Moscow University Law Bulletin. 2024. 4.

The article discusses a number of bills of the late 1920s containing a proposal to introduce the institution of indeterminate sentences into Soviet criminal law. The initiative to develop the bills came from the people’s commissariats of justice and internal affairs. The projects were based on a scientific basis, as well as on the wide practice of parole from places of deprivation of liberty. Based on archival sources and published materials, the position of the leadership of both departments on this issue in the late 1920s was studied. The author comes to the conclusion that despite the external similarity of the views of the representatives of the two departments, in fact, they fundamentally differed. The leadership of the NKVD (E. G. Shirvindt, V. R. Yakubson) considered indeterminate sentences from the point of view of correcting the term of imprisonment as a result of observing the evolution of the personality of convicts in places of detention. The People’s Commissariat of Justice (N. V. Krylenko) saw in vague sentences the possibility of unlimited repression against socially dangerous persons. The planned innovations, as it turned out, contradicted the All-Union criminal legislation. The study of the fate of the institution of indeterminate sentences in Soviet legislation allows us to better understand the factors influencing the development of the branch of Soviet criminal and corrective labor law in the 1920s.

The article deals with one of the problematic issues related to the reorganization of enquiry and preliminary investigation, which were actively discussed during the NEP period. It is about the idea of creating a unified investigation apparatus by means of structural unification in one form or another of the bodies of enquiry and investigation (in some of the proposed projects — and criminal investigation). As an integral part of the process of such unification, the discussion on judicial militia, the beginning of which was laid in the pre-revolutionary period, is also considered. A significant contribution to the development of these problems was made by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate of the USSR, which conducted surveys of judicial, investigative and law enforcement agencies in the second half of the 1920s. The methods proposed by Rabkrin to improve the police’s work on enquiries were aimed, among other things, at creating a unified investigative apparatus in the future. These proposals after lengthy discussions found a normative embodiment. However, the idea of a unified investigative apparatus, despite its support by a significant part of justice officials and even an experimental project for the creation of such an apparatus, developed without the participation of the NK RKI, was not realized in the end.

At present, cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and third countries is generally carried out within the framework of signed free trade agreements or agreements on trade and economic cooperation. By their legal nature, the EAEU’s agreements with third countries are “mixed” agreements, where not only the Union itself, but also all EAEU Member States act on one side. This raises doctrinal and practical problems due to the fact that in the EAEU states, when taking certain measures at the national level, often act in fulfilment of their obligations under the law of their integration association without having any discretion. That is why the norms regulating liability for breach by the parties of their obligations arising from mixed agreements come to the fore. The current practice of states, international organizations and international courts in attributing conduct under mixed obligations of integration associations is far from being uniform and is not always in line with the provisions of the draft Articles of the International Law Commission On the responsibility of international organizations. The actions of the EAEU bodies are attributable to all EAEU Member States irrespective of their actual involvement in the challenged actions, which means the implementation of the doctrinal concept of joint obligations and joint responsibility of an international organization and its member states in the case of mixed agreements, whereby the injured party has the right to direct its claim to any joint co-defendant of its own choice.

In the period of constantly changing conditions and instability, the legal regulation of labor relations is being adapted to new challenges, which are caused by both global processes taking place in the world and economic, political, cultural changes. Thus, throughout the history of the development of employer power, the relevant questions are what elements are included in the concept of employer power, to what extent the employer has the right to control employees and regulate the performance of the labor function in terms of its flexibility, and what limits of the implementation of employer power are permissible in the field of labor. The definition of the concept and the content of the concept of employer power are considered depending on the development of the science of labor law in a particular historical period. Nevertheless, despite this, the essence of the nature of the employer’s power for the most part remains unchanged and characteristic of labor relations. This article will consider the concept of employer’s power through the prism of historical aspect, issues of influence of new technical means and information technologies on the implementation of employer’s power, permissible goals of employer’s control as a constituent component of the power, taking into account the interests of the parties to labor relations and the state. Particular attention is paid to the limits of realization of normative and disciplinary power of the employer.

The article examines the problems of historiographic analysis of psychological theories of law, which clearly accompany the evolution of political and legal thought for more than two centuries. Interest in the topic is due to a significant deficit of historiographic literature on the origin, formation and main directions of development of psychological theories of law in the mainstream of political and legal thought of the last two centuries. The existing review and special studies of psychological theories of law in the history of political and legal thought, with rare exceptions, so far only episodically consider psychological approaches to law, not to mention the lack of independent development of the historiography of the psychological direction in the evolution of modern political and legal thought. The solution to this problem is associated with a revision of the attitude to the principles of historiographic work with political and legal teachings of the past and present, improving the quality of coverage of original literature, including in the subject field the relevant historical-philosophical and problem-theoretical reconstructions of general literature, especially valuable for the detailed development of the psychological direction in the evolution of legal thought, studying the genre and plot characteristics of psychological interpretations of law. For the science of the history of political and legal teachings, the refinements and generalizations that are made in the study in connection with the study of the historiography of psychological theories of law can be significant.

The article characterizes the views on the problem of the common good of one of the representatives of the school of natural law, the German lawyer, philosopher and political thinker Johannes Althusius, whose activities are largely associated with the formation of political and legal thought of the New Age. Using the example of Johannes Althusius’s main work “Politics” and some others, his views on the origin of the ideas of good, justice and humanity from one source — the idea of the common good, its coordination with the good of an individual and society as a whole are traced. The question of what the common good is has not yet been resolved. There is no unambiguous definition, which is directly related to its different understanding and perception in society. This is due to many factors, including in the context of a particular historical period. The theory of the common good has always considered issues related to supreme power, sovereignty, legality, the concept of good, morality, ethics, justice, compromise of the common and individual good. The main goal of the article is to identify the fundamental ideas of the German thinker, which underlay his views on the state and law.

The article substantiates the hypothesis of the historian of philosophy Charles Kahn and philosopher A. V. Lebedev about the presence of ontological doctrine of natural law encoded in the form of cognitive metaphors in the fragments of the treatise “On Nature” by Heraclitus of Ephesus. It is concluded that this doctrine is fundamental to the further development of the ancient natural-law tradition. The genesis of one of the central concepts of this doctrine, “nature” (Greek φύσις), which Heraclitus recites from Miletian fusiologists, but gives it an innovative meaning of absolute being, which is the basis of the reality of human legal orders, is considered. Semantically close to the metaphor φύσις are the metaphors “logos” (Greek λόγος) and “cosmos” (Greek κόσμος). Heraclitus also formulates the epistemological principle “according to nature” (Greek κατά φύσιν), which means the procedure of correct “deduction” in reality of the triadic in structure law of struggle and identity of opposites. Practical embodiments of this law in political and legal life are shown according to the principles of “art imitates nature” (Greek ή τέχνη μιμείται την φύσιν) and the microcosm of the human soul. Finally, Heraclitus’ doctrine of natural law consciousness, which relies on the “common” (Greek το ξυνόν) as an expression of the monistic nature of all things, is examined.

The article examines the issue of when the state chooses to build vertical relations with investors by providing them with standard measures of state support and other incentives or horizontal structure by means of concluding private law agreements with them, where the parties are formally recognized as equal. The authors came to the conclusion, that any state at any specific moment can determine the ratio between vertical and horizontal support measures within the framework of the implementation of state investment policy, shifting the emphasis from one type to another. Each type of incentive or their combination has its own advantages and disadvantages that compensate each other. The choice in the use of horizontal or vertical measures is determined by the conditions of a specific economic system, the level of competence of state bodies, as well as the quality of economic policy. The Russian Federation is an example of the country that implemented different measures of state economic policy in coordination of the state and private investors in different periods of history.

In recent years, China has made significant progress in improving legislation on issues related to foreign elements. The article examines the trend of Chinese legislation development aimed at strengthening legal mechanisms for the protection of national interests, including at the international level in the context of intensifying political and economic competition. In the course of detailed analysis, the features of the main laws under consideration in the field of protecting the country’s national security, such as the PRC Anti-foreign Sanctions Law, the PRC Foreign Relations Law, and the PRC Foreign Jurisdictional Immunity Law, are identified. An amendment to the PRC Code of Civil Procedure, effective January 1, 2024, which affects Part IV of the PRC Code of Civil Procedure, “Special Provisions on Civil Proceedings Involving Foreign Elements”, is analyzed, and the mechanism for the Supreme Court, arbitration institutions, and international commercial mediation organizations to facilitate “one-instance” international commercial mediation is explained. The article draws on examples from the foreign and international law training model of China Political Law University and Wuhan University. Prospects for advancing law reform are offered, drawing on close cooperation with member countries of international organizations in trade, investment, transport, energy, innovation and the digital economy. In the process of realizing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, covering multiple countries and languages, there is a need to establish training mechanisms for law and foreign languages.

Judicial accounting is an academic discipline that has been taught at the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University for almost fifty years. It was taught at the faculty by Sergey S. Ostroumov and Hamlet A. Atanesyan. However, in the last decade, the teaching of this discipline at the faculty has begun to fade away. It is advisable not only to keep the teaching of Forensic Accounting in our country, but also to return it to a generally obligatory character for students of all specializations. The subject of judicial accounting is the system of applying accounting knowledge in criminal proceedings (in particular, the appointment of judicial accounting expertise, evaluation of expert opinion, examination of documents, invitation of a specialist, etc.) and in other branches of law (civil, administrative and arbitration processes, tax, civil, labor law). Therefore, law students need to learn the basics of accounting (transfer of economically significant information from primary accounting documents through accounting entries to registers, formation of accounting statements, etc.). Accordingly, students at the end of the course should know accounting entries reflecting the main business transactions of business entities. They should gain knowledge of the basics of accounting and economic analysis for use in various areas of legal activity, as well as acquire basic skills in working with an automated accounting program.

This article is devoted to the problem of the volitional content of intent in crimes with formal compositions. The author analyzes the configuration of types of intent in crimes with formal compositions from the point of view of the current criminal law and the theory of criminal law. It is concluded that a crime with a formal composition with indirect intent is impossible, since the volitional criterion of indirect intent (“conscious assumption”) It is characterized by substantial uncertainty, while the volitional criterion of direct intent (“desire”) is the only definition that exhaustively expresses the volitional content of intent. In the article, by analyzing the doctrine of criminal law of the XIX–XX centuries. The problem of a person’s desire to commit an action (inaction) regardless of the onset of socially dangerous consequences is considered as a volitional criterion of intent in a crime with a formal composition: the author concludes that intent in crimes with a formal composition can only be described using an intellectual criterion, since the desire to commit an action (inaction) regardless of the onset of socially dangerous consequences is an element of the sanity of the subject of the crime, but not of guilt. The author comes to the conclusion that bringing to criminal responsibility for the commission of crimes with formal compositions is an objective imputation, while in order to avoid objective imputation, it is possible to construct many compositions of crime traditionally attributed to formal ones as compositions of danger.

The advent of the big data era not only brings convenience to our daily lives, but also creates problems and risks for the protection of personal data of citizens. In order to effectively prevent, terminate or eliminate problems arising in connection with the legal protection of personal information, strengthening the administrative and legal protection of personal information is a more realistic way. The main arguments for this are that, firstly, in order to realize economic interests, violations are often committed related to the illegal collection, processing and use of personal information of citizens by subjects of a market economy; secondly, administrative authorities are obliged to maintain, manage and supervise various civil rights of citizens, including the right to personal information, and their right to participate in public affairs; Finally, while performing administrative functions and serving the public interest, administrative authorities also collect a large amount of personal data of citizens, thereby increasing the possibility of large-scale leakage of personal information. The article analyzes a number of problems related to the administrative and legal protection of personal information in China, and on this basis, proposals such as improving the system of administrative measures to protect personal information, clarifying the responsibilities of relevant regulatory authorities, taking various supervisory measures and strengthening the structure of administrative proceedings in the public interest are put forward.

The article reveals the main problems and prospects of the activities of Scientific Advisory Councils in the Russian Federation. Scientific Advisory Councils have a special ability to organize real effective interaction between law enforcement and the scientific community through common systemic work that has real socially useful results. It seems that effectively and correctly organized activities of Scientific Advisory Councils are the place where the truth is born. The activities of Scientific Advisory Councils are also distinguished by the ability not only to identify problematic issues of law enforcement, but also to form uniformity in judicial practice. The main problem in the activities of Scientific Advisory Councils in the Russian Federation is the lack of a uniform procedure for organizing their activities, as well as the ineffectiveness of using the existing potential of Scientific Advisory Councils. The work analyzes the best practices of using the institution of Scientific Advisory Councils in the system of arbitration courts of the Russian Federation. The author notes that the highest bodies of legislative, executive or judicial power are not always able to independently detect legal conflicts and problems. The existing problems of law enforcement mostly arise for law enforcement officers at the local level. The effective activity of the Scientific Advisory Councils allows formulating a uniform approach to the application of legal norms in those situations for which the law enforcement officer has developed different practices. In addition, the article substantiates the need to develop and improve the institute of Scientific Advisory Councils in the Russian Federation.

The conference review offers views on law that are widespread in our theoretical and legal science. It points out the outstanding role of the founder of German classical philosophy I. Kant in the formation of the philosophy of law. His idea of the categorical imperative is aimed at creating a model of a legal state, where a person is declared not only a means, but also an end. Kant is one of those who formed the metaphysical philosophy of law, i. e. a branch of knowledge that creates semantic models in the world of political and legal reality. The review discusses Kant’s influence on Russian and European philosophy of law, the significance of his ideas for modern times. In the second half of the 19th century, five or six neo-Kantian schools appeared (the largest are Baden and Marburg), where original concepts of the philosophy of law were created on the basis of Kant’s epistemology and ethics. In the 90s of the 19th century in Germany and in Russia, under the slogan “Back to Kant!” a school of revived natural law was formed, the purpose of which was to proclaim the eternal value of the individual and thus put an obstacle to class struggle and the coming revolution. Revolutionary Marxism was opposed by ethical socialism and the idea of a legal social state, which seems relevant in our historical era. The appeal to the ideas of Kant also meant a turn towards idealism and religion, which gave a new impetus to the development of the philosophy of law.

The review contains multiple characteristics of the recently published monograph by A. A. Linetz “Labor Law and Economics”. The issues covered in the book under review cover a wide range of labor legal issues in the context of building a digital economy: gig employment, work through digital labor platforms, transformation of labor relations, the role of the state and social partners in this process.