This paper addresses three issues. The first issue is associated with digital technologies that are changing the world and gradually replacing the usual forms of social practices. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being currently actively used in the legal environment, modifying legal activities in terms of content, but mainly in form. The paper examines digital technologies in the context of legal activity, primarily in lawmaking. The second issue is objectified in the category of “legal risk”. At the same time, an attempt is made to consider a risk in a broader sense. A modern society is becoming more and more “risky” and conflict. One of the reasons is formed by the widespread introduction of modern technologies facilitating tight control over the virtual space, which in fact and potentially violates the rights of subjects of law-both individual and collective entities. In this regard, ICTs optimize the legal space in the most serious way. At the same time, threats and risks are increasing. The paper proposes the author’s concept that is in many respects different from the widespread concept of “legal risk”. The paper substantiates a largely conventional nature of this legal category, in particular, in the light of proposals to make legal risks subject to legal impact and even legal regulation. The third issue is related to the minimization of legal risks. It is proposed to consider legal forecasting as the most effective means of preventing risks in the field of law.

The paper is devoted to the concept, purpose, types of inspections carried out concerning the facts of violation of discipline and legality in the system of public service of the Russian Federation. Ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of the public officer in respect of whom the inspection is carried out, the decision on the possibility or impossibility of imposing a disciplinary sanction depends on the completeness, timeliness, correctness, legality, objectivity of the inspection. The author analyzes the normative acts and the approaches to the definition of an official inspection that exist in the legal literature. On the basis of the analysis, the author defines the concept. The author argues that from the point of view of the content of the stages of law enforcement and the types and content of the stages of the law enforcement jurisdictional process, an official inspection completely fits into the stage of initiating a disciplinary case, acts as one of its possible stages, along with other forms of clarification and investigation of the circumstances of a disciplinary case. The paper concludes that, in the generally accepted sense, the term “official inspection” in the system of the civil service of the Russian Federation most fully characterizes the purpose, content and possible procedure for actions concerning the facts of committing disciplinary violations and other events requiring examination and analysis. The author proposes to use the term “official inspection” in a uniform manner to unify the verification actions carried out in connection with the commission of a disciplinary offence by public officers of the Russian Federation. This approach makes it possible to streamline the organization and conduct of official inspections for various types of public officers.

The paper analyzes the legal mechanism for issuing permits for the acquisition and possession of civilian weapons, defines the role of legal restrictions, including medical contraindications, in the state licensing and permitting policy. Based on the analysis of the reasons and conditions for deviant behavior with weapons, motives of crimes with the use of civilian weapons, it is concluded that the methods used to identify medical contraindications to the acquisition and possession of weapons are ineffective, and the list of contraindications is inadequate. The author provides a criminal law concept for assessing the impact of mental disorder on the assessment of behavioral risks. The author puts forward hypotheses about the need to take into account the propensity to violence, aggression, depression, suicidal manifestations, as well as the lack of formation of the regulatory mechanisms of the psyche when making a conclusion about the absence of medical contraindications to the possession of civilian weapons. The proposed amendments to the legislation on weapons will make it possible to identify and promptly prevent deviant, including suicidal, behavior of the owners of civilian weapons. The paper analyzes the existing methods and the choice of formalized psychodiagnostic techniques. It is proposed to use psychophysiological examinations to make informed conclusions about the absence of medical contraindications for using a weapon.

In summer 2020, the Russian Federation initiated amendments to agreements on double taxation avoidance concluded with foreign States. The President of the Russian Federation outlined the goal of this procedure, namely: to ensure the collection of tax on dividends and other payments in the amount of at least 15%. It is extremely curious that the change in such tax agreements correlates with the legal institution of the re-domiciliation of foreign companies to the Russian jurisdiction (to special administrative regions on the Oktyabrsky and Russian Islands). New provisions of agreements on the avoidance of double taxation in conjunction with the re-domiciliation procedure, as well as the existing mechanism for voluntary declaration of accounts and assets, can potentially bring the fight against offshorization of the domestic economy to a new level.

The aim of the study is to compare the financial and other operating conditions of an international company registered in the order of re-domiciliation in a Russian special administrative region and an organization registered in a “low-tax” (offshore) jurisdiction. To achieve this goal, analytical and comparative legal research methods were used, which made it possible to draw the following conclusions: in the changing circumstances, the Russian special administrative regions are approaching in terms of the conditions for carrying out commercial activities and the volume of financial preferences provided to traditional offshore jurisdictions. However, in order to activate the process of re-domiciliation of foreign companies to the Oktyabrsky and Russky Islands, it is necessary to eliminate the shortcomings of legal regulation by amending the existing regulatory legal acts.

The paper analyzes the possibility of unilateral refusal to fulfill an obligation through the payment of a  monetary sum. The multidimensionality of the development of a legal relationship related to the fulfillment of an obligation is investigated in the context of the opportunity to use various legal remedies at each stage of a legal relationship. The paper shows the transformation of the legal statuses of the creditor and the debtor in the process of exercising rights and fulfilling obligations. It is substantiated that, depending on the stage of development of the legal relationship in mutual obligations, the creditor and the debtor alternately change their capabilities to demand performance and fulfill obligations. Failure to fulfill an obligation at any stage leads to the possibility of making claims for the protection of the right. It is indicated that the agreement in the contract of the obligation of the debtor to pay the creditor a certain amount of money in the event of refusal to perform the obligation does not change the legal nature of the obligation and does not make it monetary. It is proved that the refusal to fulfill the obligation becomes legally possible only after the fulfillment of the obligation to pay the counterparty a sum of money. The author establishes the legal nature of such a replacement in comparison with the novation of debt into a debt obligation. It is proved that a different interpretation of the law violates the balance of interests between the debtor and the creditor.

The paper deals with conceptual issues of legal liability, in particular civil liability, in the field of industrial property. It is noted that the institution of legal responsibility is subject to new theoretical and legal comprehension due to its interdisciplinarity and intersectoral nature. The author argues that the origins of the problem of legal responsibility for violation of rights to intellectual property, including industrial property, come from social and legal responsibility, provided we rely on the positive component of legal responsibility. The author examines the types of civil liability for violation of rights to industrial property objects and determines topical problems of protection of industrial property rights. The paper focuses on the issue of legal responsibility in the field of intellectual property created by artificial intelligence. Intellectual property rights are subject to protection both according to the standard procedure and special rules. In judicial practice, the compensatory nature of civil liability is applied to the infringement of intellectual rights, as evidenced by the proceedings of the court case in the framework of the arbitration process concerning the refusal to compensate for losses in the form of lost profits. The law does not provide for the list of admissible evidence (legal test), on the basis of which the fact of violation of intellectual property rights is established.

The paper discusses the issue of the possibility of including the donor’s right to live for life in the real estate gift agreement. The relevance of this topic is predetermined by the large number of legal disputes that arise after the conclusion of a gift agreement in connection with the eviction of the donor from the living premises. There is no common point of view among theorists about the admissibility of the condition of life-long residence in the gift agreement, since this condition can be regarded as consideration. The situation is complicated by the fact that the right to live for life is not mentioned either in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation or in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, the courts, as a rule, recognize this condition in the contract as valid. It is proposed to include a canceling or suspensive condition in the gift agreement. Under the canceling condition, in case of violation of the donor’s right to live for life, the legal relationship terminates from the moment of violation of the right. The suspensive condition stipulates the following: in case of violation of the right of life-long residence, the donor has the right to cancel the gift. This will allow, firstly, to secure for the donor the right to cancel the gift if his right to live for life is violated. Secondly, this will resolve theoretical disputes, since the canceling and suspensive conditions are supplementary and do not change the causation of the transaction.

The development of cross-border commercial relations results in increasing the number of legal entities with foreign participation. To ensure effective management of such companies, founders increasingly conclude cross-border corporate agreements. If disputes arise on the basis of this agreement, questions concerning their qualification may appear, in particular, regarding the determination of whether a particular corporate agreement is cross-border in nature. The range of applicable sources of law for resolving the dispute will depend on the determination. A unified approach to determining the characteristics that affect the recognition of a corporate agreement as cross-border have been developed neither at the legislative level nor in judicial practice or the doctrine. In this regard, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of each foreign element (subject, object, legal fact) on the recognition of a corporate agreement as a cross-border agreement. The author analyzes the existing judicial practice and doctrine, simulates situations that may arise in connection with the conclusion and execution of a cross-border corporate agreement, on the basis of which the author comes to a reasonable conclusion that the only practically applicable criterion for identifying the cross-border nature of a corporate agreement is its subject, while neither the object of the relationship nor the fact of the conclusion and/or execution of a corporate agreement in a foreign jurisdiction affect the fact that a corporate agreement is recognized as cross-border.

The COVID-19 virus pandemic has become a major challenge to the modern economic paradigm in the world, leading to a sharp decline in supply and demand as a result of quarantines and changing consumer behavior due to the need for social distancing. Its predictable result will be a global economic downturn that will affect many enterprises and organizations in various industries. In these conditions, the need arises for a civilized settlement of the debts of insolvent entities to creditors. The paper examines legislative measures within the framework of the institution of bankruptcy taken in Russia and European countries (Germany, Italy, France) in order to overcome the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic. A comparative legal analysis of the effectiveness of legal incentives adopted in states is carried out. It is concluded that most of the legal measures to counter the crisis in the considered countries have an identical focus and for maximum support of the debtor, diverse measures are required, which will include not only legal means, but also economic, financial and tax incentives.

The paper analyzes the novelties of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regarding the regulation of distant (remote) work given the national and foreign experience in application and regulation of remote work, including the coronavirus pandemic situation. The paper gives particular attention to such topical practical issues of distant work as: types of distant (remote) work; the ratio of home and distant work; regulation of the working time ofdistant workers; the rights and obligations of employees and employers in connection with the use of distant work, including the “right to be offline”; issues of combining distant work with family responsibilities; social insurance of distant workers. Given the recommendations of the International Labor Organization, the legislation and judicial practice of the European Union, the experience of foreign countries, the author scrutinizes the novelties of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and makes some proposals to improve distant work regulation. In particular, the author propose to aim at protecting the rights of distant workers and ensuring a balance of interests of workers and employers when using distant work mode, as well as eliminating gaps in the legal regulation of distant work.

The paper analyzes the content and scope of the concept of an accomplice in a crime. With regard to the content, it is noted that there is no definition of an accomplice in the criminal law. At the same time, it is indicated that it cannot be replaced by the concept of complicity in a crime. It is stated that it is necessary as a tool for the correct reflection of the figures of specific accomplices. Attention is drawn to the fact that in theory, the definition of an accomplice is very rare. Usually, research into relevant complicity issues begins immediately with an analysis of the types of complicity. On the basis of a critical analysis of scientific and regulatory decisions, the author’s definition of an accomplice is given. With regard to the content, it is argued that the types of accomplices in a crime identified by the legislator are self-sufficient and are listed exhaustively and there is no need to add any other persons. Persons specified in literature as real accomplices are recognized as special cases of the persons named in the law or do not belong to complicity at all. The conclusion is that, on the one hand, it is desirable to introduce into the law the concept of an accomplice in a crime, on the other hand, it is inappropriate to include new types of accomplices.

The paper examines the institution of encouraging a crime in a criminal legal aspect. The absence in criminal law of a comprehensive unified understanding of the encouraging a crime, reflecting its key characteristics and features, causes difficulties in law enforcement practice. The author notes that in order to form a unified understanding of this legal phenomenon, a retrospective analysis of the institution of encouraging a crime in Russian criminal law, a study of the foreign legislation of some European countries, the United States of America, as well as the states of the post-Soviet space on the issue of criminalization of encouraging activities is necessary. The paper provides an analysis of the international practice of the European Court of Human Rights on the  issue of understanding encouraging to commit a crime and its permissible limits. A study of the decisions of an international judicial body showed that the concept of encouraging a crime the way a court understands it is based on procedural and substantive criteria that reflect the specifics of encouraging a crime. However, the legal position of the European Court of Human Rights, which equates encouraging a crime with “incitement”, which is the basis for the normative regulation of investigative activities, paved the way for correlating encouraging a crime with the institution of complicity in criminal law. Thus, a historical analysis of the institution of encouraging a crime, a study of foreign regulatory legal acts establishing criminal liability for encouraging a crime, as well as a study of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights will allow a detailed and comprehensive consideration of the investigated legal phenomenon for the development and formation of a single criminal law concept of encouraging crimes. Based on the research results, the author proposes a definition of encouraging a crime.

Updating the legislation on administrative offenses is long overdue, since the current Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which includes both the material part and procedural provisions, does not in many ways correspond to practice. The Russian Ministry of Justice proposed for discussion two draft federal laws: the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. Evaluating this legislative initiative as a whole positively, a number of comments can be made about the provisions of the draft Code of Procedure of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses regulating the use of special knowledge. The paper analyzes the provisions of the Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses from the point of view of the foundations of forensic expertology as a science that studies the patterns of development and functioning of various forms of using special knowledge. In the presented project, the use of incorrect terminology is traced, some provisions “by a carbon copy” are transferred from other codes, but at the same time the problems of their law enforcement in the corresponding processes are not taken into account. In fact, the authors of the draft law apply the regulation of the participation of a specialist and the appointment and production of forensic examination without taking into account developments in the field of forensic expertology, which in itself raises questions and entails the adoption of conflict-of-law provisions.

The paper analyzes the evolution of copyright and the main events that led to a change in the concept of determining the author’s rights and their protection. The main legal acts regulating copyright relations from the stage of their inception (from the moment of the invention of printing in Europe) to the present time are considered. The creation of the Internet became the starting point for rethinking the foundations of copyright law to adapt it to modern needs. Thus, treaties were adopted, the norms of which extended traditional law to the digital environment, securing the rights of authors on the Internet. Developing a licensing approach under the Creative Commons licensing concept and the “some rights reserved” principle has been an important step in the enforcement and protection of cross-border copyright rights on the Internet. This is a new stage in the development of licensing, due to technological progress and the introduction of artificial intelligence into human life.

In the context of globalization, regional integration of states, free trade, on the one hand, and on the other, in the context of modern challenges associated with various kinds of restrictions (sanctions, restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.), with the development of technologies, more and more differences are manifested in the legal systems of different states. Comparative jurisprudence contributes to the processes of unification and harmonization, makes it possible to take into account foreign experience in rule-making activities, to achieve an understanding of the norms of foreign law, helps in establishing their content for subsequent law enforcement activities based on the norms of foreign law, in the case when conflict rules refer to foreign law when regulating private law relationships. The implementation of private law relations today has undergone a number of restrictions, but has been transformed taking into account the introduction of information technologies. The role of comparative jurisprudence in understanding the nature of the sources of law, their significance in the regulation of certain social relations is investigated. Some features of establishing the content of the norms of foreign law are analyzed. The paper focuses on the independent establishment of the content of the norms of foreign law by the court, as well as on the peculiarities of attracting experts for these purposes. Modern conditions for the development of information technologies, as well as various kinds of restrictions, serve as a kind of trigger for the development of the comparative legal method in law enforcement.

The paper is devoted to the study of foreign experience of legal regulation of systems of planning and development of territories. The experience of the USA and Germany was chosen for the study. The paper examines the structure of land use by various authorities and the main legislative acts in the field of land use planning. Attention is given to the main problems of land use regulation in foreign countries, as well as promising directions for the development of legislation in the field of planning and land use. The greatest attention is given to land use planning in foreign countries at the regional and local levels. As a result of the study, differences were identified that are fundamental in the legal regulation of land use and the determination of the legal regime of lands and land plots. The directions in which domestic legislation should be developed for more effective regulation of land use were noted, including zoning of territories and improving public participation in the adoption of territorial planning documents and changes in the types of zones of land plots.

The paper attempts to comprehend the possibilities of using big data technology in the activities of universities. Based on the analysis of Russian and foreign sources, the understanding and significance of big data are presented. A reasoned opinion is expressed that the period of the pandemic has become a catalyst for universities to make managerial decisions in the educational sphere based on big data. Based on the results of sociological research, it has been shown that the transition from the “analog” to the digital level of understanding educational reality in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the development of local acts, was carried out under the influence of big data. The results of the author’s questionnaire are given, indicating that the respondents are aware of the technology of big data, their positive attitude to the use of its potential for building the educational process at the university. The conclusion is made about the transition in large educational organizations from small to big data in the aspect of making management decisions based on the analysis of such data, which became possible due to the formation by the efforts of scientific and pedagogical workers and specialists of technical departments of the electronic information and educational environment of the university. The circumstances that negatively affect the full-fledged use of big data technology in the field of education are revealed. Prospects for the further development of big data at universities are outlined.