The article scrutinises organizational and legal changes that took place in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. During that period, the Russian Government continued the course aimed at consistent reforms of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in general and the system of political investigation in particular. Special attention is paid to the process of redistribution of powers among chief executeves of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Also, attention is drawn to the implementation of the problem of determining the term for the regulatory acts expiration and, as a consequence, the loss of their legal force. The article concludes that the absence of a systematic and uniform approach to determining the limits of temporal scope of regulatory acts is one of the problems of the Russian legal system of the late 19th century. It is established that the main reason for the constant redistribution of functions between the Minister of Internal Affairs and his peers was a subjective approach of certain individuals who, in different periods, held the post of minister. Categories of feasibility and normative guidelines were gradually distorted, and individual personal interests came to fore, which certainly did not facilitate the improvement of the quality of the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The article analyzes the problem of understanding codification processes by the doctrine of law in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire. Taking into account the significance of the German legal thought for the legal doctrine of Baltic provinces, the views of German jurists are also examined. It is established that characteristic features of codification in German jurisprudence had already been formulated in a manner analogous to the present ones in the 19th century. In the 19th century, similar to modern times, codification seemed to be a comprehensive process both formally and substantively updated by means of legislative acts. No other sources of law, including customary law, should have acted along with codification. As a consequence, uncertainty of a common legal tradition was eliminated and comprehensive understandability was achieved. At the same time, it is recognized that representatives of the Baltic legal thought, despite German influence, understood the processes of codification on the basis of their own ideas that often were not at all correlated with the German doctrine, but were more in line with the general imperial Russian view of those phenomena. It is argued that the processes of systematization and codification of the Baltic law had encouraged the further development of legal thought both in the entire Russian Empire and in the Baltics. The situation examined in the study, in authors' opinion, shows only one thing. Law in the 19th century was formed not by practitioners or jurists (scholars), but by the law-maker (or the bodies prescribed and authorized by the law-maker). The Baltic law codification entailed changes for various sources of Baltic law that had operated so far. Meanwhile, those processes characterized not only the Baltic region, but were seen throughout Europe. Codification becomes the main, if not the only, source of law. Thus, the need for a common doctrine combining the sources of law and common law was lost.

The article deals with the rights of the child and parents in the Muslim family law of the early Middle Ages and its formation in the 8th-10th centuries. The key rights of the child were determined and explained: the right to life, the right to naming, the right to nafaka-the right to financial support-the right to the awareness of his or her genealogy, the right to breastfeeding and the right to up-bringing (al-hidana). In addition, the article provides for the following classifications of the rights in question: basic, financial-economic, religious-ethical. Also, the author considers the issue of prohibition of adoption and gives the definition of an orphan (jatim) under Muslim family law, elucidates peculiarities of the status of orphans, the mechanism for protecting property rights of orphans, rights and duties of guardians with respect of orphans and their property, powers of the kadia (judge) regarding the issue of protecting the rights of orphans, types of guardianship. The reasons and procedure for deprivation of guardianship are also examined. In addition, the author considers parental property rights regarding children.

The article analyzes legal confidence-the most important dimension of social confidence. Confidence in law is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon determined not only by the effectiveness of the work of legal mechanisms but also by the conditions and factors inherent in a particular society. The author examines such aspects as a system of legal confidence, mutual influence of interpersonal and institutional confidence in the legal environment, the balance between confidence and non-confidence. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that confidence is a key resource that objectively determines the dynamics of legal consciousness and behavior. The more examples of effectiveness of the legal system and jurisprudence an individual sees, the higher his confidence not only in law and its elements, but also in the political order as a whole. In this respect, legal confidence seems to be more institutional and organized type of social confidence. A high level of public confidence in public authorities can minimize the risks of imperfections in the legal system, but it should not replace it.

The article is devoted to the difficulties the law enforcers face with when enforcing legal determinations of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. This problem is particularly actualized in cases when fallacies can be found in the definitions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and they contradict formal and legal interpretation of the challenged rules of law given by the courts when making decisions: denying to accept a petition for consideration, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in its legal stance, in fact, sets out the answer on the merits of the petition. At the same time, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is not bound by its own legal determinations, which entails the existence of decisions with different legal stances on the same subject matter in the Constitutional Court jurisprudence. The author considers the examples taken from criminal procedural law and penal law. The article provides for the ways of overcoming the problem of non-enforcement of legal determinations of the RF Constitutional Court and its decisions as a whole.

The article deals with the composition of territories and boundaries of administrative-territorial units, and the analysis carried out by the author leads to the conclusion that in contemporary Russian legal reality differences between the municipal-territorial and administrative-territorial organization of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation are formal and, to a certain degree, artificial. However, at the same time, when defining a number of the most important issues of human life as a circle of tasks being solved at the level of local self-government, that is, in essence, relying on the constitutional understanding of local self-government and offering residents (citizens) to decide for themselves, the federal legislator does not provide local people with the mechanisms of implementation of their right to local self-government, as well as it does not vest necessary powers in local self-government bodies. Territorial subdivisions of government bodies exercising their powers in the territories of municipalities are not accountable to the bodies of local self-government. The general conclusion is that, formally, the public authority in a municipality belongs to its inhabitants and is implemented by them through local self-government, and, in fact, it is exercised by local state bodies that exist in the state of "separation" from local residents.

The article examines the institution of international adoption within the framework of both domestic legislation and international legal regulation. The mechanism of conflict rules unification in the field of foreign adoption facilitates protection of the rights and interests of an adopted child to the greatest extent. The author refers to the Minsk Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases of 22 January 1993. The Minsk Convention stipulates that adoption and and its revocation are regulated under the laws of the adopter's citizenship. It also dwells on conditions supplementing this provision. The author analyzes the importance of concluding bilateral international treaties with respect of adoption and elucidates the content of international treaties. Thus, the Adoption Agreement between Russia and Italy focused on choosing adoptive parents. An obligatory condition for parents is registration of the adopted child in a consular office of the country of origin. The child obtains dual citizenship and can exercise the same rights and means of protection as other children who have the status of a citizen in the territory of the receiving state. The prohibition to adopt children from Russia is imposed only in relation to the US citizens, it does not affect international cooperation between Russia and other foreign states. The author believes that inclusion of conflict-of-laws rules into mutual legal assistance treaties concerning the issues of international adoption is unconditional. It is considered to be important for the cooperation between states in this area, as well as an excellent basis for further conclusion of bilateral treaties that will govern only foreign adoption.

The article considers the issue of determining the legal nature of prohibition of changeable conduct committed for an unlawful purpose. The study is based on the analysis of civil law specific principles operation when estoppel is applied. The conclusion is drawn that the basis of estoppel lies in the operation of several principles of civil law, and the main principle is the principle of good faith. The rule of estoppel demonstrates the lack of consistency among civil law principles, when they are allowed to compete with each other. The article provides an overview of opinions with respect of estoppel definitions given in the Russian scientific literature. This is necessary to solve the problem of implementing rules concerning estoppel in the Russian legal system, since the law-maker has followed the path of enshrining certain kinds of estoppels in the legislation rather than formulating a universal rule that prohibits inconsistent and evasive behavior in the Civil Code of the RF. The author proposed an independent definition of estoppel as a universal category.

This article is devoted to some aspects of ensuring good faith in arbitration proceedings in civil cases within the framework of the arbitration procedure in terms of securing rights and legitimate interests of third parties who are not parties to arbitration with due regard to the reform of the arbitration courts law. The article analyzes the problem that takes place in law enforcement practice when parties involved in civil transactions to the detriment of rights and legally protected interests of third parties resort to arbitration proceedings and confirm an artificially created debt arising from a non-existing contractual obligation. On the basis of the scientific doctrine and jurisprudence analysis and with due regard to legal stances of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the author proposes a set of measures aimed at preventing abuse of the right to arbitration proceedings, the content of which is reduced to the introduction of the principle of good faith directly into the norms of arbitration procedure legislation and an obligatory notarial form of the arbitration agreement when the cases are considered by arbitral tribunals set up by the parties to consider a dispute in question.

The article is devoted to the analysis of Art. 276 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, where it is stated that an application for recognizing an individual as missing or declaring him or her as dead is filed to court by the person concerned. The author considers the issue of correlation between the concepts "the person concerned" and "applicant," and concludes that a characteristic feature of "the person concerned" is the existence of a legal interest. In turn, the "applicant" having a legal interest, goes to court with the application for recognizing the individual as missing or declaring him or her as deceased because the applicant can not otherwise overcome the legal anomaly that has arisen due to the individual's long absence. Thus, the applicant is included into the number of the persons concerned. The author comes to the conclusion that an employer of a missing employee can act as an applicant in this category of cases. Also, it is necessary to refer the missing person to the persons concerned in order to notify him or her of the time and place of the court proceedings.

The author of the article explains the advantages of using the method of inter-branch analogy and the use of established civil-law mechanisms to govern unsettled labor relations associated with the need to exercise judicial control over the amount of compensation paid for early dismissal to chief executive officers, their deputies, chief accountants of organizations in cases when dismissal occurs in the absence of any wrongdoing on behalf of an employee due to the change of ownership of the legal entity property or individuals controlling the legal entity. The author argues that lack of clear regulatory criteria applicable to determine the limits of discretion to establish the amount of such payments, legal uncertainty with respect of prior approval necessity and possibility of subsequent challenge of "golden parachutes" agreements on behalf of the beneficiaries of the organization constitute the most significant legal gap in the field in question. Due to the fact that a high degree of similarity was established with respect of the regime of transactions and labor agreements of top managers with regard to "golden parachutes" arrangements and a significant legal similarity was revealed between "golden parachutes" and civil law compensations paid to the creditor when the debtor exercised the right to unilaterally refuse to fulfill of the obligation, the author insists on doctrinal support for the application of rules applied to challenge major transactions and (or) interested party transactions to labor "golden parachutes" agreements, as well as the application of the mechanism of judicial reduction of abusive civil-law compensation to labor disputes in question.

An enterprise as a holder of civil rights is a universal legal construction. When the I Part of the RF Civil Code was adopted, it was assumed that the enterprise would be the main participant of civil law transactions of the business. However, the introduced legal regime of the enterprise did not meet expectations. The study of theoretical standpoints with respect of the legal essence of the enterprise as a holder of civil rights shows the lack of unanimity of opinions among contemporary representatives of civil law. The most justified and logical approach to the development of legislation in this matter involves determination of a generic category "proprietary complex" and introduction of distinctive features in relation to its types, including the enterprise. The subsoil legislation and relevant jurisprudence analysis justifies the prospects for using the enterprise as a party to civil transactions in the subsoil use sphere, since its legal design allows to combine diverse property rights for their effective circulation, which, to a certain extent, will solve the problem of separate legal consequences for the rights to a subsoil plot and property inseparably attached to it, as well as the problem of the legal form of transfer of the right to subsoil use in certain cases.

Along with the Federal Law No. 44-FZ of April 5, 2013, "On the contract system in the sphere of procurement of goods, works and services to provide state and municipal needs" that regulates the procurement of wholly state-owned budget companies, the Federal Law of July18, 2011, № 223-FZ "On the procurement of goods, works, services by legal entities of certain types" regulating procurement of state-owned companies with state participation came into force on January 2, 2012, to meet state municipal needs. Having established only a number of peremptory norms, the legislator in Law No. 223-FZ limited himself to specifying general principles and objectives for performing such procurements, implying that buyers will independently regulate procurement issues in procurement clauses. The author concludes that the arguments that prompted the legislator to create only a framework law, have caused new problems associated with inefficient spending of funds when concluding a number of contracts with a single supplier (contructor, subcontractor).

In the Russian Federation, a person who organized the creation of a complex object is not the author of such an object. Traditionally, civil law distinguishes a triumvirate of authors of a complex object on the example of one of its type - an audiovisual work. A production director, scriptwriter and composer who created music specially for this work are recognized as authors. However, the foreign legislation of some states has a different approach to this issue. In the article, on the example of such a participant as a producer, the author considers the problem of determining his legal status, since in the countries of the Anglo-American legal system a producer is considered to be the author of the movie. The article highlights that the person responsible for the organization of the process of creating such an object, in particular, the person who took the initiative and responsibility for the creation of the relevant object (not only financial contribution but also creative one), may be considered to be the author provided he makes a creative contribution to the creation of a complex object.

The scientific and technological revolution that occurred in the 20th century led to the emergence of new types of objects of intellectual property rights, while creating the need for their legal regulation. The nature of a complex object of copyright as the most popular and attractive one from an economic and commercial point of view is investigated in the article. The author pays special attention to the study of the order of disposal of a complex object of copyright, the legal structure of which determines the specifics of legal regulation in the sphere of disposing of rights to complex objects. The article contains an analysis of the special mode of creation, use and disposal of various independent objects created to achieve one goal. It is concluded that the absence in the legislation of a clear and structured (by analogy with other agreements relating to the creation and disposal of rights to the results of intellectual activity) regulation of an agreement between co-authors will make such a regime for creating complex objects unattractive from a commercial point of view (due to greater risks arising from the legal uncertainty of this regime). This will significantly reduce the interest of creative thought to independently organized projects and eventually will affect the economic sphere.

The Russian legislation regulating the procedure and payroll schedule is of fundamental importance for ensuring the property rights of employees. However, there are some shortcomings, which can be found in the content of the norms provided for in Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Federal Law No. 272-FZ of July 3, 2016, eliminated some miscalculations regarding the specification of the payroll schedule made by the legislator. At the same time, there were gaps and questions that needed more precise, complete and uniform regulation. This causes difficulties when applying Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation by employers, creates contradictions in the activities of state supervision bodies and in judicial practice. The analysis of the law and modern experience of its implementation made it possible to identify the uncertainty and other omissions in regulating the payment of earnings at the local level, in documenting such payments, in the composition requirements for each half of the month, and other more particular aspects of this group of relations. These problems can not be eliminated by the official interpretation of the federal bodies of labor administration. They require a revision of the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The author substantiates such changes and provides the draft of the new edition of Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The problem of the lack of a clear understanding of the legal nature of the employee's job description in the legislation and law enforcement practice is considered. The priority is given to the conditions of the labor contract regarding the labor function in relation to the job description, including disputes related to the establishment and change of the employee's duties. The employee's labor duties are considered as a structural element of the labor contract. The right of the employer to determine the labor obligations of the employee at his own discretion is substantiated. At the same time, the criteria restricting this right are singled out. Based on the example of law-enforcement practice, the specifics of applying qualification directories in determining the employee's duties are also considered. It is proposed to make clarifications of some norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, namely of Art. 21 and 22, with an indication of the establishment of work responsibilities by the employer. These measures will make it possible to avoid collisions that arise in connection with the definition and establishment of the employee's work duties.

The article examines the legislation on working hours in the European Union. The author analyzes the fundamental acts regulating working hours within the European Union. Particular attention is given to the analysis of norms directly related to the working time regime enshrined in the European Social Charter, the Charter of the European Union and the Directive of the European Parliament and Council. The article carries out a comparative legal analysis, considers provisions for the regulation of the institution of working hours common for all Member States, which represent the minimum level of guarantees of workers' rights that each EU country must respect. The problems of regulation of labor legislation on working hours in the EU countries (cases of Germany and Greece) are studied. In addition to the standard working hours, the author identifies non-standard working time regimes in the labor legislation of the countries of the European Union. After studying the legislation on working hours of the EU countries, the author makes final conclusions.

The article considers the reason, adequate cause, justifying exemption from criminal responsibility. In the criminal law literature there are numerous decisions on this issue, but their main body alone can not explain why a person is exempted from criminal responsibility. The author concludes that the basis for such liberation must be sought in the personality of the culprit. Under current criminal legislation, justifying the exemption from criminal responsibility can only be elimination or significant reduction in the public danger of the person who committed the crime. In the future, it is necessary to formulate the relevant provisions of the criminal law so that the basis for this exemption is only elimination of the public danger caused by the individual. Accordingly, Art. 76. 2 and part 1 of Art. 90 are subject to exclusion from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and, on the contrary, inclusion in the chapter on the exemption from criminal responsibility of the relevant provisions of Art. 80.1 and part 1 of Art. 81 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The introduction of the restriction of freedom in the domestic system of criminal penalties fully corresponds to the trend of humanization of contemporary Russian criminal and penal policies. However, the effectiveness of this punishment depends not only on the creation of proper conditions for its execution, but also on the correct application of the norms of the criminal law when it is appointed. Unfortunately, in practice, mistakes are often encountered in the establishment of specific restrictions and duties for the convicts restricted of freedom by courts. In the presented article, the author, on the basis of the analysis of existing judicial practice, identifies errors that arise when imposing punishment in the form of restriction of liberty. Particular attention is given to the need for the courts to take into account not only criminal legal but also social characteristics of the convict when imposing a sentence. In order to resolve the identified problems, the author formulates relevant proposals for improving domestic legislation regulating the sphere in question, as well as judicial practice.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not contain the concept of multiple offenses. At the same time, the institution of the multiple offenses occupies a significant niche in the Russian criminal law, and a clear understanding of its essence is vital for the proper qualification of criminal acts, and the formation of justified law enforcement practice. The article examines and analyzes the main views of Soviet and modern Russian researchers on the issue of the concept of multiple offenses. Some positions of foreign criminal legislation on the issue are also analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, the concept of multiple offenses is formulated, according to the author, which maximally reflects the essence of the institution.

The article considers and analyzes various opinions on the category "forensic study of personality". From the point of view of the Russian language, the various meanings of the term "study" fully and in a multifaceted way reflect the activities of the investigator in the study of the person in the course of sufficient disclosure and investigation of crimes. It is concluded that forensic study of personality can be considered as a process, theory (doctrine) and part of criminalistics (educational discipline, special course). In this connection, the definition of the term "forensic study of personality" depends on understanding of its essence. Forensic study of personality as a process for the study of personality is associated with activity. Forensic study of the personality as a theory (doctrine) is associated with the objective laws that constitute the subject of criminalistics. Forensic study of the personality as a section of criminalistics (academic discipline, special course) is based on a theoretical basis, on the basis of which methods, approaches to studying personality are considered. The ultimate goal of forensic study of personality is solving the problems of disclosure and investigation of crimes. Author's definitions of the term "forensic study of personality" are proposed.

The article considers the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the establishment of the boundaries of maritime areas and the regulation of fishing in them. The treaties concluded by the Russian Federation are analyzed: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, the Agreement between the Russian Federation and Japan on mutual relations in the field of fishery off the coasts of both countries of December 7, 1984. Conflicts of existing legal norms concerning the definition of the external border of the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk and the norms regulating fishing in it have been revealed. It is emphasized that this situation creates serious problems for Russian fishing vessels. The practice of applying international legal norms and norms of the Russian legislation by the authorized state bodies of the Russian Federation is considered, and features of their interpretation are established. The recommendations on the resolution of these legal conflicts have been developed.

The phenomenon of the law of the World Trade Organization continues to be the starting point for the subject of study by international lawyers. The study of the provisions of the "package of WTO agreements", the practices of arbitration groups and the Appeals Body, the reports of the International Law Commission on fragmentation in international law and the scientific doctrine of various countries prove that "WTO law" is a "special treaty regime" existing in the international law framework. Its isolation is out of the discussion at least because the application of the norms of "WTO law" is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969. This article is an attempt to present the author's point of view on the existing problem.

The article deals with the problem of international legal protection of people affected by natural and man-made emergency situations that were forced to leave areas with a dangerous for life and health state of the environment. In the doctrine, the population transfer under similar circumstances is often referred to as environmental migration and affected and resettled persons are called environmental migrants. Since these concepts are absent in treaties, the issue of the need for the creation of a legal mechanism for regulating environmental migration as an integral part of the human security system with a sharp deterioration of the environmental situation is being explored. The article looks at the prospects for the formation of an organization at the international level to protect environmental migrants. It is concluded that it is necessary to create such an international organization for the protection of environmental migrants in the United Nations system, whose competence will simultaneously include such aspects of international law as the protection of human rights, migration, international cooperation in preventing and eliminating the consequences of natural and man-made emergency situations.

The article considers theoretical and practical tendencies of the development of the integration organization of the ASEAN. The reasons and conditions that contribute to the expansion of the regulatory framework of the Association are considered. The current difficult situation is complicated by the existing financial crisis. Still, it is this state of affairs that determines the importance of positions held by countries in the process of redistribution of wealth. Given the existing circumstances, even developed countries have to unite in various international organizations to achieve their goals. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations today is the largest political and economic union in the southeast. It is obvious that many participants in this organization are very different from each other both in terms of the degree of economic progress and the level of development of the domestic economy. The similarity of understanding of the legal aspects of regulating social relations is also not absolute. The study of the specifics of the functioning of such a subject of international law as ASEAN can have a significant impact on the understanding of many integration processes in the modern world.

The article examines some issues of the institution of the employment contract in France. The author examines the concept of an employment contract in the 1980s of the last century and in the present period, draws attention to the changes and reforms of labor legislation that have been carried out in recent years. At the end of the article, the author summarizes the results of the analysis and suggests conclusions. It is noted that the experience of French legislation, taking into account the diversity and specificity of labor of various categories of workers and forms of employment, deserves attention and study. This will allow the Russian legislator to take into account both positive and negative aspects for its implementation during lawmaking in the sphere of labor law, which eventually will ensure greater effectiveness of such an institution as an employment contract.

Based on the analysis of the history of the formation and development of the activities of the prosecutor's office, as well as regulatory legal acts, the article considers the role and significance of this supervisory authority in the field of environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety in the period 1960-2000. The contribution and influence of the Soviet prosecutor's office in the protection of nature of the whole state is analyzed. The Soviet state, despite the significant measures taken in 1950-1970 in order to improve the environmental situation in the country, was not able to achieve high environmental performance indicators in full due to the inconsistency in solving environmental problems. At the same time, the adoption of the Law on the Public Prosecutor's Office of the USSR in 1979 facilitated the expansion of the competence of prosecutors in supervisory and coordinating activities to ensure law and order, as well as strengthening supervision, including in the environmental field. The author gives examples of the practice of prosecutorial activity of environmental prosecutors. It should be noted that the judicial reform of 1991 in the period of formation of a legal democratic state, the powers of the Prosecutor's Office had to be subjected to a significant transformation. Thus, in par. 6 of sec. 4 of the Concepts of Judicial Reform enshrined the following: "The gradual withering away of the public prosecutor's function cannot affect the state of law in the country, if the transition to the market will provide internal natural incentives for compliance with laws". However, as current practice shows, prosecutors, including specialized ones, are one of the tools to ensure and protect the constitutional rights of citizens to a favorable environment in a state governed by the rule of law.