Abstract: This article examines various questions pertaining to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In particular, the author reviews the process of development of the aforementioned act, its structure, main positions, and other aspects. The work also studies the fundamental definitions used by this act (the notion of domestic violence, gender, as well as criminal qualification of the domestic violence). The attention is focused on the comparative-legal and formal-legal methods of research. This act of the Council of Europe is yet to be examines within the Russian juridical science, which substantiates the relevance and novelty of this work. The author is also interested in the experience of implementation of the normative documents of the Council of Europe into the national legal order of Poland, as well as the law enforcement aspect of the material. The scientific novelty consists in examination of the questions of development of this act, its genesis and the influence of the positions of various states upon the establishment of this legal text.