The paper defines the reasons for the emergence of such a method of ensuring obligations as a counterguarantee. The author highlights five factors that influence the choice of this instrument. The author draws conclusions that the counter-guarantee emerged as a result of globalization of the economy and development of international trade. This effective and convenient instrument allows the creditor to obtain a guarantee of an acceptable bank and minimize the creditor’s costs and risks in international transactions. The author argues that the core of the counter-guarantee is formed by the unilateral obligation of the counter-guarantee bank encouraging the issuing bank to issue a direct guarantee, which is the purpose of the counter-guarantee. The paper examines the features of the legal regulation of the counter-guarantee in Russia and abroad, including a retrospective analysis of the problems of the legal regulation of a counter-guarantee in Russia. In particular, the author highlights the difficulty of issuing a counter-guarantee under Russian law before 2015 due to the lack of regulation of this instrument in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and mismatch of the design of the bank guarantee and counter-guarantee in the old version of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation The paper analyzes judicial and banking practices in the field of counter-guarantee provision.

The Internent as the information and telecommunication network has an increasing impact on the life of modern people, and digitalization affects almost all legal relations existing at the moment. The political rights of citizens that are increasingly being exercised through the Internet, have not become an exception. In 2020, the conduct of demonstrations and various public events on the Internet no longer surprises anyone. This method is becoming a more and more popular and mass method of expressing public opinion that attracts increased attention. The paper examines existing online forms of protest actions, explores their correlation with the current legislation, as well as the possibility of their normative regulation. The author analyzes and studies a new legal concept an online meeting, and also suggests options for its legal consolidation. The author comes to the conclusion about the need to expand the concept of public event and to include new forms of mass events in regulatory acts.

The author considers different ways for determining the amount of insurance compensation to be paid to the participant of shared-quity construction in case of occurrence of an insured event in the form of recognition of the developer’s insolvency (bankruptcy) or foreclosure of a collateral. The purpose of the paper is to identify approaches to the determination of this amount used by insurers at different stages of implementation of the mechanism of the developer’s civil liability insurance and to analyze these approaches’ legality. The author analyzes actual jurisprudence in cases involving insurers and participants in shared-equity construction. It is established that at the first stage in the legislation there were no rules for determining the amount of insurance compensation in this area, and insurers determined it at their discretion. At the second stage, when the minimum amount of insurance compensation was consolidated in law, insurers faced controversy caused by a mismatch between the amount originally paid by the construction participant under an equity participation agreement and the amount to be paid. The author concludes that, at the second stage, the disagreement concerning the amount of insurance compensation is caused by the insurers’ abuse of right.

The paper is devoted to the study of law rules, doctrinal positions and jurisprudence dealing with exceptional circumstances that serve as a basis for minor marriage. The relevance of the study is primarily predetermined by the taken and planned actions of the state authorities undertaken to develop draft laws aimed at improving the content of Art. 13 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regulating the age of marriage. The author draws the following conclusions. Conditions for reducing the overall minimum age of marriage for persons under 16 years of age, as well as for older minors, should be governed at the federal level. The list of exceptional (reasonable) circumstances should be exhaustive, since the current open list of life circumstances applied to reduce the overall minimum marriage age leads to excessive freedom of enforcement discretion. Both the Russian and international legislator consider “child” marriage as a negative social phenomenon. In this regard, the issuance of permission to marry as a minor should be dictated by even more unfavorable social circumstances that have arisen in the life of the minor. Marriage should contribute to overcoming or leveling (smoothing) these adverse factors. Only the circumstances in which the marriage is proportionate to the legal consequences it causes (the acquisition of full civil legal capacity by minors, termination of the parents’ obligations to financially support their minor children who have entered into marriage, providing them with housing, etc.) can be considered as good reasons for reducing the minimum marriage age. These circumstances also include pregnancy and the birth of a child.

Digital legal relations have undoubtedly become an important part of relations regulated under civil law and business. The socio-economic digital basis has set the main directions for the existence and functioning of the relevant legal superstructure and the practice of applying rules governing certain relations. In this regard, the legal status of digital intermediaries, including their legal capacity and tort, is of particular importance. It seems important to investigate the problems involving the grounds for holding aggregators and other digital intermediaries liable, as well as guarantees of protecting the rights of persons with whom these intermediaries interact. The legislation governing digital relations has undergone significant changes over the past few years. However, the complex of relations between digital intermediaries as new subjects of law and other persons remains unresolved, and the practice of imposing on such intermediaries civil and other types of legal liability is unsettled. In the paper, the author describes his approach to the consideration and solution of these problems.

Difficulties in registering a color as a trademark arise for many reasons. The author questions the existence of a distinguishing ability of a color sufficient for a trademark to perform its function serving as a means of individualization, as well as its functionality and capability to be presented in graphic form. Due to the strongest visual component, it is in the light industry where there is the greatest demand for registration of colors as trademarks. Thus, the light industry is rich in examples of registration, as well as attempts to register, such designations. Most representative examples are the red color of the sole of Christian Louboutin shoes and turquoise color associated with Tiffany & Co. At the same time, in Russia there is no normative basis, judicial practice, or doctrinal studies that would allow us to develop the principles of determining the existence of discernible ability of color or approaches to their establishment. Thus, the paper relies broadly on the legislative and enforcement experience of foreign legal systems that allow us to trace the different logic of compliance of color symbols with trademark criteria, as well as limits for establishing rights to color symbols, which can be useful for adapting best practices in our country.

The paper specifies the issues of the balance between the form and content of a work of art, as well as attribution of certain system elements of its structure to protected and unprotected elements. It is noted that the existing doctrinal discussion regarding Fichte’s idea about protected form and unprotected content of the work does not lose its relevance. The author highlights that in modern literature this idea has been repeatedly revised as not meeting the purpose of determining the circle of protected elements. Some researchers point to the use of philosophical, philological or ordinary concepts of the form and content of the work rather than legal ones as a weak point of this doctrine. The author justifies the doctrine of protected form and unprotected content, presents criticism of attempts to revise it, proves that the weak point of this theory involves invalidity of the critics’ arguments that the use of philosophical categories and concepts by the proponents of the theory of unprotected content and protected form, as well as philological and art terms and categories. It is concluded that the doctrinal system of protected and unprotected elements of the work requires clarification in relation to their individual types. The author suggests the idea of distinguishing non-trivial plots as elements of the internal form of the work which together with the characters and the title form a single system of artistic images allowing us to separate creative works from reproductive results of intellectual activity. The author proposes criteria for legal protection of the name and character of the work depending on the ability to cause in the public association with the work itself.

The paper is devoted to examining some legal aspects of implementation of the right to unionize for individuals employed through the Internet platforms — digital applications that serve as a link between the participant providing the service and its consumer. The emergence of such intermediaries has become a part of digitalization of wage labor characterizing the beginning of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The modern labor market is characterized by instability due to the withdrawal of some sectors of the economy from the traditional Fordist model of labor organization. The instability caused desocialization of workers, their disintegration and had a negative impact on the traditional labour movemen that has always been expressed in the form of trade unions. In this regard, the authors’ objective is to investigate the prospects and legal grounds for creating unions of workers employed through the Internet platforms, as well as the legal specifics of their labor rights protection with due regard to their precarious legal status. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to resolve the issues of expediency, effectiveness of trade union protection of digital labor and the place of trade unions in social and partnership relations with the participation of workers employed through the Internet platforms. The author formulates the conclusion about the effectiveness of trade union protection of labor rights of workers employed through the Internet platforms, provided the socio-partner procedures are employed.

Under Article 56.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, an individual in whose respect the criminal case was separated into a separate proceeding due to the conclusion of a pre-trial cooperation agreement among the participants of the Russian criminal proceedings has appeared. This results in intensification of the discussion of the legal status of not only this individual, but also of a number of other actually existing similar participants. They include, inter alia, a convicted person questioned in the case of his accomplice previously allocated to a separate proceeding due to suspension for one reason or another and subsequently resumed; the person against whom the criminal case has been dismissed, etc. All of them are united by the fact that they are involved in criminal investigations against the accomplices to testify against their wrongful actions. This kind of testimony is of considerable specificity, as it is given by persons with the privilege against self-incrimination and interested in the outcome of the case. This predetermines significant nuances of the procedure of obtaining, evaluating and using such testimonies.

The paper demonstrates the connection between law and economics. The criminal procedure is considered from new positions of economic regulation. The main narrative of the work is the possibility and necessity of perceiving criminal proceedings as a system that exists not only according to the laws of jurisprudence. The importance of the synthesis of criminal procedural law and economics is dictated by the modern level of development of scientific knowledge, technologies and ideas. The traditional division of sciences is gradually giving way to complex, interdisciplinary research. The activity of subjects of criminal proceedings is no exception. The existing reality dictates: the investigation of criminal cases is a criminal procedural services provided by the investigation, prosecutor’s office and court on behalf of the state. Interaction with the consumers of these services in the person of citizens and the organization, the order and mechanism of cooperation of the competent authorities themselves with each other — this understanding makes the use of economic laws justified for the most effective criminal proceedings. The presented study makes it possible to re-evaluate the qualitative volume of criminal proceedings and offers a topical discourse on the role of seemingly completely different sciences in solving the problems of criminal justice. A distinctive feature of the work is the use of modern opinions, sources and materials in the preparation of the theses outlined in it.

Despite a centuries-old debate among scientists from different countries, the question about the purposes of criminal punishment remains relevant. The criminal legislation of the Soviet period was inconsistent in formulating the purposes of punishment and repeatedly changed the list of purposes and their wording, therefore, in the criminal law doctrine there were long and fruitless discussions on this issue. They have not stopped to this day, although the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation unambiguously proclaimed the purposes of punishment to be the restoration of social justice, the correction of the convicted person and the prevention of new crimes. The discrepancy between the purposes of punishment in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the purposes of the execution of punishment in the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation to a certain extent interferes with a uniform interpretation of the purposes of criminal punishment. The paper proves the validity and comprehensive nature of the legislative decision and rejects the importance and possibility of legislative adjustment of the purposes of punishment or supplementing their list with the purposes of punishment, expiation, resocialization of the convict, his re-education, etc.

The paper analyzes various types of threats in the commission of a crime under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, using information and telecommunication networks (ITS), including the Internet. The problematic issues in classification of the acts under consideration, caused by the lack of criminal law protection of property relations in case of encroachments using ITS, are identified. The increased public danger of the threat of using information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, when disseminating information that dishonors the victim or his relatives, or other information that may cause significant harm to the rights or legitimate interests of the victim or his relatives is substantiated. It is concluded that it is necessary to supplement the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with new norms aimed at eliminating the gap in the criminal legal protection of property relations in case of encroachments in a way, the danger of which is due to the rapid development of information technologies.

The Parliament acts as the primary subject of constitutionalization of the criminal law, ensuring the adoption of normative acts, which in their content reliably reflect and fully embody the norms and values of the country’s Constitution. This requires parliamentarians to work hard on a preliminary constitutional review of drafted and adopted criminal laws. At the same time, an analysis of the practice of legislative activity shows that such a check is either not carried out, or is carried out purely formally. In this regard, the issue of introducing into parliamentary practice the institution of compulsory legal examination of laws that affect the rights and freedoms of citizens is being actualized. Legal examination of criminal law bills requires that experts have deep and special legal knowledge in the field of constitutional and criminal law, criminology and criminal policy, international and humanitarian law. However, the legal examination of the draft law cannot be perceived as an unequivocal decision on its constitutionality.

Over a long historical period of development, the institution of the termination of treaties has reached a high degree of maturity. Many of the norms that form it, having arisen in the treaty practice of states in antiquity, not only reflected the needs of their era, but gradually, passing from generation to generation, have transformed. Some of them have become part of the modern system of international law, having been enshrined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969). Since ancient times, treaties have been terminated as a result of armed conflicts between states. The punishments for non-compliance with obligations envisaged by ancient treaties, as well as the religious oath designed to serve as a guarantee of their observance, were an expression of the idea of the inviolability of treaties. At the same time, the possibility of their termination was provided for as a result of violation of the fixed conditions. The main reason for the termination of treaties of the feudal period, as in antiquity, was wars. At the end of the 18th — beginning of the 19th century the agreements began to include provisions regulating their revision and even the ability to declare a complete rejection of them, notifying the counterparties. This practice testifies to the emergence of one of the currently widespread methods of terminating treaties, i.e. denunciation. Consideration of the practice of terminating treaties of the Soviet state is carried out taking into account the impact of the 1917 Revolution on the further progressive development of the law of treaties.

The paper investigates the norms of laws on trade unions of the states of the Eurasian Economic Union, with respect to international labor standards, in the context of the problems of freedom of association in a comparative legal aspect. In this regard, trade union monopolies (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) are challenging the provision of the independence of trade unions in a number of countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. The paper concludes that there is a significant inconsistency, in particular, Art. 11-15 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 211-V "On Trade Unions" and Art. 7-12 of a new Law (draft) of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Trade Unions" to the principles of Art. 2 and 11 of the ILO Convention No. 87. The paper examines the trends associated with the expansion of some trade union rights in terms of their relationship with civil rights and freedoms and international labor standards. On this basis, it is concluded that in international legal acts, trade union rights are considered as a complex legal institution containing norms related to civil and political rights, to economic, social and cultural rights.

The paper examines the legal regulation of scientific research in professional sports as in the case of Formula 1. It is emphasized that the owner of the rights to the results of scientific research can be not only the racing team itself, but also one of the closely related legal entities. Specific examples are provided demonstrating what can be protected by a patent and who can own intellectual property rights. It is noted that, despite a large number of high-tech solutions, Formula 1 teams often deliberately refuse to patent. An analysis of the situation in this sport shows that in the conditions of constant changes and improvements in racing cars, obtaining a patent is unjustified due to the length of this procedure. At the same time, the results of scientific research and scientific information are protected by the trade secret regime. It is stipulated that such a regime is accompanied by the risk of disclosure of confidential information by persons, primarily current and former employees. One of the biggest spy scandals in the history of Formula 1 is cited as an illustration. Particular attention is given to the problem of the transfer of staff members from one Formula 1 team to another, including the delineation of the employee’s own skills and the protected information obtained by him in previous work. In addition, it is emphasized that such transitions are often accompanied by compulsory leave without the right to go to a new job, so that the existing knowledge about the work of the former employer loses its relevance. It is also noted that the trade secret regime does not prevent Formula 1 teams from getting acquainted with the results of scientific research of their competitors due to the rules on the maximum openness of cars during the Grand Prix. Specific examples of borrowing by racing teams of successful engineering solutions of rivals by creating their own analogues are given.

The paper examines the prosecutor’s role in the administrative jurisdictional proceedings in a commercial court. The author provides numerous examples from prosecutorial and judicial practice, reflecting the activities of prosecutors to strengthen the rule of law through participation in commercial litigation. The paper also indicates the requirements imposed by legislation, organizational and administrative documents of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and the prosecutor’s offices of the constituent entities for the work of prosecutors in this direction. Based on statistical data on the number of cases initiated by prosecutors and the corresponding cases considered by the courts, the role of the prosecutor in the consideration of cases of the analyzed category by the courts is determined. According to the results of the study, the author points out the shortcomings of certain provisions of the law, determines the need to improve the theoretical foundations of the participation of the prosecutor in the consideration of cases of administrative offenses in commercial courts, emphasizes that changing the procedure for legal regulation of the participation of the prosecutor in commercial litigation is necessary in connections with changing social relations, and the preservation of the existing order gives rise to stagnation in the development of procedural legislation.