In the article, the author turns to the analysis of such a legal institution of the PRC as responsibility for administrative offenses. Considering the volume and versatility, the author dwells in more detail on such aspects as the concept of administrative responsibility in the PRC, the system of regulatory legal acts in the field of administrative responsibility, and trends in the development of administrative responsibility.

The theory of administrative discretion is one of the defining indicators of the state of administrative law. Recently, considerable attention has been paid to administrative discretion in China. The authors explore the criteria for limiting administrative discretion and how it is assessed by the courts. Comparative law analysis is carried out in the literature, and the scholars focus, as a rule, on the Civil Law system. It should be noted that there are relatively few laws on administrative discretion and there is no general legislative approach. However, there are many multi-layered regulations that reflect the Chinese view of administrative discretion. For instance, such legal rules are included in the regulations of the provincial administrations, and administrative bodies may also adopt their own regulations. It is important to note that there is a consensus in legal doctrine to adopt the Chinese law on administrative procedures, which contains the rules of administrative discretion that are common to all authorities in the country. The model for this was often the German example, and sometimes the Asian experience, including Japanese, Taiwanese and others. In this situation, main ideas of administrative discretion were formulated by the courts, and the guiding decisions of the Supreme People’s Court of China played an important role in recognizing these views. These decisions reflect the complex cases that the Court considers important to society as a whole. Guiding decisions are binding on all courts, meaning that when administrative authorities exercise their discretionary powers, they must also follow such decisions. Recently, the courts have begun to apply several legal principles that are well-known in Civil Law countries and are often used to limit discretionary powers and evaluate discretionary administrative acts. In this case, the principle of proportionality is most important. In China, this principle is recognized as the legal doctrine, and the courts have begun to exercise it in practice. In this regard, it can be assumed that a new stage in the development of the theory of administrative discretion in China will be the development of its own tradition, taking into account the experience of Civil Law based on the theory of administrative procedures.

The article examines, using the example of the Germany, such an important method of securing obligations in continental law as Land Charge (grundschuld). It analyzes the degree of its accessoriness in the XX century period under the influence of historical conditions, as well as the interests of the debtor, creditor, and the party providing security.

The idea that natural and climatic factors influence law and the state has a long history, which helps to understand the emergence of legal geography. The article traces the evolution of approaches to this interrelation within social geography and jurisprudence. It shows how geographical determinism in the works of scholars of Antiquity and the Middle Ages gradually gave way to geographical possibilism, and by the end of the 20th century was supplemented by environmentalism and the ideas of the ‘spatial turn’. The article reconstructs the stages of this new discipline’s formation in the scholarly thought of the East and West, from the thinkers of antiquity and the Middle Ages, through the Modern Era and the age of European colonialism, up to the 20th century. It demonstrates how legal positivism hindered the development of this field, and the impetus it gained from expanding its subject matter to include the topics of legal pluralism, social justice, and transnational aspects of law. In the 21st century, despite the lack of a unified approach and methodology, legal geography is emerging as an important interdisciplinary field capable of offering new tools for analyzing and solving complex problems stemming from the interrelation between space and society.

Currently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the status of a private corporation. This legal status does not suit the IOC at all, which from the very moment of its establishment has been determined to conduct a dialogue with states on equal terms and to feel itself a full-fledged subject of international public law, that is, a subject with the legal capacity of an international intergovernmental organization (IGO), such as, for example, the UN. However, recognition of such a status, due to obvious reasons, is impossible on the part of the absolute majority of states. Therefore, the IOC has to create special forms of interaction with states and justify special Olympic principles, such as organizational and legal autonomy of sports, which presupposes non-interference of states in the Olympic sphere.

The article considers the common features and peculiarities of interaction of legal systems in integration associations of various types. The international treaty (conventional) form of unification of law is a universal form of creation of uniform legal regulation. At the same time, for integration associations of supranational type it is typical to use the supranational form of creation of uniform legal regulation through decision-making by bodies of the integration association. The use of the form of international model regulation is widespread in integration associations of the interstate type of cooperation. Convergence of law in integration associations of a new type (BRICS) is carried out mainly on the basis of soft law. Consideration of conflicts of legal norms in relation to integration associations of various types shows their relationship with the norms of international, integration (supranational) and national law. The author notes that the study of conflicts of legal norms in the light of interaction of legal systems within the framework of integration associations can contribute to a comprehensive consideration of various types of legal collisions and ways to overcome them. The article proposes a classification of conflicts of legal norms depending on the legal norm’s belonging to a particular legal system: conflicts of norms of international and national law; conflicts of norms of international and integration law; conflicts of norms of integration and national law; conflicts of norms of different integration legal orders. The article points out the advisability of continuing the study of various forms of interaction between legal regulators in the space of an integration association in the context of the emergence of new forms of integration cooperation.

The article examines China’s financial and legal policy and determines its importance for the country’s financial system. The study raises the question of the financial system of Russia and China, and identifies differences. The article examines the historical aspects of the development of economic relations, management approaches and legislation that formed the basis of China’s socio-economic and technological success. It is concluded that the sustainable development of China’s financial system largely depends on the development of the non-governmental sector of the economy and the investment activity of foreign countries. A favorable environment for international cooperation is being created at the state level, and businesses are actively interacting with foreign partners, expanding all areas of production and making them attractive for investment. The following are highlighted as priority areas of China’s financial and legal policy: development and active government support of the banking system and, accordingly, the national monetary sphere; formation of economic strategies to increase the investment attractiveness of the state; implementation of a fundamental policy of openness for geo-economic cooperation with other states; etc.

The article is devoted to the issue of reception in the family legislation of the first decade of Soviet power of certain foreign legal institutions. In particular, the Family Code of the RSFSR of 1918 borrowed the procedure of establishing paternity from the Norwegian law of 1915, and the Family Code of the RSFSR of 1926 borrowed the institution of “common law marriage” widely used since the XIX century in the USA. The question of creative revision of borrowed institutions in the Soviet legislation is considered. The problem of relevance of such historical-legal research in view of modern legislative initiatives is raised.

With the emergence of 3D-printing and the development of various methods for creating and modifying objects in the surrounding world, the legal regime of objects created as a result of such activities raises increasingly complex questions. Particular difficulty arises in the legal classification of objects made from atypical materials and cyber-modified objects, especially when they are additionally equipped with artificial intelligence resources. There is a risk of blurring the legal regimes of objects if objects similar to or analogous to restricted or prohibited objects are created using 3D printing and other technologies. In this article, the author aims to assess the legal regime of human organs and tissues, as well as various types of prostheses, in order to identify existing gaps. The author concludes that existing inaccuracies, blanket references, and contradictions in regulation across different sectors (civil law, criminal law, medical law) lead to significant legal uncertainty and require thorough examination and rectification.

The article analyzes doctrinal, international and national legislative approaches to the content of the concept of “decent standard of living”. Based on this analysis, the author concludes that nowadays the constitutional right to a decent standard of living should be considered broadly enough, including not only the minimum standards of basic human needs (food, housing, clothing) and a number of sociocultural and spiritual benefits (access to cultural and spiritual values). It is concluded that the development of information technologies complicates the forms and methods of realization of the social function of the state, andalso leads to a new understanding of its substance. As a result, a conceptually new understanding of the category “decent standard of living” and the criteria that characterize it should appear. Such criteria objectively include the benefits associated with the use of new technologies in the information environment. This legal category should be understood taking into account the level of development of modern information technologies, access to which as well as information security of a person should be included in the content of this category.

The article analyzes the legal mechanism for determining the legislation on the jurisdiction exercised by the People’s Courts of China in respect of civil and trade disputes involving foreign state based on the analysis of the latest version of the Civil Procedure Code of 2023, interpretations of the Supreme Court, as well as the general characteristics of the judicial system of the PRC. Special attention is paid to the issue of trying cases involving Russian persons in the state courts of China in the context of the intensification of Russia-China trade relations. It is concluded that the changes that have occurred in Chinese law in recent years in the field of determining jurisdiction are aimed at increasing the efficiency of civil and trade proceedings with foreign participation, better protection of the legitimate rights and interests of plaintiffs, as well as ensuring the sovereignty, security and development interests of China.

The article examines the formation and development of public courts in the German Democratic Republic in comparison with similar processes in the USSR. The main stages of this process in the GDR followed the Soviet model. The creation of public courts began around 1952, at the same time when comrades’ courts were restored in the USSR after the Great Patriotic War. Subsequently, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and then in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the public courts in both countries were reformed. However, from the very beginning, the public courts in the GDR differed from the Soviet comrades’ courts in several respects. These differences were due to the specific conditions in the GDR, and, presumably, contributed to the successful functioning of the public courts in the GDR up until its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany.

In the article analyzed approaches to the definition of the concept of “sustainable development”. The features reflecting the diversified modifications of the interpretation at the doctrinal level of the sought-for concept are indicated. An assessment is given of qualification in public law of sustainable development as a principle and concept, as well as a goal. Attention is paid to the forms of constitutional refraction of sustainable development. The Russian approach to the public legal regulation of sustainable development is highlighted, proposals are made to expand the practice of developing integrated programs (strategies) for sustainable development at the regional and municipal levels, integrating intersectoral methodology, as well as model concepts (strategies), taking into account the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity.

In this article the issue of place and role of the legal structure of trust in connection with the implementation of the OECD Common Reporting Standard in national law of participating jurisdictions is studied. The participating jurisdictions are represented by Eastern and Western countries. It is figured out that this international standard covers only those trusts that are reporting financial institutions and non-financial entities that have reportable accounts. It is pointed out that among them passive nonfinancial entities pose the highest risk of tax evasion. The analysis starts with theoretical considerations about trusts and then there is a transfer to their legal regulation in the context of the OECD Common Reporting Standard. Further the criteria of qualification of trusts as reporting financial institutions and non-financial entities are presented. In the article the algorithms of reporting for trusts that are reporting financial institutions and non-financial entities are mentioned and the differences between them are shown. In the end, there is a conclusion about the loopholes both in the OECD Common Reporting Standard and in the Implementation Handbook related to it. A couple of questions are raised as well. The answers to these questions will have an influence on the effectiveness of legal regulation of trusts in the context of automatic exchange of financial account information.

The article is devoted to the specifics of the institution of judicial review in Finland. The author considers a quite specific model of judicial review (a hybrid one), which combines elements of both political and judicial models of judicial review in this Nordic country. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the activities of the Constitutional Commission of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta), which is entitled to exercise ex-ante advisory judicial review in relation to bills discussed in the chamber; its special status is emphasized, which differs significantly from the status and order of organization of other commissions in Eduskunta. The article is based on the analysis of current Finnish legislation and parliamentary practice.

The solution of the problem of improving the quality of normative legal texts, which is relevant in theoretical and practical terms, is impossible without a clear understanding of what is the norm in the language of law and what is an anomaly. The article substantiates that only linguists can determine the criteria of normal and abnormal in the language of law, relying on knowledge of the laws and trends in the development of language as a cultural phenomenon, as well as on understanding the features that the language of law acquires in modern conditions, functioning and changing in inextricable connection with legislation, legal practice, legal awareness. Taking linguistic concepts of the normal and abnormal for the language of law as given, legal scholars have the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of efforts aimed at the development and implementation of such legal and technical means, techniques and rules, the use of which facilitates the perception and interpretation of legal texts.

The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the standpoint of critical realism we analyse the liberal stereotypes characteristic of the world doctrine of federalism due to the influence of US ideological imperialism, which include the identification of federalism and democratic regime, attributing to federalism the goal of protecting human rights and freedoms, as well as the identification of federalism with maximum decentralisation of power. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.

The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the standpoint of critical realism we analyse the Soviet stereotypes based on the idealisation of social engineering and reproduced in modern Russian doctrine, including the doctrinal division of federations into ‘constitutional’ and ‘treaty’ federations, the opposition of territorial federations to national federations, and the classic understanding of the right of peoples to selfdetermination. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.

The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the perspective of critical realism, the opportunistic stereotypes associated with cognitive distortions under the influence of the current political agenda are analysed, which include the identification of centralisation with the uncontrollability of central state bodies, ideas about the optimal number of subjects, as well as the normalisation of arbitrary interventions of the higher level of public authority. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.

The article is devoted to the legitimacy of law as a criterion for the classification of legal systems. This article raises the question of the classification of legal systems depending on the type of legitimation. The connection between legitimation and convergence in law is revealed. It is proposed to distinguish between legal systems, depending on the type of legal thinking. The types of “mixed” and “mixed” legal systems are investigated. Special attention is paid to the types of legal thinking and legal culture, which serve as a criterion for the classification of modern legal systems.