Review: The subject of this research is the role of good faith in relational contracts and the key aspects of the theory of relation contracts adopted in common law countries. The research relies on the case law of England, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. On the example of case law, the author attempts to elucidate the content of requirements of good faith in relational contracts, as well as bring forth a hypothesis of recognition of requirements of good faith conduct as an implied obligation for relational contracts. Moreover, this work demonstrates court rulings of English courts rejecting the connection with requirement of good faith in relational contracts and expresses the opinion that the process of search for place and role of requirements of good faith conduct in relational contracts is still ongoing. The main conclusion of the conducted research is the determination of the role and content of good faith in relational contracts, as well as description of the key concepts of the theory of relational contracts. The author presents demonstrative examples of court rulings of the common law countries, which establish a connection between good faith and relational contract, and set requirements for good faith conduct as an implied condition for long-term relational contracts.

Keywords: Canada, USA, England, precedent, law, relational, contract, good faith, New Zealand, Australia

Review: The subject of this article is the state sovereignty in the conditions of crisis of the modern system of international relations. The object is the social relations emerging as a result of realization of their sovereignty the states. Special attention is given to the historical-legal analysis of establishment of the term “state sovereignty” (from the works of Jean Bodin to the works modern Russian and foreign scholars), as well as the questions of the restriction of sovereignty, illustrated on the particular examples from international practice. The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of the current state and application of the concept of state sovereignty in the international law. The analysis of the questions pertinent to the restriction of sovereignty is conducted on the recent examples in the international practice (particularly Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic). An attempt is made to trace the evolution of representations on state sovereignty, as well as analyze the various theoretical-legal approaches towards the attributes of sovereignty. The conclusion is made that the observed erosion of the concept of state sovereignty can lead to destruction of the modern system of international relations and dilution of the concept of state. Globalization becomes one of the drivers of this process; within its framework, the sovereign state becomes “excessive”, substantiating the rapid return to the state “prior to Westphalia”.

Keywords: national sovereignty, limitation of sovereignty, internal sovereignty, external sovereignty, state sovereignty, statehood, sovereignty, popular sovereignty, UN, Westphalian system

Review: The subject of this research is the legislation on the territories of traditional natural resource management and array of regulations determining the rights of indigenous peoples to use natural resources, as well as the established law enforcement practice with regards to implementation of the traditional economic activity. The study aims to determine the full extent of realization of positions of the Article 69 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in Russian legislation, as well as conceptual justification of the changes required for creation of the mechanism that guarantees realistic implementation of the constitutional right of the indigenous peoples to preserve their traditional way of life. The historical and comparative-legal methods allow giving general characteristics to the two stages of development of the institution of traditional natural resource management. Based on assessment of the federal and regional legislation, as well as the law enforcement practice (including the responsibility for unlawful natural resource exploitation), the author suggests to revise the ideological doctrine that predetermines the development of national legislation in this area; formulates the changes that should be introduced to the legal and regulatory framework of the rights of indigenous peoples to natural resource management in terms of realization of the traditional economic activity. The results of the research demonstrate that the orientation towards limitation of indigenous peoples economy to the natural exchange essentially contradicts the fact that the members of the indigenous peoples are practically deprived of the preference to natural resource management in their original habitat. It is proven that the need to establish the duty of the government authorities to provide the communities with land suitable for conducting traditional economic activity in order to compensate them for their original land that is now being used by mineral developers, loggers, industrial or other objects.

Keywords: natural resources, traditional land use, aboriginal habitat, community of indigenous peoples, Far North, Arctic region, territories of conventional nature management, indigenous minorities, territorial structure, state land policy

Review: This article examines the set of social relations emerged due to the application of regulations establishing criminal liability for smuggling contraband money. Despite a significant period of time passed after the introduction of the Articles 104.1 and 200.1 into the criminal law, there are still certain difficulties in its practical implementation requiring solution. Currently, there is no universal scientific or practical approach towards the confiscation of contraband money, which are the subject matter of the crime stipulated by the Article 200.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The subject of this study is the statutes of the criminal law, case law, judicial interpretations, legal literature related to the question of confiscation of contraband money. The scientific novelty of the conducted research is defined by fact that the author is one of the first to analyze the regulations establishing liability for smuggling contraband money, generalize the problems of application of confiscation of contraband items, as well as based on the comprehensive systemic study of criminal legislation, formulate recommendations on their solution. The author also substantiates the propositions in improvement of the criminal legislation.

Keywords: application of confiscation, smuggling of money, problems of confiscation, crime, money, confiscation, customs border, criminal liability, contraband, criminal code

Review: The object of this research is the social relations in the area of firearms trafficking. The subject of this research is the legal norms regulating the order of acquisition, possession, carrying of arms, as well as criminal responsibility for the illegal arms trafficking. The author gives attention to how the information technologies change the methods of committing crimes. The article underlines the danger produced by information through the Internet upon the young generation, which substantiates the commitment of firearms-related crimes. The author also points at the gaps in legislation that allow acquiring firearms for criminal purposes. The scientific novelty consists in examination of the questions of illegal arms trafficking using the Internet, particularly, the recently emerged new methods of committing such crimes, which did not receive due coverage in the scientific literature; as well as identification of the gaps in statutory regulation. The author makes recommendations on the improvement of regulation, and implementation of state policy with regards to crime prevention in the are of illegal arms trafficking.

Keywords: bitcoin, ammunition, hunting weapon, Columbine, Darknet, the Internet, information Technology, arms trafficking, criminal law, crime prevention

Review: The subject of this research is the questions of providing certain legal guarantees to foreign investors, reflected in the provisions of national legislation considering its recent amendments, as well as the texts of bilateral intergovernmental agreements via example of Russia and China. The authors focuses attention on such guarantees as the guarantee for compensation in terms of expropriation (nationalization) of the property of foreign investor; transfer of payments related to realization of investment activity; insurance of noncommercial risks (of political nature) in the activity of foreign investors; stabilization clause, etc. The scientific novelty consists in the comparative-legal study of peculiarities of the content of legal guarantees provided to the foreign investors in Russia and China. The author comes to a conclusion that the approaches of a legislator towards the content of legal guarantees at the national level have certain variances, while the provisions of intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China of 2006 secures all of the fundamental state guarantees for the foreign investors that carry financial and political character.

Keywords: umbrella clause, investment insurance, expropriation of property, intergovernmental agreement, legal guarantees of investors, investments, Russia, China, transfer guarantee, non-commercial risks