Articles

Constitutional amendment rules fix the procedure of constitutional reform and also establish the formal and material limits of constitutional changes. These are one of the most important constitutional norms, because on their ground the rest of the constitutional norms are changed and even performed the adoption of a new constitution. Moreover, the validity of the constitution itself largely depends on constitutional amendment rules. Hart’s theory of primary and secondary norms helps to understand the constitutional nature of constitutional amendment rules, which perform the function of substantiating the validity of constitution changes. In this article, constitutional amendment rules are considered precisely as secondary constitutional norms. The article also substantiates the thesis that constitutional amendment rules should be changed only together with the adoption of a new constitution, since these are norms that determine the validity of other constitutional norms. When constitutional amendment rules are changed, arises a paradox of self-amendment (A. Ross), which leads to a formal logical error of self-reference. The paradox of self-amendment confirms that constitutional amendment rules must remain unchanged within the framework of the constitution. Constitutional amendment rules can only be changed by complete constitutional revision or constitutional revolution.

The scientific article examines the problems of determining the content of subjective civil right, the influence of the doctrine on law enforcement, as well as protection in court of the right that does not objectively exist. Based on the analysis of the doctrine, the main theories of the content of subjective civil right are distinguished. In the debate about the possibility of considering the right to protection outside the scope of the content of subjective right, the authors take the position that the right to protection can exist only as an element of the content of subjective right. The impossibility of exercising the subjective right to defense in the absence of any element of the content of the subjective right is substantiated. It is proved that within the framework of the structure of subjective right, the right to protection is inherent in each element of the content of subjective right. It is concluded that the goal of protecting the right is connected with the restoration of the capabilities of the rightholder of the subjective right to act at his own discretion in the scope of his powers. It is proved that judicial protection of the absent right actually “creates” a nonexistent right. Based on the analysis of judicial practice and the existing theory, the conclusion is substantiated that not any error in the behavior of the subject creates an opportunity to protect the right. Such behavior should prevent the copyright holder from exercising the right in his interest.

The article explores preconditions for implementation mechanisms of digital educational environment (DEE). The mechanisms include practice and empirical experience of the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University, academic and methodological component, and organizational and institutional framework. It is assumed that the development of digital educational environment may be defined as ‘innovation’ as it allows to adapt educational process to the challenges of the modern world. It is important to distinguish between the ideas of ‘creation of digital educational environment’ and ‘implementation mechanism of digital educational environment’; ‘education quality criteria’ and ‘quality criteria for the organization of educational process’. The article presents a discussion on functioning principles of DEE and its ‘core’ (key elements). DEE mechanism is analyzed from three aspects: its content, control, and communication. Integration process of DEE components were also analyzed. Characteristics of DEE development drivers comprise generational change; changes in the set of students’ values; accumulation of evidence-based data related to the learning outcomes in the digital environment. This article is a part of research on functioning principles of DEE and law education quality criteria in the digital environment.

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.