In May 1961, the German law enforcement agencies detained Wilhelm Doering, the commander of one of the mobile squads of Einzatzkommando. The perpetrator was charged with the organization of the slaughter of the Jewish population in a number of settlements in Belarus and Russia, as well as the slaughter of mentally handicapped children in the village of Shumyachi (Smolensk region). Following two trials (1962—1964) W. Doering was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. The former Nazi managed to avoid responsibility for organizing the slaughter of 16 disabled children living in the Shumyachian boarding house. The Court qualified the offence under consideration as a “second-degree murder”, under which the statute of limitations had expired. In fact, the German judiciary laid the blame for the slaughter of children on the Soviet authorities that “left the children in a helpless state” and the Nazi criminals were characterized as guardians of “public interest” who, by killing children, saved the Russian population and German servicemen from the epidemic. The court verdict never mentioned that, in the Third Reich, the slaughter of mentally ill children was common practice; the crime in Shumyachi was taken out of general context of Nazi atrocities related to the implementation of the “child euthanasia programs.” The verdict handed down to W. Doering was a fact of blatant injustice and trampling upon the memory of thousands of children victims of Nazism.

The paper is devoted to the consideration of etymology and analysis of the content of the concept “State” in domestic and western doctrines of political and legal studies from the point of view of various approaches to the theory of the State. The author re-considers the fundamental problem of understanding the concept “State” in legal and political studies and legal science, substantiates its relevance at the present stage. The author examines the impact etymology of the concept “State” has on its content. The paper defines specifics of understanding of the concept of the State inherent in representatives of main schools of thought in Western European and American political and legal studies. The author dwells on the “materialized” approach to understanding of the State as an independent subject of legal relations, the concept of the State as a set of institutions and relations in the field of governance, as well as the idea of the State as an ideological construct. The author investigates and compares domestic approaches to the understanding of the State. The signs of subjectivity and legal personality of the State are compared. The author substantiates differences in the theoretical understanding of the State in domestic and western doctrines and explains the importance of research and critical understanding of non-traditional approaches to understanding of the State at the present stage.

The State forms and implements the law, and the law, in turn, consolidates state functions. At the same time, the turnover of law stimulation prevails in modern conditions. It should be noted that legal thinking ennobles the national legal system. However, in order to facilitate the modernization of law, it is necessary to assess the regularities between the laws and the functions of the state, including in the field under consideration. The paper evaluates the level of managerial activity and coordination of countering terrorism implemented on the basis of international legal standards, as well as operational and qualitative legal thinking. The paper investigates the anti-terrorist objective of early state response to unconstitutional manifestations and its implementation that forms the anti-terrorist function of the State. Global terrorism and other forms of extremism are penetrating many areas in the world in the conditions of active globalization. The ideological virus raised by the bloody terrorist foam demonstrates a challenge to humanity’s ability to preserve itself in the context of relevant threats of internal and external aggression in the present and the future. Terrorism should, however, be understood as the ideology and practice of influencing decisions at all standard levels related to the intimidation of the population and (or) illegal violent actions. Extremism is referred to an attack on the constitutional system and the security of the State, carried out because of denial of legal norms and (or) rules of social behavior. Anti-terrorist and anti-extremist state response in such conditions objectively depends on the complex anti-terrorist function of the State. At the same time, the function of the State (or a state function) forms the direction of the state’s activity in implementing the objectives of the goal in question.

The lawmaker has introduced numerous grounds for depriving a person of the right to hold a public or municipal office. Most of them include person’s guilty acts (omissions to act) the legal nature of which has not been defined yet. This constitutes an unconditional gap in the theory of legal science. Part of the grounds based on fault form constitutional offenses. It was appropriate to consider them in the context of general problems arising in establishing the grounds for the early termination of the authority of the official. As a result, the author in the paper highlights what types of duties of an official exist; why duties not related to the person’s target activity act as grounds for the termination of official powers (as well as the application of other possible sanctions); which acts incompatible with the office can be considered an offense, and how to single out constitutional offenses from them; what typesтof acts incompatible with the office exist according to the criterion of legal duty and the criterion of the degree of asociality. In addition, the author has determined the features and has categorized the legal obligations the violation of which represents the basis for imposing liability. The author has determined the defects in the normative definition of acts incompatible with the office, as well as the conditions for their application as a basis for imposing liability.

The study of the patterns of the development of constitutional legal relationships allows us to understand the main, determining relationships between subjects and phenomena and, therefore, not only to analyze phenomena that have developed in an objective legal reality, but also to predict the development of constitutional legal relationships in the medium and long term with a high level of probability. The patterns of constitutional legal relationships are considered as systematically repeated historically and politically conditioned interrelated facts aimed at building a rule-of-law State, recognition of a human, his rights and freedoms as the highest value. The paper highlights general and special patterns. General patterns are inherent not only in constitutional legal relations, but also in any other legal relationship in the conditions of the established objective legal reality. General patterns include incompleteness of the normative basis of constitutional legal relations, the desire to expand, and the increase in the density of the normative basis of legal relations under conditions of insufficient systematization of constitutional legislation. Special patterns arising from the peculiarities of the subject matter of the constitutional law regulation include continuity of constitutional legal relations, prevalence of subjective factors in the development of constitutional legal relations, formalization of constitutional legal relations that are central to the system of legal relations. In the light of the revealed patterns, further development of constitutional legal relationships will go along the way of increasing the density of the legal basis of legal relationships, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, involving an increasing range of public relations in the constitutional legal relations. At the same time, the impact of both subjective and objective factors on the content of legal relations will increase.

The paper, based on comparative analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation and acts of the Eurasian Economic Union, examines the legislative definition of the concept of import of goods, different approaches to understanding of the concept under consideration. The legislator’s definition of imports as importation of goods without the obligation to re-export them is not entirely consistent with the description of customs procedures in customs legislation, which gives rise to problems in law enforcement. In particular, the importation of alcoholic products by duty-free shops is considered as imports, which results in the requirement to obtain a license for the purchase (import) of alcohol products. The author highlights the discrepancy between this requirement and the law of the Eurasian Economic Community and the lack of uniformity of judicial practice on this issue. Conflicts of this kind in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Customs Code of the EAEU should be resolved in favor of international agreements. It is proposed to exclude the obligation to obtain a license to import alcohol products for duty-free shops.

In conditions of unfair tax competition between states and increasing commitment of taxpayers to reducing the tax burden, countering tax evasion becomes an urgent problem. The implementation of general rules against tax evasion constitutes one of the most effective mechanisms to counter the erosion of the taxable base and the withdrawal of profits from taxation. The paper explores the theoretical foundations of general rules against tax evasion, highlights the experience of the European Union in terms of formation of the concept and legal design of general rules against tax evasion, and discloses the nature, purpose and cases of their use. Based on the analysis of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as the directives of the European Union containing provisions concerning general rules against tax evasion, the author draws a conclusion on structural elements inherent in general rules against tax evasion. The paper provides for an analysis of the experience of the Russian Federation in this area, proposes promising ways to improve the legislation enshrining general rules against tax evasion in Russia. The author researches judicial doctrines applied in the Russian Federation to recognize the tax benefit received by the taxpayer unjustified, analyzes the provisions of Art. 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The author concludes that there is a problem of uniform application of the provisions of Art. 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, which violates the stability and predictability of tax practices necessary for enterprises’ business activities. The author also concludes that it is necessary to carry out substantial reviewing of the general rules against tax evasion in Russia in order to improve their application and consolidate additional guarantees of taxpayers’ rights.

The paper, on the basis of theoretical constructions, normative acts, materials of law enforcement practice, examines the peculiarities of legal regulation of relations arising during the use of security payment to enforce the obligation. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and practical aspects of the application of security payment in contractual obligations. The author justifies her viewpoint concerning the prospects of using a security payment to ensure the performance of tort obligations. It is concluded that the scope of application of a security payment in tort obligations is rather limited. On the example of securing the performance of tort obligations arising during the performance of work under the contract, the author argues that the security payment is mainly applicable to secure the fulfillment of the tort obligations arising between persons in contractual relations, in a situation where the counterparties face a threat of harm in execution of a civil obligation. The author emphasizes that the security payment agreement is a consensual transaction.

The paper explores the contradictions in judicial practice arising in the consideration of disputes between insurers and citizens — participants of share building. The objective of the paper is to identify the essence of the emerging disagreements between the subjects and determine their nature. The analysis takes into account changes in legislation affecting the field of share building. The author relies on the data of current jurisprudence. The author considers as the most common disagreements the applicability of consumer protection legislation to the relationships between the insurer and the beneficiary — the construction participant -- and the validity of payment of insurance compensation provided that the construction participant demands to transfer dwelling premises rather than monetary compensation. In both cases, the author has determined deficiencies in law. The former lacks the necessary legal rule, allowing courts to make decisions by applying different analogies of the law in resolving identical disputes. The second deficiency of the legal rule is not fully formulated, which makes the insurer’s position uncertain when replacing the lender.

The author, following the focus of the study on specialization of civil procedural law in the Russian legal system as manifested regularity of its development, relying on the inevitable dualism and interaction between material and procedural law, comprehends its current state on the example of certain basic procedural and legal institutions: the institution of the right of access to court, the institution of protection of the rights and interests of other persons, the institution of jurisdiction, etc The author’s use of known and proposed legal constructions, categories and concepts in the author’s combination and (or) interpretation makes their research urgent for the purposes of understanding of the key conditionality of civil procedural law specialization in the Russian law system as providing them with the administration of justice and protection of rights in civil cases in compliance with their wide understanding when the right to judicial protection in the system of constitutional rights and freedoms constitutes a guarantee for all of them. This paper is the second in a series of three papers devoted to the problem of the right of access to court as the most important issue of dualism and interaction between material and civil procedural rights.

The paper raises a number of issues related to the analysis of the state of competition in commodity markets in modern conditions. In particular, the specifics of defining the market in relation to differentiated goods, multilateral markets and digital platforms, and innovative products are considered in detail. In the context of informatization and the dynamic development of the digital economy, big data is the most important resource of
many large companies and, accordingly, there are many antitrust aspects of their use. The paper describes the role of big data in market analysis, including situations in which it can lead to anticompetitive harm, as well as its impact on consumer rights. The paper analyzes approaches to the state of competition in the market, taking into account such phenomena as the digital economy, network effects and big data. However, it is noted that at present, the most common is a full-fledged economic analysis, which weighs the positive and negative consequences actions of business entities in the market. The authors conclude that traditional market analysis tools are not always able to assess the state of competition properly. In addition, it is emphasized that in the absence of unequivocal answers to the challenges of the digital economy in the field of market analysis, there is a need for further scientific research on a number of problems in analyzing the state of competition in product markets.

The elements of a crime provided for in Part 1, 2, Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation include a crime situation as a feature of the objective side, i.e. the presence of signs of bankruptcy, the exact establishment of the moment of occurrence of which allows us to clearly determine the time limits of the criminal law prohibition in relation to acts under Part 1, 2 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, the understanding of the situation of illegal actions in bankruptcy in special literature and judicial practice is based on a literal, and not substantive, understanding of the provisions of the legislation on insolvency, to which the dispositions of the above offenses are referred. In this regard, when classifying the offense under Part 1, 2, Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, criminologists propose to be guided in fact by procedural presumptions of insolvency and the grounds for initiating a case on the debtor’s insolvency. Current judicial practice follows the same path. The stated understanding is not only methodologically incorrect, but also significantly reduces the criminal law potential of the mentioned norms of criminal law by narrowing the scope of their action. In turn, the paper pays attention to the substantive and legal grounds for stating that the debtor has signs of bankruptcy, which should be taken into account when classifying the deed as illegal actions in bankruptcy. The authors formulates his own position on the question of determining the moment of the emergence of the situation of the investigated crimes.

The paper analyzes the preliminary results of the implementation of the Federal Target Program "Development of the Russian Judicial System in 2013–2020". The author provides specific examples of achievements in the main areas of development of the judicial system. Besides, the author defines some unresolved problems, such as the need to locate federal courts in buildings convenient for the administration of justice, provision of technical means and security means for judges and court staff, digitalization (informatization) of the judicial system, unreasonably long legal proceedings time frames, accommodation for judges and employees of courts and the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The paper also offers approaches to solving each of the mentioned problems. Based on the results of the 2019 meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation, the paper outlines the proposals on ways to develop the judicial system in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, and names the main factors for their successful implementation.

One of the measures to prevent corruption in Russia is the anti-corruption expertise of regulatory legal acts and their drafts. This is the only measure aimed at eliminating the causes of corruption in the field of lawmaking. The prosecutor’s office is considered to be the most effective body to implement it. The Institute of Independent Anti-Corruption Expertise has not been operational today as far as is necessary. In the course of the research, some prosecutors and accredited independent experts were surveyed. Both groups of respondents proved the effectiveness of this preventive measure, noting that it needs improving. As part of the study, the author attempts to identify the problems faced by independent experts, as well as the prosecutors themselves, and proposes ways to solve these problems and enhance independent experts by means of the prosecutor’s office activities. The study showed that it is necessary to improve the conceptual apparatus of the legal institution (e.g., the lack of definitions of “corruption” and “corruptogenic factor”), the mechanism of interaction between prosecutors and independent experts when conducting anti-corruption expertise of both existing acts and projects. Prosecutors can play a coordinating role with a clearer departmental regulation of this activity, take measures of moral encouragement of independent experts, most actively report on their work in carrying out anti-corruption expertise, while involving independent experts in it. Additional regulation of this activity is necessary at the level of both federal law and organizational and administrative documents of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. According to the study, 63% of independent experts named the improvement of the mechanism of their participation in anti-corruption expertise as one of the main factors in enhancing their activities.

Given the lack of proper legal regulation of both cross-border insolvency in general and the invalidity of transactions in cross-border insolvency in the Russian law, the author analyzes Russian judicial practice revealing the problem of determining applicable law in challenging the debtor’s transactions in the framework of the insolvency procedure. The author concludes that the Russian judicial practice shows that determination of the law applicable to the invalidity of transactions is contingent on the existence of a bankruptcy procedure and on the grounds for recognizing the transaction as invalid. Based on the analysis of the European regulation of legal issues applicable when challenging the debtor’s transactions in cross-border insolvency, the author considers possible exceptions to the conflict of laws lex fori concursus for certain categories of third parties to be protected from unexpected interference in the legal relationship of the parties to foreign law in order to ensure the stability of the turnover and maintain legal certainty.

The author sets the goal to study the nature and system of regulation of relations between the Holy See and the European Union, as well as to odentify the main problems and trends in the further development and improvement of the legal regulation of these relations. The paper examines historical and theoretical aspects of the legal status of the Vatican, issues related to the participation of the Holy See in the European integration. The author analyzes a number of agreements concluded between the Holy See (Vatican) and the European Union in various fields, examines the role and place of the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) as one of the instruments of influence of the Holy See in the EU. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that the Holy See has a fairly wide range of means not only for the successful development of bilateral relations with the European Union, but also for exerting a certain impact on both the external and internal EU policies in various fields. The system of legal regulation of relations between the Holy See and the European Union is quite developed and covers a diverse range of issues in the economic, political, socio-cultural and other spheres.

The active development of genetic technologies around the world actualizes the issue of defining national legal regimes that ensure normative establishment of the boundaries of human intervention in the processes of the universe. The issue of admissibility of a fast-track regime in relation to genetic technologies development from the standpoint of ensuring the precautionary principle in biomedicine is raised separately. The author believes that it is appropriate to use "national legal regime for genetic research" category as a way of regulating at various levels such issues as: identification and use of information obtained as a result of genetic research; development of national standards for the provision of services for genetic research, requirements for medical organizations and medical workers who provide them. Based on the studied foreign experience, it is concluded that there are three main types (models) of national regimes for the development of genetic technologies: permissible, restrictive and mixed, each of which is characterized by specific principles of organizational structure.

The paper analyzes the most common typical forms of infringements and the main aspects of liability for illegal securities transactions provided for by the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation and foreign countries. The author refers to such typical infringements as counterfeit of securities; counterfeit securities usage (regardless of their issuers); issue (emission) of securities carried out in prohibited ways or in violation of the requirements established by law; introduction of illegally issued securities into circulation; violation of the established order of circulation (illegal circulation) of securities; illegal use of so-called insider information. In order to define these standard forms the author analyses the national criminal legislation, as well as the criminal legislation of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Holland, Georgia, Denmark, Spain, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Uzbekistan, Estonia.

Recently, legal literature has given attention to the problems of innovative energy. Despite the negative consequences of the current global economic crisis, the ways out of it are in the mainstream of the country’s transition from the export of raw materials to the resource-innovative development with a qualitative renewal of the energy sector. These tasks are set in the strategic planning documents that determine the vector and prospects of energy, scientific and technological and other areas of development. Achievement of goals and long-term quality guidelines for the development of the energy sector on an innovative development path is associated, among other things, with alternative energy, the expansion of the use of renewable energy sources. The paper shows the possibilities and prospects of their use for small energy facilities, energy-deficient areas, and regions with decentralized energy supply. The advantages of using green technologies, renewable types of energy are manifested in energy conservation, energy security, reducing the negative impact on the environment, and solving environmental problems. The absence of a regulatory legal framework for the development of alternative energy is revealed; gaps in energy legislation in terms of innovative energy, stimulation of the introduction of innovative technologies, and the use of renewable energy sources are highlighted. The necessity of highlighting this direction in the energy strategy, other strategic documents in the field of environmental, economic development, energy efficiency and safety has been substantiated. The result of the study is new approaches to the formation and implementation of state policy, as well as the improvement of legislation in the field of innovative energy development.