Moscow University Law Bulletin. 2020. 4.

The article is devoted to the survey carried out by the Rabkrin (Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection) in relation to the courts, police and the public prosecutor’s office in 1923–1927. The author introduces new archive materials on the results of the revision. We consider problems of relief of people’s courts from consideration of some cases and legislation about it. The author concludes that the survey and the initiatives of the Rabkrin had a significant impact on the regulation of issues of jurisdiction of the courts, as well as on the Soviet criminal and procedural legislation of the NEP period.

The article reveals the concept of constitutional identity, as well as analyzes the internal and external legal functions of the doctrine of constitutional identity. Constitutional identity is a fundamental quality of the constitution, pointing to its self-identity, it is formalized in a number of constitutional provisions and principles that characterize the basic feature of the constitution and cannot be amend within the framework of its action. The doctrine of constitutional identity performs in the internal and external functions, which are associated with ensuring the material limits of constitutional amendments: the first protects the constitution from unconstitutional amendments; the second protects the constitution from being changed by international law.

The article examines — in the light of the ECHR’s autonomous interpretation of the concept of “criminal sphere” — the latest legislative proposals in the administrative tort sphere. The need to take into account this interpretation in the new edition of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and the newly adopted Procedural Code of Administrative Offenses is noted. The author finds it necessary doctrinal convergence of these laws with the current criminal and criminal procedure legislation. This conclusion, in particular, is made by him on the basis of an analysis of related criminal and administrative-tort sanctions, the practice of their appointment.

The article discusses the dialectic categories of patterns and randomness in the aspect of forensic science, their significance in the disclosure and investigation of crimes. Particular attention is paid to the study of forensic science in the structure of legal sciences, social sciences (humanities) related to the activities of society and man. The question of the inclusion of randomness in the definition and subject of forensic science is studied, the positions of Russian and foreign scientists are given.

The article deals with controversial issue of the rank of Bank of Russia regulatory acts in the power structure of normative legal acts in the Russian Federation. A popular concept, criticized in the article, states that these acts have more legal force than federal laws and edicts of the President of the Russian Federation. The author provides various arguments supported by current legislation and practice of registration of regulatory acts by Ministry of Justice of Russia that regulatory acts of Bank of Russia are equal to normative legal acts of federal executive bodies in terms of the legal force.

The article is devoted to the problem of distance education, which became extremely urgent during the pandemic and self-isolation. Both the positive and negative sides of the transition to online learning are shown. Based on a review of the results of empirical studies on distance education, including copyright, it is concluded that the rejection of traditional forms of education and reorientation to the distance model in the strategic plan will negatively affect the effectiveness and quality of higher education.

The article analyzes the right of a judge in England and the USA to defer sentence. Based on long-standing division of the criminal proceedings on merits into trial and sentencing stages, anglo-american criminal procedure empowers a judge in the certain cases to defer sentence in order to induce a convicted person to correct his behaviour. Reflecting the need for flexibility in criminal justice, this institution represents a real alternative to a criminal punishment.

The war accompanied mankind from the moment of its appearance until the XX century. there was no legal prohibition on warfare. Fixation of prohibition was associated with difficulties in defining the conceptual framework, in particular the concepts of “war”, “aggression” and “aggressive war”. This article examines the process of formation of these concepts and the identification of their relationship based on the study of international legal documents and the practice of international tribunals.