Vol 27, No 1 (2023)

The relevance of the origin of written law issues stems from the need to address pluralism of concepts concerning law origin. Research investigates the issues of the origin of law as a set of rules of conduct fixed by the state in writing and intended for interaction of people between themselves and public authority represented by the state and other persons. In a primitive society the rules of behavior were fixed mainly in oral speech, which forced people to interact usually within the earshot of a person's voice. Oral speech could not be used for constant and everyday interaction between those groups of people who were far from each other in their camps and settlements. The written form of law and legal norms is an attributive feature of the legal system, consisting of law, legal relations and legal consciousness. The hypothesis suggests that law formation takes place in the process of establishing a written form by the state to a number of social norms of primitive society. Written law creates an additional opportunity for residents of different settlements, cities and countries to interact with each other at a distance; it contributes to centralization of state regulation in a certain territory, unification of social norms, and strengthening and expansion of state power.

The concept of inviolability of the person is considered as a complex intersectoral category in modern legal regulation. The research studies the provisions of normative legal acts and scientific works devoted to the concept of inviolability and its relationship with other concepts of similar meaning and suggests a comprehensive definition to the inviolability of the individual concept, which, in addition to the personal life of an individual, includes intangible objects directly related to the development of this individual. Also, a detailed distinction is made between inviolability and the concept of immunity. The purpose of the author is to substantiate the need to study the concept of inviolability from the point of view of all branches of law and pay attention to the peculiarities of regulating the inviolability of the person in each of the areas of law, as well as to analyze the guarantees and mechanisms for its ensuring, its non-absolute nature and the limits of its implementation. The study was carried out with the help of the general scientific and private scientific methods, including analysis and generalization of legislation and scientific works of domestic and foreign authors, comparative law and formal legal methods. Based on the studied material, a comprehensive definition of personal inviolability is suggested and its regulation in constitutional, international, civil, administrative, criminal and procedural law, as well as in the recently formed information and digital law, is analyzed.

Public finance is subject to the principle of fairness, which has a vague character and rarely finds an appropriate reflection in law. Supreme Courts and Constitutional Courts of different countries may refer to this principle and disclose the content of fairness in public finance processes. The scope of the article includes legal establishment and realization of the principle of fairness in contemporary Russian tax law. The author investigates this issue mainly considering the Constitutional Court’s legal positions. The Russian Constitutional Court actively refers to the principle of fairness to resolve disputes in taxation. The analysis of Constitutional Court judgements shows that the content of the principle of fairness for tax purposes depends upon a type of public fee. In some cases, the Court uses the principle of fairness in a broader legal meaning and does not interpret fairness for tax purposes using the vaguest terms and words for arguments. In other cases, the Court may use a more specific and narrow meaning of the principle of fairness in cases on imposition of tax and/or tax liability (tax fairness).

Research discusses one of the constitutional amendments of 2020. In accordance with the new version of paragraph “m” of Part 1 of Article 71 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the exclusive powers of the Russian Federation include issues of ensuring the security of the individual, society and the state when applying information technologies, and digital data turnover. The consolidation of the problem of information security at the constitutional level determines the need for a partial modernization of its theoretical model. Modification and revision of some of its components will lead to higher effectiveness of constitutional regulation and improve the quality of application of industry legislation in the field of information technology and information protection. The purpose of the research is to investigate the main directions of enhancing the theoretical model of information security in terms of constitutional changes. The employed research methods are formal-legal, logical, system, statistical, structural-functional, modeling, and forecasting. The outcome of the study can be outlined as follows. The research clarifies the concept of information security, proposes to generalize the range of basic subjects of public relations related to information security, expand their rights and obligations, highlight the constitutional and sectoral legal regimes of information protection, and strengthen responsibility for offenses in the information sphere. In conclusion the study argues that updating the theoretical model of information security of the Russian Federation should be carried out in the following key areas: firstly, developing information security targets expressed in strategic and program documents of the state; secondly, clarifying classification of information security threats; thirdly, expanding legal regulation density; fourth, strengthening the law-enforcement mechanisms of information security; fifth, establising and maintening optimal balance between legal, technical and ethical regulation of information technologies, primarily digital technologies; and finally, definiing acceptable and unacceptable boundaries of application of information technology and digital data in people's lives.

Research analyzes the issues of determining the legal status of artificial intellect. As artificial intellect (AI) systems become more sophisticated and play an increasingly important role in society, the arguments that they should have some form of legal personality are becoming increasingly relevant. The research argues that most legal systems could create a new category of legal persons. The issues of innovative trends in law enforcement practice are also in the focus as well as the issues of establishing general provisions on liability for criminal acts committed due to technical failures of artificial intelligence without the presence of anthropogenic participation and intervention. The article presents the results of the relevance of philosophical-legal and ontological analysis not only to a state, but also to the prospective future modifications of artificial intelligence. It outlines the results of a comparative analysis of the laws regulating artificial intelligence in a number of foreign countries along with the results of a retrospective analysis of some historical stages in the development of legal regulation of artificial intelligence.

The research is devoted to the study of new technologies - blockchain, metaverse and NFT - in civil procedure and arbitration in Russia, China and USA. The author analyzes the basic concepts and characteristics of the above technologies and gives examples of their use in judicial practice. Recent US judicial precedents (2021 and 2022), which consolidate the possibility of using blockchain and NFT technologies in court proceedings are looked at. The research aims at shaping the idea of possible application of blockchain, metaverse and NFT technologies in civil proceedings; it is based on the analysis of regulations, judicial practice of Russia, foreign countries, and scientific sources. The employed methodology is empirical methods of comparison, description, and interpretation, theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic. Private scientific methods include legal-dogmatic method and interpretation of legal norms. The outcome of the research shows that blockchain and NFT technologies have become an effective tool used by the courts of USA and China in the analysis of electronic evidence and some other procedural actions including notification of an unknown defendant through a non-interchangeable token (NFT). The research came to the following conclusions. Blockchain transactions are often called anonymous or at least pseudonymous, but this is not the case. The issue of blockchain anonymity has been raised in several cases heard by US courts. The blockchain analysis of tools industry has allowed the court and the parties to the dispute to analyze transactions on the blockchain and in many cases trace them to an identifiable user, even if such users have taken steps to conceal their identity. It is essential to refer to the US courts experience allowing private companies to conduct Technology Assisted Review (TAR).

The purpose of the study is to identify problems arising from the discrepancy between the norms of the current corporate legislation, whose basic principles were laid down during the development of the industrial type of economic development, and the current stage, characterized by the active development of the post-industrial type of economy. The subject of the study is the forms of realization of the corporate rights of members in commercial corporations, and, above all, business entities. The research employs the following scientific methods of analysis: historical analysis of the influence of economic development factors (types of activity, scale of activity, significant resources) on the forms of exercising corporate rights of corporation members and analysis of correspondence of modern forms of realization of corporate rights to the system of interests of the members of post-industrial types of corporations at the modern stage of economic development. The research results. In the traditional economy of the industrial type, the main significant resource is non-current tangible and current assets. Today their cost estimate determines the volume of corporate rights. In the post-industrial economy, non-current intangible assets become the main significant resource; their evaluation seems to be problematic in a significant number of cases. The research reveals the problems of inconsistency of modern forms of realization of corporate rights of members in the post-industrial corporations with the system of interests of members - carriers of a creative resource (ideas, professional knowledge, etc.) - in such corporations. Practical implementation of the research outcome is realized in suggestions and recommendations that can be applied both in the field of improving corporate legislation and legal support of commercial corporations’ activities. Among other things, a forecast of trends in the development of corporate legislation in terms of implementation of corporate rights has been worked out.

Is devoted to the study of the legal phenomenon of punishment from the perspective of the general theory of law. It argues the need for an integrated approach to identifying the most important characteristics of punishment, considering its historical roots, etymology of the term and development trends. Relying on dialectical methodology, the author examines the prerequisites for the formation of the social institution of punishment, starting with the emergence of the first taboo and/or prohibitions. The conclusion determines the universal nature of the phenomenon of punishment, which applies to any negative sanctions implemented as measures of legal responsibility in both public and private law. The work substantiates an increased relevance of the issue of adequate understanding of legal punishment in national and international law. Three groups of interaction of punishment with other legal phenomena (means) are differentiated; they are interaction with similar phenomena that include punishment (group 1), interaction with phenomena that functionally contribute to the consolidation and implementation of punishment (group 2) and interaction with phenomena that have an auxiliary effect on consolidation and implementation of punishment (group 3). The lack of consistency (unified strategy) in law-making and law enforcement decisions in relation to the system of punishments and its dynamics have been demonstrated. The institutional features of the system of punishments in the Russian Federation, subject to a general theoretical analysis, have been determined. Approaches to the definition of the legal meaning of impunity as an independent category of jurisprudence are considered. The author gives his point of view on the issue of the forms and content of impunity and substantiates the need for its further study. In addition to domestic and foreign doctrinal and reference publications, the provisions of international legal acts, national legislation and materials of judicial practice are used as a source base. The author formulates proposals regarding the directions for further research of the category punishment in the general theory of law.

The article suggests an overview of the round table organized on June 22, 2022 by Gazprom Energo LLC jointly by the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia with the support of the State University of Land with active participation of Rosreestr and the Federal Tax Service of Russia on topical issues of regulation of land and property relations in implementing production and economic activities of companies in the fuel and energy complex. In this regard, the organizers proposed to discuss the prospects for legislative support of land management and cadastral activities, topical issues of establishing restrictions and encumbrances of land within the framework of production and economic activities of enterprises of the fuel and energy complex, practical aspects of involving ownerless objects in the economic turnover power grid complex and heat supply facilities, the possibilities of optimizing land payments and real estate taxation.