Abstract: The object of studies in this article concerns the issue of similarities and differences in the modern law-making process in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, and the French Republic with the law-making process in the Russian Federation. The author reveals the most interesting legal facts, as provided for in the Constitutions of Germany, Spain and France, Regulations of the National Assembly and Senate of France, of the Congress of Deputies and Senate of Spain, of the Bundestag and Bundesrat of Germany, which could have had its use in the Russian legislative process in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. The methodology, which has allowed the author to complete the above-mentioned analysis of the law-making process and some of it specific provisions of the above-mentioned states includes both general and specific methods of scientific cognition. In the process of studies the author applied analytical legal method, comparative legal method and also the methods of comparison and analysis. The results of the complex study of theoretical and procedural aspects of the modern law-making process in Germany, France and Spain include singling out of the specific features of use of legislative initiatives in the parliaments of the above-mentioned states, which may be used in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. The legislative process of the Republic of France may be useful in Russia in part of application of constitutional control over the laws of high social value in order to improve their quality up to the signing by the head of the state. The legislative process of the Federal Republic of Germany may be useful in part of limitation period for the “draft law” status within the current session. The experience of the Kingdom of Spain may be useful in part of delegation to the people of the right to take part in the formation of a rule-of-law state by provision of a limited legislative initiative on a condition that a necessary amount of signatures was collected in its support.

Keywords: Legislative initiative, status, Federal Assembly, the Russian Federation, the Council of the Federation, the State Duma, draft law, law, law-making process, foreign states.

Abstract: Criminal law is regarded as one of the strongest means against negative social manifestations. In Russia it is easily amended. At the same time, the criminal statistical data in the last 40 years make one doubt its capability of positive influence upon the situation in the sphere of negligent crimes. The main causes for the protective and regulatory malfunction of the criminal law are shortcomings of the legal construction, which serves as the basis for the most articles in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on negligent crimes. The use of structural-functional approach and some linguistic methods allow to uncover the main defects of the legal construction of negligent crimes, as well as negative matters in judicial and investigative practice due to its application. The current provisions of criminal law allow to substantiate for the legal responsibility in various situations of negligent causation of harm, however, it fails to give due regard to the important features of social and individual conscience of the addressees. The semantic focus of the criminal legal prohibition was moved away from the voluntary activity units and social psychological settings, which need to be pressed out of the social practice. It leads to application of criminal law through the rules of the strict liability and lowering of its general preventive potential, as well as to the number of other undesirable consequences. In the final part of the article the author formulates six propositions for the improvement of legal construction, allowing to make criminal law more efficient for the purpose of protection of social relation from negligent violations.

Keywords: Criminal responsibility, differentiation of responsibility, legal constructions, negligence, protective functions, criminal law, legal technique, negligent crime, causal link, strict liability.

Abstract: The article provides a detailed analysis of elements of the subject of drug crime, for whom the provisions on deferral of serving a sentence for the persons suffering from drug addiction applied under Art. 82.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As a result of a comparative study of the said norm of the criminal law, the author found out significant aberrations from the requirements of the Strategy of State Anti-Narcotic Policy of the Russian Federation till 2020 in part of proposed criminal law measures on lowering the amount of illegal distribution and non-medical intake of drugs. The author discusses the nature of medical legal discrepancy in the terms “drug addiction (narcotic addiction)”, and “addition to toxic substances” in the Russian law in the ICD-10 and the legislation of the foreign states. It is shown how the normative practice of the Government of the Russian Federation on forming the list of drugs defines instability of the diagnosing “narcotic drug addiction”, making possible to transfer it into “addiction to toxic substances” and limiting the scope of application of Art. 82.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with the type of the psychoactive substance. Taking an example of some topical issues of implementation of the new criminal law institution of deferral of serving the sentences for the persons suffering from narcotic drug addiction, including its criminal procedural aspect, the author offers rational ways of its improvement.

Keywords: Jurisprudence, narcotic drug substances, psychoactive substances, potent and poisonous substances, psychoactive substances, narcotic drug and toxic substance addictions, narcotic-infected, obligatory medical treatment, narcotic crimes, narcotic-articles, anti-narcotic.

Abstract: The article concerns topical issues of legal regulation of security measures in criminal legislation of the states within the system of Continental law. According to part 2 of the Art. 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 1996 reaction of a state on a commission of a crime is assigning a punishment or other criminal legal measures to such a person. The criminal aw measures are provided both in the Russian legislation and in the legislations of most of the states in the world. Critical analysis of the legislation of the states of the Roman-German legal system allows us to draw a number of conclusions and make a number of notes. Just like in the Russian legislation, in these states security measures are alternative to the punishment. At the same time, it is a common defect of the Russian law and the law of the European states that there is no unified legislative definition of the criminal law measures. Finding a solution to this problem would allow to resolve a number of theoretical and practical problems. It would allow for unification of the said criminal law measures, for the provision of general bases for their application and for the distinction between such measures and related forms of implementation of criminal responsibility (suspended sentence, release on parole, deferral of sentence, etc.). The comparative legal method of studies was used. Generally, the comparative analysis of the criminal law measures in Russian and European law allows one to state that in the Russian Federation this institution is not sufficiently developed and it acts within the limited scope of application, including only confiscation of property and the compulsory measures of medical character.

Keywords: Security measures, criminal codes of foreign states, Roman-German legal system, criminal law measures, the Criminal Code of Germany, the Criminal Code of Austria, the Criminal Code of Spain, the Criminal Code of Poland, the Criminal Code of Switzerland, security.

Abstract: The article concerns the problems of implementation of the international standards in the sphere of international criminal justice, which may form the basis for the concept of formation of the international criminal penal (penitentiary) law. The object of studies includes the system of relations, providing for the formation of a new branch of international law - international criminal penal (penitentiary) law. The immediate object of studies is the combination of international norms, regulating the treatment of convicts, conditions and guarantees of their rights, as well as implementation of the punishments based upon the decisions of the International Criminal Court. The methodological basis for the study is formed with the dialectic method of cognition with the use of principles of development, integrity and systemic character. The work involved general scientific and special legal methods: comparative, systemic-structural, theoretical-methodological, etc. It should also be stated that there were prior studies in Russian and foreign international law in this sphere, however, there were no sufficient in-depth studies. At the same time the issue of the concept of formation of the international criminal penal (penitentiary) law is important in both theoretical and practical dimensions from the moment when the International Criminal Court was founded. Specific features of implementation of international standards in the sphere of international criminal justice and implementation of criminal punishments, as it is stated in the Statute of the International Criminal Court presupposes their top priority both in the scientific field and in the sphere of practice of modern international law in order to guarantee formation and development of the new branch of law - international criminal penal (penitentiary) law.

Keywords: Penitentiary law, criminal justice, international standards, concept, rights of convicts, penitentiary sentence, penitentiary rules, justice, minimal standards, international cooperation.

Abstract: The forcible expropriation of foreign property and foreign investments may involve the forms of nationalization, expropriation, requisition, confiscation, etc. The author evaluates them based upon the examples from the legislations of various states as well as arbitration judicial practice. He states that both international and national law lack clear definitions of legal elements of these terms However, these terms are united by the common legal contents, which provides that a person involved in investment activities in a foreign states loses his capitals and dividends in a forceful way. In the latest decades the indirect forms of nationalization and expropriation became the most dangerous forms of expropriation of property from foreign investors, since it stands for hidden, step-by-step intrusion into the proprietary title, lowering the value of an investment. Currently there is a tendency for the growth of investment disputes due to the forcible expropriation of foreign investments in the international institutional arbitration courts and the ad hoc arbitrations, when the respondents are often the Latin American states and the CIS states.

Keywords: State sovereignty, nationalization, expropriation, requisition, foreign investments, investment activity, property, political risks, investment disputes, compensation.

Abstract: The activities of private military and security companies is now one of the most dynamically growing segments of the business sphere on security guarantees. However, the largest quantity of legal issues appears, when private military and security enterprises are involved in the sphere, which is not associated with the private sector, such as peacekeeping and protection of global security. Involvement of such companies to implementation of the peacekeeping function of the UNO causes a large number of legal questions, which need to be addressed and analyzed. In the process of writing the article the author used the documents of the United Nations Organizations, compared the positions of the UN officials on the issue of involvement of private structures to implementation of the foremost important peacekeeping function of the organization. The author also analyzed various and at times contradictory opinions of the representatives of the international legal doctrine. It is obvious that since in late years there was a growing number of situation of involvement of private military and security companies in the peacemaking activities of the UN, the analysis of the legal aspects of such participation becomes more and more topical. Additionally, there is an obvious disproportion in the academic world, since the Western legal scholars actively publish their opinions on this issue, while there is almost no publications on this issue among the Russian scholars.

Keywords: International responsibility, international law, peacekeeping operations, use of force, peacekeeping, the United Nations Organization, private military companies, legal aspects, mercenaries, conflicts.

Abstract: The object of studies in this article involves the means of protection of basic rights and freedoms of individual and citizen in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, their distinctive and characteristic features, as well as the problems regarding use of these means. The author singles out and evaluates three main means of protection of rights and freedoms within the procedures of competitive and abstract constitutional control: filing a constitutional claim, sending a constitutional request by a court, sending a constitutional request by a public body or a public official. In the process of studies the author used general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as special legal methods: comparative legal method, method of interpretation of law. Scientific novelty is due to the specification and systematization of the mechanism of protection of rights and freedoms of individual and citizen within the framework of the constitutional judicial proceedings, conclusions of the author regarding the need to change the existing criteria for admissibility of a constitutional complaint, as well as the conclusions regarding mediated character of protection of basic rights and freedoms when examining of constitutional requests of courts and public bodies and officials. The results of studies may be used in the further studies in the sphere of problems of protection of basic rights and freedoms of individual and citizen.

Keywords: the Constitutional Court, the Constitution, constitutional control, judicial power, judicial power, rights and freedoms, judicial protection, complaint, request, judicial proceedings, law-protection activity.

Abstract: This article studies the issues of formation of various directions of legal policy in the sphere of minimization and overcoming marginalization processes in the Russian society, which have a negative influence upon the rule of law and legal order. The author notes that the legal policy in the sphere of legal regulation of marginalization processes is a special complex type of legal policy of the state and other social subjects, which is aimed at the minimization, prevention, revealing and abolishment of negative marginal manifestations in the Russian society. The subjects of such a legal policy are state and municipal bodies of the Russian Federation, non-governmental organizations and other non-commercial organizations, as well as persons. The objects in this sphere of legal policy are marginal subjects, their rights, freedoms and obligations, as well as social relations, in which they participate, social values (social security, etc.), which are violated due to the negative influence of the marginal sphere.

Keywords: Marginality, lack of social protection, social disadvantage, social adaptation legal policy, preventive legal policy, marginal environment, social values, person, subjects of legal policy, lawfulness.

Abstract: The object of studies concerns the energy saving activities as type of entrepreneurial activity. The immediate object of studies defined the need to achieve the goal of the study: to reveal the contents of the term “energy saving activities”, to resolve the issue of the possibility to single out the energy saving activity as a separate type of economic activity, establish elements of energy saving activity. In the course of studies the author analyzed the provisions of the Federal Law of November 23, 2009 N. 261-FZ “On energy saving and improvement of energy efficiency and on the amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation”. The article employs general scientific and special legal methods of studies, namely, systemic, logical, dialectic, historical, structural-functional, formal legal, comparative legal, legal modeling, observation, description, documents analysis and other scientific cognition methods. Based upon the analysis of normative acts, doctrinal sources and materials the author provides a conclusion on the formation of a separate direction of economic activity – energy saving activity. The author then offers the definition of the energy saving activity as a combination of the activities of an economic subject, which are aimed at achievement and preservation of the energy saving regime based upon efficient and rational use of resources. The article provides key elements characterizing the energy saving activities and reflecting its specificities.

Keywords: Energy saving, energy efficiency, energy saving activity, energy service contract, energy saving contract, energy strategy, energy industry, entrepreneurial activity, energy service market, energy resources.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the issue of defining the event for which contractual liability is ensured. In respect to the insurance of contractual liability such an event is liability of an ensured party, being a debtor in a civil law contract due to failure to perform or undue performance under such a contract. The issue of the amount of such responsibility is topical. Also, there is an unsolved problem regarding possibility of insurance of protective, self-protective and operative influence measures in addition to the civil law responsibility. When writing this article the author used general scientific methods, such as systemic, logical, dialectic ones, as well as legal scientific methods, such as formal logical, comparative legal and legal modeling method. As a result of the analysis of the above-mentioned issues the author comes to a conclusion that the event for which insurance of contractual liability is done is liability of an ensured person towards his counteragent on civil law contact for the failure to perform or undue performance of its conditions in full amount according to the contract and the law, compensation of the losses, fines, use-of-money interest rate, as well as other costs of the counteragent of an ensured person, which have appeared due to the violation of the contract by an ensured person.

Keywords: Insurance of contractual responsibility, event, insurance risk, violation of contact, civil law responsibility, amount of responsibility, measures of responsibility, measures of protection, self-protection measures, operative influence measures.

Abstract: The article concerns the main idea of the ethics of the discourse by J. Habermas, who is one of the best known modern philosophers. Ethics of discourse is regarded as an attempt of implementation of justice in the life of social communities and individual. Understanding of justice within the ethics of discourse is studied in the light of enriching this sphere. The author regards the ethics of discourse as a reflection of the reality of the modern society and attempts to uncover the ideas, which may be used in implementation of justice in the modern social conditions. The author studies ethics of the discourse within the context of justice from the standpoint of unity of all spheres of social life, causal and functional links, interrelation and interdependency of needs, interests and values. The discourse ethics is regarded as an attempt of synthesis of liberalism and communitarianism. The discourse ethics of J. Habermas has its positive features, such as measures offered by him for the achievement of public consent, attention to cultural differences, interests of social communities and individual persons, achievement of the said goals via state and law. At the same time the author fails to find in the studies of J. Habermas the correlation between the duty and benefit, needs, interests and values, interrelations of the main spheres of social life, economic and ideological relations.

Keywords: Justice, freedom, equality, solidarity, multiculturalism, deontology, discourse, needs, interests, values.

Abstract: The object of studies in this article is critical evaluation of the concept of law by the well known legal theoretician Ronald Dworkin. In the first part of the article the author studies his early works with special attention to the polemics between Dworkin and Hart. It is also explained how the defects of the early theory of Dworkin led to the radical changes in his methodology and the number of his theses. In the second part of the article the author focuses on legal views of Dworkin, as formulated after 1981. The author provides detailed description of his interpretation theory and his theory of the integrity of law. The third part of the article contains criticism of his views from the pluralism standpoint. The method of the author mirrors the method of Dworkin, and it is entitled “constructive interpretation”. Its use allows to imagine an object of studies in the best light, complicating its criticism. Ronald Dworkin was and still is one of the central pillars of the Western jurisprudence. Unfortunately, most of his works are not translated into Russia, but still his ideas need to be critically evaluated from the standpoint of their perspective application, as well as lack of inner contradictions by the Russian legal community. And the views of Ronald Dworkin contain many attractive idea, while the central thesis on integrity may be potentially dangerous for the very freedoms, which the law is meant to safeguard.

Keywords: Law, Dworkin, law as an integrity, norms and principles, Hart, Raz, hermeneutics, interpretation theory, positivism, normative jurisprudence.

Abstract: The article considers the philosophical-legal issues when forming and developing the idea about the cosmic state made by thinkers during different periods of time, starting from the Ancient World till Russian cosmism in the 20th century. It includes interpretations of ideas about the cosmic state in ancient mythology, in works of such thinkers as Antisfen, Diogenes of Sinope, Krates, Zeno, Platon, Iambulos, Seneca, Cicero, Dante, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Paine, N.F. Fyodorov, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, A.F. Agienko, P.I. Ivanitsky, V.I. Vernadsky, N.K. Roerich, etc. Logical, historical, and comparative methods were used. The evaluation of the offered information contained in works of different thinkers was given from the position of a modern vision of the questions being studied, taking into consideration the level and prospects of the technical development of humanity, and the challenges of the XXIst century. It is observed that more intensive understanding of the potential of the state as a historical phenomenon took place while understanding cosmic aspects of the state in the history of political thought. Thinkers of different countries started to comprehend more deeply the unity of the world, the cosmic nature of a person and humanity, the foresight and comprehension of the coming cosmic human era and its appropriate political organization. The ideas about the cosmic state played a particular role in the liberation of the individual, and contributed to the development of the conception and forms of economic, political and legal integration, thereby extending the historical horizons of political consciousness.

Keywords: Space, state, civilization, mythology, Cynics, Plato, Tsiolkovsky, Roerich, cosmism, biocosmism.

Abstract: The phenomenon of convergence of private and public law systems is quite graphically manifested in the construction of unfair competition, and its theoretical cognition is possible only once its place within the system of legal facts of civil law is established. It follows from the scientifically provided elements of relevant acts and definitions of unfair competition that understanding of unfair competition as a legal fact is non-uniform, and it provides for a number of statements: 1) unfair competition is abuse of a subjective right; 2) unfair competition is an offence; 3) unfair competition is a manifestation of legal liability. Unfair competition acts as legal facts of civil law serve as a type of non-permitted acts, namely, offences, and the construction of abuse of right by an economic subject holds a special place within this structure. Establishing the place of acts of unfair competition within the system of legal facts of civil law is of significant practical importance, since it allows to establish whether the general regulatory norms should apply to this construction, and to define the contents of such norms. The materials provided in this article allow to establish the place of acts of unfair competition within the system of legal cats of civil law as a type of non-permitted activities, namely, offences, especially for the abuse of right by an economic subject.

Keywords: Unfair competition, legal acts, legal regulation, consumers, legal liability, economic subjects, offence, abuse of right, subjective right, legal fact.