Review: The research subject is the legal nature of a municipality as a ground for classifying local governance models. The author emphasizes the difference between the approaches to local governance based on the differences between the interpretations of a municipality as a “territorial pubic association” within the continental approach and a “municipal corporation” within the Anglo-Saxon approach. The author analyzes the influence of the respective concepts on the functioning of local governance as a whole, confirmation of the subjects’ right to local governance and its implementation. The study is based on general scientific methods which include normative analysis and the method of comparative jurisprudence. The scientific novelty of the study consists in specifying the range of local governance models on the basis of the criterion of legal nature and the status of municipalities. The author specifies the corporate, communal and post-communal models. The author characterizes each of the models on the basis of the determined criterion. 

Keywords: municipal corporation, territorial association, post-communal model, communal model, corporate model, models of local governance, legal nature of municipality, continental approach, anglo-saxon approach, criteria of classification

Review: The research subject is normative regulations about administrative responsibility of bankruptcy commissioners: blanket rules contained in the parts 3 and 3.1 of the article 14.13 of the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation in their system interrelation with other provisions of the Code and regulative provisions of bankruptcy legislation. The author studies and generalizes legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the vast judicial practice on the most important issues of administrative responsibility of bankruptcy commissioners. The author uses the set of methods of cognition used in the modern science, including the dialectical and materialistic method and the related general and specific scientific methods and general logical techniques (abstraction, analysis, synthesis, analogy, generalization, etc.). As a general scientific method, the author uses system analysis, as specific scientific methods – special-juridical and historical-juridical methods. The author substantiates the range of new changes in legislation on administrative responsibility of bankruptcy commissioners: 1) refusal of blanket composition of delictual rules and formalization of the system of compositions, which would properly differentiate offences and punishments for them; 2) formalization of alternative sanctions on all differentiated compositions of crimes or the possibility to impose punishments beyond the sanctions described in the provisions of the Special part of the Administrative Offences Code; 3) preservation of disqualification for gross and repeated infringements and infringements causing damage; 4) radical reduction of reasons for initiation of administrative procedures; 5) change of admissibility of cases. 

Keywords: bankruptcy, retraining, blanket rule, insignificance, proportionality, disqualification, bankruptcy commissioner, administrative offense, alternative sanctions, fine

Review: The subject of the research is the current legal standards that regulate innovative activity in the Russian Federation. The object of the research is the social relations that encourage the development of Russia's national innovation system. One of the essential conditions for the establishment and development of innovative economy is the creation of the ecomic and legal regulation system for innovative activity in the Russian Federation. In her research Lapina carries out an analysis of the legislation on innovative activity, defines problems of legal regulation of the national innovation system, and makes recommendations on how to improve the current legislation in order to encourage better development of Russia's innovative economy. The author pays special attention the the role of public administration, and importance of federal executive authorities' competences that affect the legal regulation of innovative activity. The methodological basis of the research includes recent findings and achievements of the knowledge theory. In the process of her research Lapina has used general philosophical methods, systems analysis, expert analysis, event analysis, and traditional legal research methods (formal logic and comparative law) as well as structural analysis. Lapina ends her research with the conclusion that there is no legal act that would fully regulate innovative activity of economic entities. Authorities that regulate innovative activity and their competences are set forth by numerous legal acts of different nature. Based on her analysis of legal acts and other official documents, the author of the article emphasizes the need to establish a basic federal law on innovative activity. 

Keywords: subjects of innovative activity, national innovation system, management, powers, state power, innovative activity, innovative economy, innovative legislation, innovations, legal regulation

Review: The authors of this article analyze the problems and perspectives of implementing provisions of the Russian law prohibiting propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations relations to the underaged taking into account decisions made by The European Court of Human Rights. The authors touch upon approaches and arguments of international and national judicial authorities and analyze judicial practice o fRussian courts on implementing the provisions of The European Court on Human Rights on restriction of rights and discrimination. The authors deine drawbacks of the Russian law prohibiting propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to the underaged. The methodological basis of the research includes system-structure, formal-logical and hermeneutical methods. Special law methods used by the authors included cmparative law and formal law methods. Based on the authors, Russian Federation courts tend to ignore arguments of The European Court on Human Rights and demonstrate a conservative approach appealing to traditional values and religious morals while ignoring scientifically proved facts. The European Court on Human Rights' approach is based on facts about society's development and modernization of social relations as well as scientifically proved data. The term 'non-traditional sexual relations' used by the Russian legislation is also very contradictory and not defined by the law in full which makes it difficult to implement the provisions of the law and violates the principle of legal certainty. The decision would be to exclude the provisions prohibiting propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to the underaged from the shere of law. 

Keywords: sexual orientation, freedom of expression, implementation, discrimination, human rights, homosexuality, propaganda, margin of appreciation, public order, restriction of rights

Review: The subject of the article is the prescriptives of The Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law on Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation, and others that stipulate the procedure for rendering, recording and litigating control measures in the financial sphere. Applicable prescriptives set forth fundamentally different approaches to litigating non-regulatory acts and litigating judicial processes that regulate financial control in the financial budget and tax spheres. Moreover, the author analyzes The Resolutions of the Constitional Court on issues of interpreting auditing acts as law enforcement acts. Legal acts that regulate financial control in the financial budget sphere do not, in fact, create the institution of appealing from non-regulatory acts. However, in actual practice arbitration courts refuse to accept complaints about tax auditing acts taking the latter as non-attributable to non-legal acts because they do not create legal consequences. The methodological basis of the research included modern achievements and findings of the theory of knowledge. In the course of the research the authors also used theoretical, general philosophical methods, legal methods (formal logical, interpretative methods), method of comparison. The novelty of the research is casued by the fact that the authors provide a comparative law analysis of legal prescriptives that regulate implementation of control measures in the process of financial control performed by authorized agencies in budgetary, banking and tax spheres. The authors also describe significant distinctions in the rights and responsibilities of officials who perform such control and make recommendations to recognize tax auditing acts, financial acts and audits, and banking audit that contain information about violations, as law enforcment acts. They also offer to unify procedural standards which would create the institution of appealing from financial control results. 

Keywords: tax audit, check, taxation, financial-budgetary sphere, financial audit, financial control, field inspection, examination, conclusion, objections

Review: The subject of the research is the legislation and judicial experience in organisation and performance of specialized funeral services in municipalities. The author examines the problems of determining the legal status of specialized funeral services created in municipalities in order to provide the population with a guaranteed list of burial services within the framework of addressing issues of local importance. The main approaches to the definition of the organizational and legal form of a specialized service for funeral matters when it is created are identified and studied. The methodological basis of the research included dialectical research method that is based on the principles of versatility, objectivity and co-relation of studied phenomena, general research methods (anaysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, analogy, etc.) and special research methods (analytical systems approach, complex analysis, legalistic analysis, etc.). On the basis of the conducted research, the author proposed to bring the provisions of the Federal Law "On Burial and Funeral Affairs" in line with the Federal Law "On General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government", giving local governments the opportunity to exercise their powers in the funeral business in various ways that do not contradict civil law.

Keywords: joint-stock company, interment, guarantees, organizational form, municipality, burial, specialized service, unitary enterprise, municipal institution, municipal unit