Olga I. Bazhenova

The author insists on the need to overcome the approach that has developed in Russian constitutional practice and doctrine, which considers legal entities to be “inauthentic” subjects of constitutional law, whose rights are somehow conditioned by their connection with a person. An association (legal entity) is an independent subject of law; the need to secure constitutional rights for it is due not to the protection of the rights of its participants, but to the protection of the association as the most important social actor in modern society. The category «legal entity» is necessary to confirm its compliance with the criteria established by law to ensure the fairness of social institutions. This makes it possible to begin the formation of the constitutional rights (and obligations) of social associations (legal entities) taking into account the goals of its creation, the specifics of the scope of its activities, etc.

The article discusses the features of teaching municipal law at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. This was influenced by various factors, the central place among which is the dynamics of ideas about the essence of local self-government. The issues of teaching municipal law at Moscow University are traditionally included in the range of tasks of the department related to the organization of state power — the department of state law, Soviet construction, now — the department of constitutional and municipal law. The teachers of the department have made and continue to make to the formation of local self-government and Russian statehood. Devoting their work to the problems of the organization and activities of local authorities, the teachers of the department, on the one hand, maintained the continuity of scientific views, strengthening the traditions of the national state-law school, and on the other hand, they created the foundation for future state-legal (constitutional-legal) transformations, sensitively responding to the requirements of the time, and sometimes ahead of them. Special attention is drawn to the fact that the issues of teaching municipal law at Moscow University are traditionally included in the range of tasks of the department related to the organization of state power — the department of state law and Soviet construction, now — the depart- ment of constitutional and municipal law. The paper points to the contribution that the teachers of the department have made and continue to make to the formation of local self-government and Russian statehood as a whole.