in a state of danger. On the issues raised, a brief overview of international acts, legislation and judicial practice of a number of foreign countries is presented.

A family as an institution has a long history. A traditional family is formed by spouses and their offspring. Family values usually include: love, marriage, having many children, continuity of generations. The purpose of the study was to reflect approaches to understanding the content of the terms «family» and «family values» in modern society, to determine the expediency of reflecting existing «innovations» in the approach to understanding their essence in Russian law. With the help of historical-legal, comparative-legal, legal-sociological research methods, the paper reflects the dynamics of family and state relations, compares the interpretations of the definitions of «family» and «family values» in different historical epochs of the Russian state. The paper argues that modern Russian law refers an unreasonably wide range of persons to family members, which disorients a modern person, leads to the devaluation of the institution of the family and the deformation of ideas in society about family values. It is concluded that the more traditional the composition of the family, the more functional it is and less dependent on support and protection from the state. The paper substantiates the need to preserve a traditional approach to understanding the content of the terms «family» and «family values» in order to exclude substitution of the essence of these concepts and the protection of the institution of the family, the importance of fixing in legislation as a principle of legal regulation of family relations the priority of protecting the interests of the family and preserving traditional family values.

The paper deals with interrelations between the rights to determine the place of residence of the child, determination of the order of communication with a parent and the parental right to upbringing, including, as a stage of the mechanism of legal regulation, secondary, accessory and derivative rights. The latter category (not yet established in private Russian law) is the most proportionate to the phenomenon under consideration. The paper analyzes judicial law enforcement practice for the year 2020. On the basis of a continuous sample, both statistical and meaningful conclusions are made. Judicial enforcement in cases of determining the place of residence of a child remains discriminatory against fathers. The status of a parent living separately from the child is also diminished by the courts (through, in particular, reservations in the operative part of the court decision, making its enforcement dependent on the will of the other parent; decreasing communication time; uncertainty and ambiguity of wording making the decision unenforceable, etc.). Against this background, the cases of bringing such a parent to responsibility for improper upbringing look especially groundless.

A widespread understanding of the essence of the conflict of interests is reduced to the statement of signs of a situation when personal interests, including the personal benefit of one participant, affect his duties, primarily professional, and at the same time may harm the interests of another participant of the legal relations under consideration. At the same time, not all subsystems of public relations have the concept of a conflict of interests consolidated at the legislative level, and therefore it is quite difficult to strictly prove the existence of a conflict and take legal measures against a person who has a «conflicting» interest. This assumption is illustrated by current judicial practice. The author of the paper sets the objective to examine the legal essence of the phenomenon and the category of conflict of interests, while revealing its versatility by referring to jurisprudence (case law). The paper analyzes various points of view of legal scholars and legal practitioners regarding the content of the category of conflict of interests, as well as legislative norms regulating this issue to one degree or another. Relevant court decisions are considered. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that there is a dual understanding of the phenomenon of conflict of interests. It is necessary to consolidate its legal definition, as well as normative regulation of individual cases of its manifestation in Federal Law No. 208-FZ of 26.12.1995 «On Joint Stock Companies» and Federal Law No. 14-FZ of 08.02.1998 «On Limited Liability Companies», in particular, taking into account the fact that the range of issues falling under the conflict of interests situation is much wider than just the instances when related-party transactions are made. The author offers recommendations for resolving conflict of interests issues.

The paper discusses the proposal to introduce the «criminal subculture» definition into the legislation. An analysis of the relevant draft law submitted to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation is proposed. The generalization of the viewpoints on the concepts of «subculture», «anticulture», «counterculture» contained in the literature, as well as their analysis, led to the conclusion that there is no unity of opinion in science (sociology, cultural studies, psychology, anthropology) regarding these concepts. This circumstance makes it inappropriate to supplement the legislation with a controversial, contradictory definition, which can lead to the adoption of arbitrary decisions in law enforcement practice. It seems impossible to support another proposal made by the authors of the said draft law as it aims at supplementing the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Article 63) with such an aggravating circumstance as “engaging a minor in a criminal subculture”. This is justified by the fact that this circumstance does not objectively affect either the degree of social danger of the crime or the personality of the perpetrator and, accordingly, cannot serve as a basis for increasing punishment.

The object of the study is a specific information structure — the dark net — and forensic aspects of its study during the investigation. The paper gives a brief overview of the features of the Internet layers: Cleernet, Deepnet and Darknet. Taking into account the specifics of the dark net, the complexity of investigating crimes committed with its use is stated. An approximate list of crimes committed through the dark net is determined. The existence of two main software systems for working in the dark net is indicated: 2IP and TOR. The author, when considering the specifics of the work of 2IP as a peer-to-peer network, states that without undercover work, becoming a network users or external hacking are practically impossible. The paper briefly outlines the principle of TOR (The Onion Router) operation, the features of multi-level encryption and the danger of imposing responsibility on the owner of the route exit node. The author suggests implementing operation and search, forensic and software measures to deanonymize users for the investigation purpose.

Illegal production aimed at serial production of ready-to-use narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues (hereinafter referred to as drugs), underlies the whole variety of subsequent illegal actions related to their illegal circulation. Within the framework of the paper, based on the study of some key elements of the forensic characteristics, current trends in the illegal production of drugs, which acquire all the features of a high-tech and science-intensive business, are considered. Examples from investigative and judicial practice are given. The methodological basis comprises general scientific and specific scientific research methods, including the analysis of empirical material, i.e. the study of statistical data of the Main Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, law enforcement practice materials, data from monitoring systems and information sources of international anti-drug structures — the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, International Narcotics Control Board. Based on the study presented by the author, the main trends of the problem under study are formulated. The practical significance of the study is determined by the possibility of its use in the practice of investigating the category of criminal cases under consideration.

Each country chooses the optimal system for organizing the provision of judicial activities, based on historical and current legal understanding. The paper analyzes examples of different forms of distribution of responsibilities between the judiciary and the executive in terms of judicial administration, reveals the scope of powers of state bodies on the example of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Great Britain, the USA, etc. The historical experience of Russia in organizing the provision of judicial activities is analyzed, a key problem in financing the budget of the judiciary is highlighted. The author noted a tendency towards a redistribution of powers towards the judiciary and directly the judicial branch of government. The key advantages of the implemented trend are indicated. The bodies of the judiciary, together with the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, are taking the right steps to gradually improve the judicial system, at present we cannot stop there, we must strive to increase the effectiveness of communicating the position of the judiciary when resolving issues of budget allocation and identifying priority projects of the judicial system development program for the next decade.

In recent years, the ECHR has issued numerous judgments against Russia stating non-compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights in cases of expulsion of foreign citizens. At the same time, the ECHR began to consider a significant proportion of such complaints under the simplified procedure, which is applied in the event of the same type of violations and the existence of an established practice of the Court. This indicates the existence of systemic problems in the Russian legal system in this area. One of the means of protection against such violations of the ECHR at the national level could be asylum procedures in Russia. The paper sets the task of assessing the effectiveness of asylum procedures in Russia as a remedy for violations of the ECHR, identifying problems of legal regulation and law enforcement practice in this area, as well as developing ways to solve them. The paper builds on the research conducted by the author in the recently published book “Protection in cases of expulsion from the Russian Federation” published in cooperation with the UNHCR. Based on the results of this study, the author concludes that asylum procedures in Russia cannot be unequivocally recognized as effective remedies against violations of Convention rights in the event of expulsion. This is primarily due to the uncertainty of legal regulation and the lack of clear guarantees for the automatic suspensive effect of these procedures in relation to the execution of expulsion decisions. In addition, the author identifies contradictions and inaccuracies in the legal positions of the ECHR, and suggests specific measures to improve Russian legislation and law enforcement practice. Keywords: European Convention on Human Rights; ECHR; European Court of Human Rights; ECHR; European system of human rights protection; expulsion; extradition; removal; deportation; political refuge; refugee status; temporary shelter; effective remedy; automatic suspension effect.

The paper is devoted to the issues of implementation in the Russian legislation of international anticorruption standards, criminal jurisdiction. The definition of the term «international anti-corruption standards» is given. The author analyzes the compliance of Russian legislation with jurisdictional mandatory and dispositive norms contained in the main anti-corruption international treaties of the Russian Federation concluded within the framework of the UN and the OECD. Particular proposals are formulated for the regulation in the General Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of the issues of resolving conflicts of jurisdiction between the Russian Federation and foreign states, determining the most appropriate jurisdiction for criminal prosecution in order to more effectively administer justice and ensure the rights of victims. In addition, it is proposed to amend Part 1 of Art. 12 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in order to eliminate the situation when our state must unilaterally and unconditionally recognize foreign sentences.

The elimination of objects of accumulated environmental damage is one of the conditions for Russia’s transition to the standards of a «green» economy. Accumulated environmental damage is damage to ecological systems caused by past economic, military or other activities. It was not eliminated in a timely manner, which is an obstacle to the use of contaminated territories or water areas for economic, environmental, recreational and other socially useful activities. A clear legislative indication is needed that these objects do not have a private owner, and the corresponding land plots are in public ownership. At the moment, clear criteria for classifying objects as objects of accumulated environmental damage, as well as the obligations of public authorities to identify them and include them in the register, require clarification. The necessity for creating targeted budget funds, the funds of which should be spent only on environmental needs, is substantiated.

Almost 30 years have passed since the adoption of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Subsoil”, but in scientific circles and among practicing lawyers, discussions about the incompleteness and fragmentation of the mining law system of the Russian Federation still do not subside. In this regard, the problem of codifying the array of legislation of the Russian Federation on subsoil accumulated to date is urgent and relevant. The purpose of the paper was to study the possibility of using the current Law of the Russian Federation «On Subsoil» in terms of developing on its basis a more complex, comprehensive legislative act — the Mining Code of the Russian Federation. The paper proposes a new wording of the definition of the term «mining law», conducts a legal analysis of the provisions of the Law of the Russian Federation «On Subsoil», gives a legal assessment of the potential that was originally laid down by Russian legislators in the text of the above basic legislative act for the purposes of possible subsequent codification. Certain shortcomings of the Law of the Russian Federation «On Subsoil» are revealed, legal gaps are identified, which the author proposes to fill in the development of the draft Mining Code of the Russian Federation. The position of the author as a practicing lawyer regarding the possible codification of the mining legislation of the Russian Federation is presented. The conclusion is made about the conditional possibility of adopting the provisions of the current Law of the Russian Federation «On Subsoil» as the basis for the development of a comprehensive codified act of the mining legislation of the Russian Federation.

The paper considers the main directions of development and forms of digitalization taking place in the field of water resources management in the Russian Federation. The author raised issues related to the information method of implementing the principle of publicity in the field of environmental and natural resource legislation, including the introduction of the concept of environmental information into the terminology, the changes taking place in the architecture of information systems in connection with the creation of a single digital platform «Water data». The trends in the use of digital technologies in the course of state environmental monitoring, the features of the implementation of the provisions of environmental legislation on automatic control systems are highlighted. The correlation of the “Water Data” platform with other information systems in the field of ecology and emergency prevention, such as the register of ONVOS of Rosprirodnadzor, AIMS RSChS, future FSIS GEM of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and TsSDP IITS of Roshydromet, was analyzed. The possibility of using digital modeling in the field of water relations is shown through a digital model of the Ob-Irtysh river basin. Based on the analysis of digital trends in the area under consideration, conclusions were drawn about the degree of readiness of water legislation to further increase the use of digital technologies in the field of water relations, about the possibility of creating in the future a unified information and analytical system for managing the water management complex of the Russian Federation based on existing information systems.

The modern independent (bank) guarantee originated in practice, and then was adopted by the legislation of various countries. There are two types of guarantees in England. Firstly, it is a guarantee of performance of obligations, or a guarantee in the narrow sense (suretyship). Secondly, it is a guarantee of indemnification (Indemnity). Similar types of guarantees exist in American law. The American approach to understanding the legal nature of a bank guarantee is based on two theoretical foundations. First, from the point of view of American courts, the distinguishing feature of an independent guarantee is its similarity to the institution of a documentary letter of credit. Secondly, the American courts came up with the idea of distinguishing between a contract of guarantee and a guarantee on demand. As a result of historical development, the concept of an independent guarantee, which was formed in international trade, was largely influenced by American banking legislation in connection with the expansion of trade relations with the countries of continental Europe.