Articles

The article examines how in the process of centralization was changed the form of the state unity of Russia. The topic is interesting not only a theoretical understanding of the problem, but also a historical and legal analysis of the existing state unity of Russia. The article traces that the change in the form of the state unity of Russia is associated with the liberation from vassal dependence on the successor of the Golden Horde, the Great Horde. The article substantiates that the creation of a unified Russian state and its centralization differ somewhat in time, although they coincide at the last stages. These changes began to manifest themselves, first of all, in the change in the legal status of the feudal elite, the service class, which was reflected in the status of their land holdings. These changes manifest themselves after the feudal war of the middle of the XV century and are expressed in the strengthening of the central government (the order of succession to the Grand ducal throne changes and the power of the Grand Prince increases), specific land ownership is practically nullified and residential land ownership becomes the main one, the free transfer of boyars and free servants from the Grand Duke to other landowners is prohibited. This contributes to the creation of a consolidated class (social group) of serving people in the fatherland.

The authors have prepared a review of the textbook by I.A. Ignatieva “Introduction to environmental law”, which substantiates the scientific and educational value of the publication, describes the structure, which includes seven chapters, shows the undoubted advantages of the work: the book contains paragraphs that set out topics that are still poorly studied in the industry scientific and educational literature, in particular, such new areas of legal regulation of relations on environmental protection as the elimination of accumulated environmental damage, the introduction of the best available technologies and the transition of organizations to technological standards, the author of the textbook managed to introduce the reader not only to the complex of traditional issues of environmental law, but also to highlight such issues that are given insufficient attention in the scientific and educational literature on this subject, while some issues are covered within the author’s concept of the content of individual theoretical problems.

The article is a review of the “The Great Ming Code” Russian translation by N.P. Svistunova. This unique work is the first translation of the Ming code into European language. It had begun in 1997 and finished with the publication of the fourth part of the translation in 2019. In this review, a brief description is given and the main features of each part of the translation are indicated. The volume of the work performed by the author is noted, its unique character is emphasized. The reviewed work sets the standards that researchers should adhere.

The review outlines the main content of scientific reports presented during the expert round table held on November 26, 2020 as part of the X Moscow Legal Week. The round table was attended by experts in the field of constitutional law and constitutional justice. Participants discussed the main directions of constitutional control reform, including the problems of modernization of the institution of constitutional complaint; issues related to expanding the competence of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; clarification of the status of a judge of the Constitutional Court, as well as a whole range of issues related to the upcoming abolition of the constitutional (charter) courts in the constituent parts of the Russian Federation. The main attention of the speakers was paid to the problems and trends of changes in the sphere of constitutional justice in connection with the reform of the Constitution of the Russian Federation held in July 2020.

The article reveals the concept of “corporate law” in the legal science of China. This article examines the historical origin of the concept of corporation, its definition and classification in the legislation of the Qing Dynasty (China in 1636–1912) and modern Chinese legislation. It is determined that in China, a corporation acts simultaneously as a commercial legal entity and an enterprise, characterized by such features as focus on making a profit, limited liability of its participants and distribution of profits between its participants. A comparative analysis of the concept of corporation with such concepts as “legal entity” and “enterprise” is also carried out on the basis of the legislation and legal doctrine of China. Different approaches of Chinese and Russian scientists to this issue are analyzed. The study identifies: the legal definition and scientific concept of corporation in China; main features of a corporation in China and Russia.

The article is devoted to the issues of risk assessment and their justification arising in the process of challenging sanitary and phytosanitary measures taken by the WTO member states in the WTO SDO on the basis of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The article shows the difficulties of applying in practice the thesis that such measures should be taken only if necessary to eliminate or minimize the emerging risks to the life and health of their population, animals and plants, and at the same time have sufficient scientific justification. It is noted that in addition to the high standards of proof established by the WTO Appellate Body for the legitimacy of sanitary and phytosanitary measures taken by states, the question of what other factors, in addition to scientific evidence, should be taken into account when assessing the risk and priority of such factors over scientific justification is extremely controversial.

The functioning of the spot labor market is based on technologies that contribute to its international character. Thanks to digital platforms, employers can find performers of personal labor in various States that are most favorable to their ways of organizing business and managing labor in terms of minimizing costs, especially when it comes to performing remote work. The complexity of the situation is that there are significant uncertainties regarding the qualifications of the emerging relationship with gig employees. Judicial practice on this issue is being developed in various States, which, however, cannot be characterized by uniformity and certainty at the moment. In this regard, taking into account foreign experience, the article identifies a number of problematic issues of transnational performance of personal labor (determining the level of rights and guarantees provided to a person performing personal labor; possible attribution of this person to the “third” category of persons in some legal systems; possible formation of a plurality of persons on the employer’s side, etc.) and a comprehensive analysis of the relevant legal regulation (including in the field of remote labor regulation) is carried out. A number of definitions describing changes in the modern labor market are given, including: gig-employment; spot labor market; digital platform; participants in the spot labor market (consumer and performer of personal labor); crowdwork; on demand work, etc.

The article examines the approaches elaborated in the decisions of international courts and arbitration tribunals as well as in the writings of the researchers in international law towards stale claims, i.e. claims submitted after a passage of considerable time. The courts and arbitration tribunals dealing with the stale claims applied the doctrine of extinctive prescription as a tool to deny such claims in case where the applicable international treaty does not contain any fixed rime limits. Nevertheless, current practice reveals that the status of the doctrine of extinctive prescription as one of the principles of International law remains vague and problematic due the position of the International Law Commission reflected in its Commentary to the Draft of the Articles of state responsibility for internationally wrongful acts and some recent decision of the investment arbitration tribunals. It’s argued that the treaty-based time limitations appear in all cases of establishment of the permanent courts with compulsory jurisdiction and access of private persons. One of main rationale for such time limitations is a necessity to ensure legal certainty and procedural fairness. A current practice of the modern international courts especially of the courts of the regional integration and human rights courts shows a high degree of convergence that in full analogy with national legal systems there are different treaty-based time limitations for different claims and different types of claimants.