Vol 24, No 4 (2020)

The digitalization of the economy and society, the introduction of artificial intelligence in human activities actualize a number of new issues related to both the legal support of these processes, and areas of development of law as a regulatory system, and the relationship between law and technology. Understanding of law in conjunction with other social institutions determines its role not only as a normative regulator, but as a cultural and historical phenomenon. The aim of the article is to analyze the problem of changing the value (ethical and moral) element of law in the context of technology development. The investigation will be based on an interdisciplinary approach. The author concludes that the progress of law is defined by the values protected by it, which traditionally includes justice, equality, good faith, common sense, etc. The transformation of human-technology relations at the present stage raises the question of moving toward technological humanism or turning to traditional humanism. The author formulates the hypothesis that the law in its value component cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. The research studies the forms of securing value ideas in international law. By the example of international acts and case law it is shown that international organizations are in search of a balance between the use of artificial intelligence and respect for human rights. It is concluded that the law is able to maintain its essential foundation without turning into technology, addressing universal principles of law, and searching for the balance between scientific and technological progress and human rights.

The relevance of the research is due to the invariance of approaches to the legal regulation of public relations in the field of human cloning, the need for semantic differentiation of the concept of cloning, which ensures formation of an adequate attitude of society and the state to human cloning and development of an optimal model of legal regulation of public relations in this area. The purpose of the research is to select and justify a promising model of legal regulation of public relations in the field of human cloning in modern Russia. Achieving this goal calls for analysis of international legal acts and the system of legislation of foreign countries, as well as approaches to regulating public relations that have been formed in legal doctrine and medical practice. Based on the obtained empirical data, the author conducts a General theoretical characterization of the type of legal regulation, suggest recommendations for improving the legal regime, and substantiates the prospects of the proposed model of legal regulation of public relations in the field of human cloning. The level of philosophical methodology in the study is represented by the General principles of knowledge and categorical structure of science as a whole. The level of General scientific principles and forms of research is characterized by applying the systemic analysis techniques, the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, as well as General logical methods: analysis, synthesis, abstraction, and analogy. At the level of concrete scientific methodology, this study employs the comparative method and the special legal method.

The article investigates philosophico-theoretical issues of legal regulation of labor relations in the scientific and research sphere in connection with increasing precarization in Russia and the rest of the world. Particular emphasis is made on the analysis of characteristic features of science as a social institution and on assessing the potential negative impact of labor relations precarization on the capability of this institution to perform its basic functions in the face of global challenges. The purpose of the study is to look at the ways of preserving the functionality of research as an institution in the knowledge economy environment using the means and methods of legal regulation in Russia and other countries worldwide. The focus is made on combining the philosophical and legal methods of research with philosophical reflection preceded by a comparative legal analysis of legislative regulation and assessment of its social and legal efficiency. The study has resulted in identifying the peculiarities of governmental and legal regulation of science as a social institution in different countries in the face of grand challenges, as well as the measures taken in different countries to limit the negative impact of the knowledge economy together with the assessment of its socio-legal and politico-administrative effectiveness.

The article investigtes the powers and parliamentary procedures in the standing committees and commissions of several countries of Western Europe and Latin America. The author believes that one of the modern paradigms for the development of parliamentary democracy is to strengthen the role of standing committees in the work of parliament by transferring to the committee level a number of constitutional powers of parliaments. In this regard, the author clarifies approaches to the classification of the committee structure of parliaments and looks at committee parliamentary procedures in Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Argentina at the present stage. The author comes to certain conclusions regarding the paradigm of the committee parliamentary procedure, including further improvement of domestic constitutional-legal matter in the context of the ongoing development of parliamentary democracy in the Russian Federation.

The article is devoted to the regulation of communication privacy, which is not only a guarantee of the individual right to confidentiality and privacy, but also a necessary condition for the collective freedom of speech, trust in communication services, which is essential for formation of the information society. The right to communication privacy with the advent of new communication technologies is being transformed and expanded, which requires updating and harmonization of the legal framework. In this regard, the purpose of the research is to reveal problems and contradictions in updating legal regulation of communication privacy, including by analyzing legislation and existent scientific approaches to the content of communication privacy, description of mechanisms for both ensuring and limiting communication privacy, as well as interaction of legal entities regarding communication privacy. The relationship between Russian and European legislation, which regulate communication privacy (ePrivacy) have been considered in this paper. The research methodology is represented by such methods as dialectical, analysis, analogies, formal-legal, comparative methods of research activity. The work demonstrates different approaches to determining the content of the right to communication privacy, expanding the range of professional subjects of communication privacy, and “loosening” the mechanisms for limiting this right in the direction of its expansion in the context of interrelations between subjects of legal relations concerning communication privacy.

The establishment of the Institute for the protection of patent rights, namely the establishment of the Federal patent court of Germany, has passed a rather difficult historical path. Interest to “protection of patent rights” was first identified in 1877, and that year the “Patent law” came into force; it is still relevant with a new version dated December 16, 1980. The German Federal patent court was established on 1 July 1961 as an independent Federal court. Strife for its establishment was conducted for a long time; it was accompanied by the need to introduce qualified specialists into that system, so called technical judges. The relevance lies in the borrowing of the German model of organization and functioning of the Federal patent court of the Federal Republic of Germany by other States to regulate the work of such a body in the judicial system of the country. The purpose of this article is to study the Institute for intellectual property protection in Germany. The author pays attention to the place and role of the Federal patent court of Germany in the German judicial system, as well as examines the legal regulation of the activities, structure and formation of the Federal patent court of Germany. The methodology of the research consists of the General scientific dialectical method of cognition and the methods that stem from it: systemic, logical, special-legal and statistical. In conclusion, the author of the study argues that today the most effective tool in ensuring and restoring violated intellectual rights is judicial protection, because the process of reviewing complaints in court contributes to finding objective solution to the dispute and allows restore the violated rights.

The basis of legal relations in public procurement are private and public interests. The purpose of the study is a substantive assessment of the author’s hypothesis that the purpose of legal regulation and financial support of public procurement is to satisfy the public interest expressed in the form of a public need for goods, works, and services. The methodological basis of the study rests on historical and systematic approach, analysis, synthesis and comparative-legal methods. The results of the analysis of normative legal acts regulating public procurement, doctrinal literature and practice showed that public interest denounced in the form of public need is realized through public procurement. Public and private interests can be realized exclusively jointly since these needs cannot objectively be met individually. In general, ensuring public as well as private interests boils down to defining and legally securing the rights and obligations of the customer and their officials, which safeguards them in the process of meeting public needs through public procurement. The study revealed the dependence of the essence of public interest on the political regime, which determines the ratio of public and private interests. “Public interest in public procurement” is suggested to understand as the value-significant selective position of an official or another person authorized by the government, which is expressed in the form of the public need for the necessary benefit; gaining such benefit involves both legal regulation and financial security. The purpose of legal regulation of public procurement is to satisfy public interest. These concepts should be legally enshrined in Law No. 44-FZ.

Today, no state in the world can say with confidence that it does not face the problem of human trafficking as it does not depend on the geopolitical position of the country, nor on the socio-economic situation. The negative social consequences of the transformations in Russia at the end of the last century determined not only its transit destination during the illegal migration of labor, but also the role of the “sender” and “recipient” of “human commodity” (mainly women and children) intended for exploitation (i.e. including sexual), surrogacy, removal of organs and tissues. Trying to adhere to the international definition of “human trafficking” as much as possible and drawing on the existing experience of regulation, the Russian legislator enshrined the norm in the Criminal Code (Article 1271) containing editorial flaws that impeded its implementation. The purpose of the study is to formulate proposals to address the deficiencies identified during the study of the legislative definition of trafficking in persons, which cause difficulties in enforcement. The methodological basis is constituted by general scientific (analysis and synthesis, dialectics) and private scientific research methods (system-structural, formal-legal, logical, linguistic). The paper notes the terminological difficulties associated with the inclusion of Convention norms in the system of Russian law. Noting the need to establish enhanced guarantees of child safety, the author does not see the need for independent criminalization of trafficking in minors. By identifying technical and legal shortcomings in the definition of “human trafficking” and “human exploitation”, the author suggests ways to solve them by reforming the criminal law and judicial interpretation at the level of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Relevance . The article considers current problems of a criminal procedural and forensic nature common for search and cognitive activities when dealong with older people with cognitive impairment. Successful developments in the field of medicine, an overall increase in the standard of living of the population, and the quality of social security have extended life span expectancy and, accordingly, led to the increase of the total number of older people. People from this category are increasingly involved in the orbit of criminal proceedings as witnesses and victims, and often as defendants (suspects). It should be understood and taken into account that, due to various diseases, changes in the mental state, social status of these persons and other reasons, obtaining verbal criminally relevant information from such participants in the criminal proceedings demonstrate certain specifics. However, at the moment, there are no forensic developments aimed at optimizing investigative actions involving older people. Relevant scientific research on this issue has not been conducted either in Russia or abroad. The aim of the work is the need to ensure the full realization of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in criminal proceedings from among the elderly by developing and introducing forensic techniques into law enforcement in criminal investigations, which necessitates the initial definition of the problem and disclosing its essence. The materials for the study are scientific works of specialists in the field of psychology, gerontology, neurophysiology, forensic science, and statistical data, as well as the author’s vast experience in the preliminary investigation of criminal cases as an investigator. The results and conclusions were obtained with the help of general scientific research methods: logical, systemic, sociological, as well as private-scientific and special: comparative-legal, formal-legal, interpretation, statistical, etc. Results: several conclusions have been made to strengthen the necessary to improve the regulatory framework governing participation of older people in criminal proceedings to ensure their legal rights and freedoms. Recommendations on preparation and conduct of investigative actions with participation of such categories of persons have been proposed.

The article deals with the problematic items of choosing a court competent to review court decisions that have entered into legal force on newly discovered or new circumstances in civil and administrative proceedings. The aim of the authors is to conduct a study of the legal regulation of the jurisdiction of applications for review. The methodological basis of the article was formed by general scientific (analysis, analogy, description, synthesis, and systemic approach) and particular scientific methods (historical-legal, comparative-legal, and formal-legal). A retrospective analysis of legal acts of domestic legislation has been carried out. According to the results of the study, difficulties relate to interpreting and applying the existing rules on determining the appropriate instance for revision. Based on the analysis of the judicial practice of courts of general jurisdiction and arbitral courts, the authors come to the conclusion that there is no unified approach of the courts in determining the procedural and legal consequences of violations of the rules of jurisdiction. The conclusion summarizes proposals for improving the current legislation to eliminate ambiguities and achieve uniformity in judicial practice.

The article traces in detail the origins of the prosecutor amicus curiae in the practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. This mechanism will subsequently be endorsed by all the ad hoc international criminal tribunals. It is noted that their emergence is the result of an unsuccessful experience in prosecuting offences against the administration of justice by the Tribunal under the previous legal framework. It is also stressed that, despite its effectiveness, the prosecutor amicus curiae mechanism cannot constitute the central component of the policy of prosecuting such acts and that, at this stage, it may even be considered an obstacle to its formation, given the occasional nature of the prosecutor amicus curiae‘s intervention in the international criminal proceedings and lack of continuity. As an alternative, it is proposed to establish a special independent organ - the Prosecutor for the offences against the administration of justice - in the international criminal tribunals, including the International Criminal Court.

The rule “Lex posterior derogat legi priori” (the later law cancels the earlier one) has a universal doctrinal meaning. The preservation of this principle over the centuries shows its importance and axiomatic character. However, the situation in the Armenian practice is different. This article discusses the legality of the conflict of laws rule of the RA Law “On Normative Legal Acts”, according to which, in the event of a conflict between the earlier and later laws in force, the earlier law applies. The author investigates the conflict rule “Les posterior” from comparative-legal and historical points of view, and concludes that the regulation provided by the RA Law “On Normative Legal Acts” contradicts the laws of dialectics, and axiomatic truths, reflected in Roman law, thus, it is essential to revise it. The philosophical basis of the “new law abolishes the old” rule is the law of the dialectic’s denial of the denial, which gives high authority and value to the “Lex posterior” rule. The rule “Lex posterior” is the means of ensuring the Constitutional freedom of generations. Freedom of generation implies that the new generation is free from the rules established by previous generations and is free to change them. In addition, a law written later must prevail over earlier laws, based on the principle of democracy by the people. Before “Lex posterior derogat legi priori” law is fixed in practice, in case of conflict between the old and the new norms that have equal legal force, the highest Courts of the Republic of Armenia should give preference to the legal norm that came into force later.

The purpose of the article is an analytical review of the monographs of the candidate of legal sciences, associate professor Igor Kuzmin. They are: “Problems of realization of legal liability” (2015), “System model of legal liability” (2018), “System of law and system of legal liability” (2018). In the first two the author participated as a reviewer, and in the third he acted as a scientific editor. The author's concept presented in the works characterizes legal liability as a systemic legal formation, the elements of which are complexly structured, affect various levels of state and legal reality and enter into numerous interactions with various legal phenomena and processes. The works consider the specifics of consolidation and implementation of legal liability at the level of objective and subjective law and disclose the substantive and procedural legal features of assigning responsibility. A theoretical model of legal liability is constructed, traditional and modern methodological approaches to the study of its system are demonstrated. Scientific novelty of researches is identified, critical remarks and recommendations are given, conclusions are formulated to testify the thoroughness of the study and its complex nature.