Federal legislation, federal authorities and the scientific community share the idea of municipal entities as the most important element of local self-government without which local self-governement will not last a day. But in practice, due to the direct requirements of federal legislation, municipal entities’ charters can exist only in the form of a document that almost completely duplicates the rules of laws. Only on a very limited list of issues does the representative bodies still have variability in the formulation of charters. The question arises: why is it necessary to duplicate at the local level a significant number of directly applicable federal legislation? Municipal entities are created, their local self-government bodies are successfully formed and begin to work even before the adoption of the charter. Thus, charters have no constituent significance. It is quite possible to examine issues of local importance and the powers of local self-government bodies without referring to the charter of the municipality. It turns out that the charter is just a verbatim copy of the norms of federal laws that does not establish anything and is far from being the only and the best source of information about the structure of local self-government. Having no practical use, being a relic of the 1990s, having turned into an end in itself, the institution of charters is subject to abolition.

The proclamation of Russia as a social state in Article 7 of the Constitution prior to the constitutional reform of 2020 was not filled with real legal content. This gave rise to scientific ideas about the dismantling of the concept of the welfare state and, subsequently, a social demand for changes in the interaction of the state and society. The goals of economic development relevant to modern Russia are unattainable without changing the constitutional order of the activities of public authorities at all levels. At the same time, their implementation is impossible in the absence of public support. In the course of the Reform, a number of new legal safeguards were created, the duties of the state in terms of improving the welfare of the population were established, and the responsible attitude of public authorities to their implementation was provided. This ensured constitutional initiatives with the support of voters, and the procedure of the all-Russian vote gave the people’s will the appearance of a final decision approved by society as a whole. The purpose of the study is to provide the legal assessment of constitutional development in conjunction with the establishment of a list of social guarantees demanded by Russian citizens. On the basis of generally accepted scientific methods, the paper analyzes the key social initiatives that emerged during the Constitutional Reform and the provisions of legislation adopted to improve the standard of living. Particular attention is paid to assessing the effectiveness of political and legal decisions in the context of countering the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic development of the country. The paper explains the role of the head of the state as a generator of constitutional and legal ideas that ensured the transformation of relations within the constitutional mechanism of separation of powers and laid the basis for a new socio-economic strategy for the development of the Russian state.

The paper examines the categories of state, municipal and public control in the context of constitutional law, substantiates their systemic interrelation and a kind of trinity manifested in the commonality of legal nature and their organic correlation in terms of goals, objectives, mechanisms of implementation and expected socially significant results. Based on the analysis of scientific views and current legislation, it is shown that such an understanding corresponds to the constitutional foundations of control in the Russian Federation — the basic provisions of the Constitution on a democratic rule-of-law social state. The author suggests that state, municipal and public control in their systemic unity means the activities of bodies authorized by legislation, as well as public institutions (civil society institutions), to implement the established forms and limits of control powers and functions aimed at achieving protection of constitutionally significant values, including full compliance with safeguards of human rights and freedoms and strengthening the rule of law, as well as improving the efficiency of state and municipal administration, informing authorities and their officials about the identified shortcomings in order to eliminate them.

The study of the mechanism of administrative and legal regulation in the field of higher education is impossible without identifying the constitutional and legal foundations of its formation. The special significance of this topic is determined by the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation that defines in a new way the distribution of subjects of competence between the Russian Federation and its constituent entities on education issues. The paper highlights the modernization potential of the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation establishing the right to higher education and general issues of its organization, the use of which will make obtaining high-quality and competitive higher education not only the goal, but also the result of the activities of legislative and executive authorities. At the same time, it is argued that it is necessary to form an appropriate mechanism of administrative and legal regulation in the field of higher education. A significant role in this mechanism is assigned to regulatory legal acts governing organizational and managerial legal relations. The implementation of the constitutional right to higher education depends on the quality of education laws. Currently, the issue of the development and adoption of a new law on education is not being raised, but the law-maker should monitor all negative aspects of the implementation of the current legislation in order to further improve the mechanism of administrative and legal regulation in this area.

The paper explains the essence of the principle of equality and defines its concept. On the basis of the provisions of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, the content of the principle is examined and expressed in the requirements of substantive and procedural nature. The author highlights three groups of regulatory exceptions, indicating that the implementation of the principle of equality in proceedings on administrative offenses is not absolute. Firstly, the rules that apply to a number of entities that have full immunity from administrative coercion and administrative responsibility. The second group consists of rules providing for special procedures that complement the ordinary rules of proceedings in cases of administrative offenses. The third group includes exceptions from the general rules of application of the substantive rules of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation regulating the application of administrative penalties and administrative responsibility. Inconsistencies between the legislation on administrative offenses and provisions of federal laws, subordinate regulatory legal acts that establish special conditions of production in relation to certain categories of subjects allowed the author to make recommendations for improving the current legislation.

The paper describes the administrative-procedural forms of activity of public administration entities, shows their importance in the administrative process, identifies and characterizes their main features, and suggests their classification. The author describes the main approaches to the use of the concept of «procedural form» in legislation and law enforcement practice. The paper substantiates the conclusion that in the scholarly literature the administrative procedural form is understood as either a «special legal structure», «legal means», «system of requirements for the actions of a participant in the process», «the content of procedural relations» or a single administrative procedure as a whole, which does not contribute to a uniform understanding of the category under consideration and further improvement of the administrative procedure and administrative procedural legislation. The author suggests the system of requirements for administrative-procedural forms and determines the signs reflecting their content. Also, the author proposes a definition of the administrative-procedural form. In general, it is stated that the improvement of administrative and procedural regulation of the activities of subjects of public administration involves the ordering on a scientific basis of the main elements of the relevant procedural forms.

The paper is devoted to the definition of forms of money. The author disputes the correctness of the division of money into fully valid and invalid money, proves that there is no invalid money. The division of forms of money into cash and non-cash is made from a substantial point of view (material substance and ideal substance) and it is argued that within the framework of this classification there are no other forms of money, only varieties of these forms. The author shows the change in the forms of money depending on the degree of development of production forces and production relations. The paper provides describtions of characteristics of cash forms of money (metal and paper) and non-cash (records on bank accounts, electronic money, digital currency). At the same time, the so-called cryptocurrency is not a currency (money). It is a monetary surrogate and a kind of digital financial assets. The nature and form of the currency created on the basis of digital technologies by central banks is considered. It is concluded that the digital ruble in its form will become fully valid money — a kind of non-cash money issued by the central bank.

The paper examines the scholarly experience of understanding the equality of constitutional and socioeconomic rights and obligations of citizens in Russia, elucidates approaches to the definition of men’s rights as legal and social categories, understanding and substantiating gender inequality in relation to men and women. The author has carried out a critical analysis of publications devoted to the problem of infringement of men’s rights in Russia. The author has studied the origins of the scientific formulation of the problem of discrimination against men, its manifestations in the legal field of the Russian Federation. It has been established that some researches represent men and women as rivals in the struggle for rights, determine the problem one-sidedly and unconstructively, devalue achievements in the struggle for women’s rights, contrast both the rights and duties of men and women in general and exaggerated manifestations of discrimination against men by legislatively established privileges of women. Listing the problems of discrimination against men, some authors use weak argumentation that defies criticism. The author states that posing the problem in this way is counterproductive for achieving the general well-being of the Russian population. It is argued that the problems of infringement of someone’s rights should be solved through constructive dialogue and should be aimed at achieving common goals, but not by spreading discriminatory practices to the opposite gender.

The purpose of the article is to analyze certain aspects of legal regulation related to the implementation of compulsory licensing mechanisms and related mechanisms for restricting the rights of copyright holders. The relevance of the issues discussed in the article is confirmed by the presence of a large number of discussions that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, legislative initiatives and projects. It is emphasized that at the moment the mechanism of compulsory licensing is being modernized both in Russia and in foreign countries. The paper proposes to pay attention to issues related to the implementation of mechanisms for restricting the rights of copyright holders of inventions protected by patents, in particular in the field of creation, production and circulation of medicines. The paper analyzes individual provisions of domestic legislation and legislation of a number of foreign countries, rules of international agreements, as well as legislative initiatives and projects in the field under study. Additionally, attention is drawn to the existence of terminological inaccuracy, which takes place in modern research works, discussions and media coverage. A separate part of the study is devoted to practical aspects — modern judicial practice is analyzed. As a result of the research, the author has drawn some conclusions, in particular, that the mechanisms of compulsory licensing and restriction of the rights of copyright holders in a compulsory manner have common features, they should be considered in a uniform set of regulatory provisions and, nevertheless, they are subject to differentiation. When implementing proper legal mechanisms, on the one hand, the legitimate rights of the copyright holders of industrial property objects should not be violated. On the other hand, the safety and well-being of the population should be ensured, and cases of copyright abuse by pharmaceutical companies — copyright holders — should be excluded.

In the course of the research, the author discovered 31 criminal cases considered by Russian courts resulting in a non-rehabilitating decision due to causing death when providing first aid. At the same time, this phenomenon is mostly unknown to domestic researchers. The purpose of the paper is the criminal law assessment of the first aid provision by non-professional subjects. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: to establish the possibility of the presence of an extreme necessity in the provision of first aid; to establish conditions under which causing harm in the provision of such assistance does not entail criminal liability; to make proposals for eliminating defects in law enforcement and improving Russian legislation. To achieve these tasks, the author applied formal legal, formal dogmatic and statistical methods, as well as a set of general philosophical methods, including analysis, synthesis, deduction and induction. As a result of the study, cases of inconsistency of judicial practice with the norms of the domestic criminal law on extreme necessity were identified. Contrary to the arguments of some courts, when harm is caused during first aid, there may be some extreme necessity, exceeding which does not entail criminal liability for causing harm. The conclusions of the study are that the Russian criminal law on extreme necessity corresponds to the tasks facing the legislator; the problem lies in the insufficient understanding of its provisions by the judges. The author made proposals for reforming related provisions of the criminal law on the basis of the legislation of Canada and the United States.

The paper deals with the problem of the relationship between free will and guilt of a person through the prism of recent research in neuroscience. The key aspects of understanding guilt in criminal law and its relationship with free will are identified. Deterministic and indeterministic approaches to the definition of the essence of free will in the doctrine of foreign criminal law are revealed. The purpose of the study is to determine the essence and meaning of free will in understanding the institution of guilt and to correlate free will with the basis of criminal liability. The author applied traditional methods of socio-legal and formal dogmatic analysis: documentary, comparative legal, analytical, systemic, and logical. Based on the results of the study, it is proposed to preserve the existing concept of free will and indeterminism as the basis for criminal liability. It is proposed to distinguish between the concepts of «free will» and «freedom of action». The author believes that the denial of free will eliminates the criminal law itself and the principle of fault-based individual responsibility principle. Criminal liability cannot exist without fault and should include only the principles of prevention and proportionality, where the center of gravity is shifted towards preventive measures. In such a plane, when ascertaining a crime, not only the actions committed by the person, but also the actions expected from him are taken into account. The proposed paradigm fundamentally changes the criminal law itself, which will be based on the principle of objective rather than subjective imputation.

The central element of the forensic characterization of crimes in the field of electronically stored information is the identity of the offender. In its aspect, it is possible to study the features of other elements, to establish their interrelations and interdependencies. Features of the somatic, psychophysiological and cognitive processes of the personality of the offender, the level of his skills in the field of information technology, the social environment and professional activity predetermine the choice of the method, means, the environment for the commission of the crime and the victim, as well as the mechanism of trace formation and localization of traces. At the same time, questions related to the personal characteristics of a modern cybercriminal remain open due to the high volatility associated with the rapid renewal of the technical and technological components of criminal acts. Today’s cybercriminals are often not grim lone hackers, but a well-organized and structured criminal group. The paper studies and analyses domestic and foreign literary sources, investigative and judicial practice aiming at filling this gap.

The paper draws attention to the need for a deeper study of infrastructural conditions for the effective operation of the arbitrazh court of cassation. Based on the analysis of scientific publications, regulatory documents and problems in practical activities on the topic of the work, the author proposes three directions for its improvement for discussion. These include the following. Synchronization of law enforcement and generalization of judicial practice on the basis of scientific research methods require further improvement of the scientific qualifications of judges and court employees. Targeted collection and analysis of statistics require acquisition and study of new judicial metrics. It is important to systematize and improve the work of internal review groups (scientific advisory board, expert advisory groups, working groups, departments, etc.) and publicize the results of their recommendations in reviews, press releases and journals. The role of advanced information resources in studying the opinions of persons involved in the case and receiving feedback is also noted. According to the author, account of these components will lead to the fact that at the stage of cassation consideration of cases, judges will resolve problematic issues of substantive and procedural law and stop legal incidents more accurately, thereby minimizing errors in all parts of the judicial system. It is recommended to develop a regulation on analysis groups in the courts of cassation on issues of judicial practice, as well as on the improvement of arbitrazh legislation. The solution of intra-system infrastructure issues, which are deterrents for obtaining legal leaps, will significantly increase the effectiveness of the entire judicial sphere.

Over the past few years, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found Russia’s failure to comply with the guarantees of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in deportation cases. At the same time, the ECtHR, as a rule, found the same type of violations, indicating the presence of systemic defects in the Russian legal system. A significant number of new similar and related complaints are currently pending before the ECtHR, including a recently communicated complaint by human rights activist Vanessa Kogan, head of the NGO Astreya, related to the annulment of her residence permit in Russia. The paper is devoted to assessing the observance by the Russian authorities of the ECHR guarantees in the field of deportation, identifying key problems in this area and ways to solve them. The paper develops a study conducted in the recently published issue “Protection in cases of expulsion from the Russian Federation”, prepared in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Based on the results of this study, the author concludes that deportation and related procedures, from the point of view of compliance with the ECHR, are the most problematic mechanism for expulsion from Russia. The paper shows the main defects in legal regulation and law enforcement practice, and suggests specific measures to eliminate them.

The multilateral system of trade regulation is the most complex institution of international law. Over the past three decades, the members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have managed to form not only the format of negotiations — the World Trade Organization, but also the rules and regulations for doing business in the world market, including the rules for granting subsidies. However, the further development of the organization is undergoing a crisis. The equilibrium application of international trade rules is now impossible due to the current situation: some developing countries, which at the time of joining the WTO recorded a large number of exemptions and transition periods, have grown economically and can now compete on an equal footing with developed countries. On the other hand, it is impossible to talk about any violations, since these exemptions were “agreed”. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the WTO, although it uses the concepts of “developing, developed and least developed countries”, does not have its own classification of countries according to economic development and cannot respond to changes in their development. The questions posed by the last round of multilateral trade negotiations (the Doha round) have already begun to affect such areas of regulation in which the equalization of the norms and rules of trade between developing countries and developed countries affects not only the economic but also the social sphere. In addition, a deeper level of typification of trade regulation rules affects the mechanisms of interaction that go beyond the activities of such an international organization as the WTO and are inherent in integration associations. Nevertheless, active WTO members have put forward initiatives to change the rules for issuing subsidies, aimed at tightening them and even deeper unification of national jurisdictions with standard international approaches to regulating state support.

The paper analyzes the norms of criminal law, which enshrined the protection of personal information in the PRC. The tendencies of law enforcement practice in criminal cases, the subject of which are personal data, are being studied. Increased criminal law protection of personal information of Chinese citizens is due to the emergence of a social credit system. The paper discusses the features of the functioning of the social credit system, as well as the impact of this system on the rights and freedoms of the individual in the context of digitalization. Interest in the system under consideration is due to the significant influence exerted by the PRC on the formation of the legal culture of other countries. The author concludes that a significant degree of state intrusion into the private space of citizens correlates with effective measures to protect personal information. The Chinese case shows the desire of the state to protect the personal data of citizens, including through criminal law means. At the same time, cases of law enforcement are becoming more common, especially in criminal law.

In the civil legislation of the countries of the continental system of law, the basic principle is the principle of good faith. It is this principle that is the most significant and directly regulates the legal relations of the parties, especially in the law of obligations, even if there is no indication of it in the terms of the contract. In the English contract law, on the other hand, there is no principle of good faith. In the article, the author analyzes the practice of the Supreme Court of England and Wales on disputes arising from agreements that include a condition on the good faith behavior of the parties. Despite the lack of statutory enforcement of the principle of good faith in the English law, recent precedents suggest that English courts are increasingly finding that good faith conduct by the parties may not only be expressly stated in the terms of a contract, but may also be implied in the contract, albeit in a limited number of cases. In each specific case, the courts, taking into account the wording of the terms of the contract, determine the content of the concept of “good faith” in relation to a specific obligation (clause of the contract), without extending this principle to the performance of the entire contract as a whole. The English courts hold that the agreement of the parties is paramount and broader obligations will not be implied by default.

The subject of the study is the state impact on social relations arising in connection with the use and protection of protective forest plantations, as well as the legal regime of these plantations. The analysis made it possible to establish that protective forest plantations can be located on lands of various categories, however, legal norms have been developed in more detail only in relation to lands used in agriculture. Relations regarding protective forest plantations are the subject of complex legal regulation. As a result, the legal regime of plantations has an intersectoral character, which is influenced by the category of land and the purpose of the plantations themselves. It was revealed that in the established norms on protective forest plantations, due to the role and importance of vegetation in the life of society, priority is given to public environmental interests. Particular attention is given to the study of ownership of land occupied by protective forest plantations. It is noted that a significant part of such plots is in non-delimited state ownership, not put on the cadastral register. The author concludes that the most effective way to solve the problems that have arisen in the field of agroforestry is the economic incentives for land users.