Abstract: The paper studies the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain, the independent collegiate constitutional body responsible for the judicial system management for the purpose of the judges’ independence provision. The author considers the key regulatory instruments, formalizing the fundamentals of the Spanish judicial system, characterizes the judiciary of Spain, studies the peculiarities of the legal status of various categories of judges (commissioners and professional judges), magistrates (judges of the highest judicial bodies), and presidents of courts. The author applies different methods of scientific cognition including analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, specification and generalization. The author describes the structure of the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain and the procedure of its formation including the appointment of the members of the Council (the judiciary and other persons), their accession to office, tenure, substitution and termination of powers. Special attention is given to the Election Commission, a body responsible for the formation of the Council and managing any issues related to the nomination of candidates to the General Council from among the judges. 

Keywords: judiciary formation, statutory instruments, magistrates , judges, independence of judges, foreign experience, bodies of the judiciary, judicial authority, judicial system, the Kingdom of Spain

Abstract: The research subject is the set of theoretical ideas about the limits of the territorial principle of criminal law application. The author analyzes the main premises of this principle in relation to the past and the present time. One of the key tasks of the study is the attempt to analyze the prospects of its application for defining the limits of the national jurisdiction of the Russian Federation over the extraterritorial infrastructure of the Internet and cybercrimes. The author applies the range of general scientific methods to carry out the comparative-historical study of the legal essence of the key premises of the principle in the Russian and foreign legislation. The author formulates the set of conclusions about the prospects of application of the real territorial principle of criminal law in the Internet. The scientific novelty consists in the proposals about the theoretical possibility to specify the objects of criminal legal protection for the information society and in the conclusions about the necessity to reinterpret sanctions imposed for cybercrimes. The study demonstrates that the application of the considered principle is limited within the information space. It can be more effective if realized together with the personal principle of criminal law.  

Keywords: Russian Federation, International Crimes, cybercrime, Internet, jurisdiction, criminal law, criminal code, law, computer crime, criminal responsibility

Abstract: The paper considers certain peculiarities of acquisition and application of information about connections between subscribers and subscribers’ units in the investigation of breach of traffic regulations and vehicles exploitation rules. The authors study the judicial practice and reveal the investigative and evidential potential of acquisition of information about connections between subscribers and (or) subscribers’ units in investigation of crimes described in articles 264 and 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The authors apply the set of general scientific and special research methods including the normative-logical method, system method, synthesis, analysis, deduction, induction and other research methods. The scientific novelty consists in the revelation of the capacities of use of information about connections between subscribers and (or) subscribers’ units in investigation of crimes described in articles 264 and (or) 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, based on the particular examples of law enforcement practice. 

Keywords: vehicle, traffic accident, cellphone, connections between subscribers, investigator, crime, information, base station, investigation hampering, investigative action

Abstract: The research object is punishment assignment for joint crimes formalized in the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Thus the process of criminal legislation development, started in 1845 with the Decree on criminal and penal punishments, has been completed. The research subject is the rules of imposition of punishment for joint crimes determined by the specificity of the phenomenon and the necessity to take into account the criminal law principles and the common rules of assignment of punishment. The author applies the comparative-legal method revealing the general and the special features of regulation of punishment assignment for joint crimes in the criminal legislation of Russia and foreign countries. The author considers the common rules of punishment assignment for joint crimes in the comparative-legal context; characterizes the specificity of these rules and compares them with the similar rules of criminal legislation of some foreign countries. The author concludes about a high level of legal regulation of punishment assignment for joint crimes in the Russian criminal legislation; particularly, the author notes that the current version of the article 67 of the criminal Code provides for a more individualized punishment for accomplices. 

Keywords: crime, group of persons, criminal law, measure, responsibility, punishment, complicity, assignment, condemnation, prevention

Abstract: The research subject includes the problems of conclusion and delivery of agreements on civil responsibility elimination or limitation. The author considers the legal nature and the conditions of conclusion of such agreements. Special attention is paid to the limits of terms of agreement on elimination or limitation of responsibility in accordance with the freedom of contracting principle. In order to reveal the essence of agreements on elimination or limitation of responsibility for intentional breach of obligations and to detect the factors conditioning the nullity of an agreement, the author analyzes the judicial practice of dealing with disputes deriving from agreements. The author applies general scientific and special research methods: formal logical, comparative-legal and technical legal methods. The author concludes that civil legislation doesn’t define the form of guilt, doesn’t formalize the signs of criminal intent or negligence. These circumstances complicate application of clause 4 article 401 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The author formulates the conditions taken into account by courts considering nullity of agreements on elimination or limitation of responsibility. The author formulates the proposals for the purpose of judicial practice improvement. 

Keywords: exclusion of liability, agreement, civil responsibility, guilt, freedom of contract, negligence, breach of obligation, criminal intent, indemnification, limitation of responsibility

Abstract: The research subject is the key peculiarities of corporate agreement with third parties stipulated by clause 9, article 67.2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (part one). Special attention is given to the differences between a corporate agreement between the members of a company and a corporate agreement between the members of a company and third parties. The author considers the similarities and differences between a corporate agreement and covenants. The author applies general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis) and special methods (formal legal and logical). The author reveals the main differences between a corporate agreement between the members of the company and an agreement between the members of a company and third parties. Firstly, a corporate agreement is a multilateral agreement, and a corporate agreement with third parties is a bilateral agreement between the members of a company as a unit and a third party. Secondly, a corporate agreement initiates an organizational relation, and a corporate agreement with a third party initiates a binding relation. Thirdly, the conclusion of a corporate agreement is conditioned by the common interests of the parties, and the conclusion of a corporate agreement with a third party is conditioned by the interest of the third party, i.e. the decrease of the risk of obligation breach by the members of a company which are a party to the agreement. 

Keywords: corporate law, civil law, topic, third parties, lender, covenant, shareholders' agreement, parties, quasi-corporate agreement, corporate agreement

Abstract: The research subject is information obligations of parties to a tenancy agreement in Russian and German law. They consist in the information exchange between the parties to the agreement in various issues of tenancy relations including gaining the counterparty approval of certain declarations of will of another party. Special attention is given to the requirements to the form and the terms of submitting legally material messages and parties’ responsibilities for information obligations breach. To study legal regulation of information obligations of parties to a tenancy agreement and law enforcement practice in this field in Russia and Germany, the author applies the comparative-legal method. The author attempts to consider a tenancy agreement parties’ obligations to bring the legally material information to another party’s notice, to compare these obligations in German law, and to define the extent of their legal regulation. The author concludes that, compared with the rules in Germany, in Russia the requirements in this field are not detailed enough, and therefore are double-edged. The author offers the measures to eliminate these legal gaps. 

Keywords: notice of a contracting party, approval of a contracting party, tenant, lender, information obligations, legally material information, tenancy agreement, termination of tenancy, tenancy in Germany, priority right of a tenant