Abstract: The subject of the study is the American legal thought of the period of its establishment and theoretical conceptualization, which was closely related to such characteristic as the realistic approach towards law that stood apart in the sociological and realistic directions. The attempts of interpreting the views of this regional intellectual group of legal experts as the classical version of legal realism are subjected to critical reevaluation. For assessing the specificity and content of the direction of legal thought referred to as “American legal realism”, the author explores the philosophical-methodological grounds of the cognition of law and interpretation of its concepts in the context of the aforementioned trend, separate substantial aspects of the genesis of realistic approach towards legal problematic in the history of American legal thought, as well as specificity of such characteristics of the court function as “judicial legislation” in through the prism of “legal realism”.  The novelty of this research consists in detailed clarification of certain essential aspects of the genesis and evolution of American legal thought. Emphasis is placed on the poorly studied aspects of the criticism of legal realism in American literature. The latter is used rarely or fragmentally in the Russian research dedicated to the application of realistic approach towards law in the United States, including correlations with some European direction of “realistic” jurisprudence. Examination of philosophical-methodological framework of American legal realism allows revealing significant inaccuracies and distortions in classification of this trend as realistic, which in fact is rather of nominalistic nature. Realistic in relation to this trend of American legal thought is applicable only to separate characteristics of the sociological study of justice.

Keywords: the list of realistic, empiriocriticism, practical values, nominalism, judicial legislation, pragmatism, legal realism, judicial functions, sociological jurisprudence, american legal thought

Abstract: Due to proliferation of the experiment on introduction of special self-employment tax regime across the Russian Federation, the number of self-employed individuals is expected to rise. Moreover, the lockdown brought on by the current pandemic led to a sharp increase in self-employment. This circumstance makes the subject of this research more relevant – the questions of legal status of self-employed individuals in connection to their financial-legal and procedural-legal aspects. The article analyzes the doctrinal approaches towards definition of jurisdiction, the use of which allows overcoming current legislative gap. Research is conducted on the normative act and case law of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation that forms the conceptual approach towards self-employment. For the first time, the activity of a self-employed individual is examined in relation to the concepts of economic, entrepreneurial, and professional activities. The problem of undefined procedural status of a self-employed individual is explored in conjunction with its undefined status in the substantive law. A conclusion is made that such activity should be classified as economic. The scientific novelty consists in posing the question of jurisdiction of disputes involving self-employed individuals. The author concludes on undefined nature of self-employed individual in the substantive law, which leads to legal uncertainty of their procedural status. The uncertainty is expressed in the absence of rules of jurisdiction over disputed involving self-employed individuals. The author makes proposal for changes to procedural legislation.

Keywords: arbitration process, civil procedure, entrepreneurial activity, professional activity, economic activity, professional income, procedural status, self-employed, economic disputes, hired labour

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the speeches given by the participants of the All-Russian Scientific Practical Conference including international members “2020 Russian Constitutional Reform: political and legal importance” held remotely on December 4, 2020 by the Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law of Kuban State University jointly with the Interregional Association of Constitutionalists of Russia in Krasnodar Krai. The author describes the key provisions of the reports of the Russian and foreign participants, as well as messages received by the organizational committee of the conference. The general conclusions on the conference results are formulated. In the course of discussions were outlined the primary theoretical problems and practical aspects of constitutional legal development, as well as the trends of further improvement of the legislation. Within the framework of the discussion of 2020 constitutional reform, the participants placed emphasis on the peculiarities of modern Russian constitutionalism, its historical and theoretical aspects; questions of social and civil activism, expansion of the constitutional principles of civil society; renewal and transformation of the entire system of legal regulation; enhancement of the social component in the Constitution; consolidation of the unity of public authority; changes in the judicial system, broadening of competence of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; networking of public legal relations; protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, guarantees of rights and support of particular categories of Russians (minors, compatriots residing outside of Russia, etc.); correlation between the norms of international and national law. A number of participants gave attention to voting on the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Keywords: public authority, constitutional amendments, constitutional reform, constitutionalism, The Constitution of the Russian Federation, human rights, democracy, civil society, social solidarity, public activity

Abstract: This article is dedicated to examination of patenting in one of the crucial spheres of life – medicine. Currently, the majority of countries, including Russia, send multiple patent requests for inventions that are important for restoration and support of human health. In compliance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation until 2024, it is planned that with regards of the number of patent applications for inventions Russia should shift to the fifth place worldwide. The subject of this research is the analysis of patent activity of inventors in medical sphere on the example of spinal neurosurgery. The history of patenting of the developments in medical sector in Russia is explored. The statistical data on patent applications from such countries as China, United States, Japan and South Korea is examined. The main goal of this work is to emphasize the importance of the developments in this sphere. The conclusion is made that Russian inventors can hold leading positions in the international market, but this requires giving due attention to patent legal protection of the inventions, as well as developing a set of measures that in one way or another would contribute to the export of inventions, copyright protection, and stimulation of their activity.

Keywords: patent application, scientific research, spinal neurosurgery, Rospatent, intellectual property, patent activity, patent, medicine, copyright holder, patent protection

Abstract: The goal of this research consists in determination and analysis of the current trends of juvenile crime in Russia. The subject of this article is the basic patterns of juvenile crime identified by keeping track of its dynamics, modification and activity in Russia from 1991 to 2019, and classified by the authors into separate periods – “waves” in accordance with the “bursts” of such type of crime. It is underlined that the timely identification of factors and conditions that lead to the spate of criminal activity among juveniles in a specific time period allows preventing similar situations in future, as well as contributes to the development of an effective toolset for preventing deviant behavior of teenagers. The empirical basis of this research is comprised of the statistical reports on the state of juvenile crime in Russia that are posted annually on the official websites of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. The authors also lean on the fundamental Russian and foreign research dedicated to the problematic questions of preventing juvenile crime. In the course of studying statistical data that reflect qualitative and quantitative indicators of juvenile crime in Russia from 1991 to 2019, the authors determined five so-called “waves” of juvenile crime: I wave 1991-1997, II wave 1998-2002, III wave 2003-2012, IV wave 2012-2014, and V wave 2014-2019. Examination of media source, publicistic and scientific literature allowed revealing the most probable causes of the sharp increase in criminogenic situation in the juvenile environment. The article also reveals certain negative trends, such as the increase in the rate of grave and especially grave crimes committed by minors.

Keywords: statistical data, warning, prevention, reasons and conditions, waves of juvenile delinquency, patterns, tendencies, juvenile delinquency, criminology, crime situation

Abstract: This article examines the concept of “digital environment of trust”. Elucidation of content of this concept is substantiated by the need to understand the task set in the National Project “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” aimed at building the digital environment of trust from the perspective of the science of information law. Achievement of the required effectiveness of the project is virtually impossible in the conditions of ambiguity of the applied conceptual-terminological apparatus. The concepts and related terms “electronic”, “digital”, “information”, as well as their derivatives in the science of information law did not received due theoretical reflection, which resulted in their incoherent application. The goal of this work is to form an appropriate scientific representation of the content and essence of the concept of “digital environment of trust”, as well as the possibility of granting it the status of the category of information law. The author explores several methodological approaches towards elucidation of content of the concept of “digital environment of trust”. Taking into consideration the views developed in legal science regarding the content and meaning of legal categories that comprise the categorical apparatus of scientific knowledge of legal phenomena, the concept of “digital environment of trust”, in a broad sense, implies the combination of information resources in digital form; the interaction with such and (or)  their use ensure for legal subjects information security, consistency and unambiguity of the rules and conditions of such interaction, as well as guarantee due diligence and equality of the participants of information exchange. It is demonstrated that the concept of “digital environment” and its derivatives, which are associated with the initial stage of development of new technical means of information exchange and conditioned by it, reflect just the technical and technological fundamental principles of emergence of the modern information law. Therefore, the concept of “digital environment of trust” cannot be addressed as a “basic” scientific category of information law, i.e. overarching, fundamental concept that determines the future scientific research of information relations.

Keywords: digital, electronic, information relations, information security, trust, information environment, digital environment, information law, digitalization, the digital environment of trust