Russian Law Journal (RLJ)
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Legal Protection of Sexual Minorities in International Criminal Law
Full text linkFor a long time, the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity have been restrained from entering the legal arena as being regarded as too radical. In today’s society, these issues warrant consideration in the context of international criminal law. Critically reflecting on the way of placing these grounds within the international criminal law framework, this paper tries to unpack the sheer possibility of addressing them within the core international crimes. Correctly defining terms such as “sexual orientation” and “gender” is not only germane, but also necessary for international criminal law to tackle them accordingly. By doing so, the power of legal argumentation in international criminal law for protecting sexual minorities is strengthened, but its boundaries and vulnerabilities are also exposed. This paper proposes that the described massive violation of the most fundamental human rights should be legally qualified as persecution. For protecting sexual minorities on an international criminal law scale, it is argued that we are not really “there” yet, but we might just be on the right track
No full textThe article provides a comparison of legislation of the United States, Australia, the EU and Ukraine regulating the legal status of a lawyer in the administration of justice mechanism, as well as an analysis the correlation of his duties to the court and to the client. The author recommends that a lawyer not act in a manner that best serves the interests of the client since this will put the course of justice and public confidence in the profession in a vulnerable position; attorneys have to inform clients that their duty to the court is of paramount importance. In case of improper performance of their professional duties, lawyers should be brought not only to corporate liability (disciplinary liability, which is established by the legislation of Ukraine), but also to the civil law (property) liability that is proposed to be established. It is necessary for Ukraine to introduce insurance institution against a lawyer’s property liability as a means of minimizing the negative consequences for a lawyer, assuming such liability results from an error and such lawyer is obliged to compensate the harm caused to the client
No full textRussia and Ukraine have recently adopted complex statutes on consumer credit. Ukraine, unlike Russia, declared the aim of the new act, inter alia, harmonization of the legislation with international and EU standards. Prior to enactment, both countries had a fragmentary regulation of few aspects of consumer credit in general consumer protection laws. I consider peculiarities of the elimination of the contract disproportion of debtor and creditor rights in contracts on consumer credit under new Russian and Ukrainian regulations from a comparative perspective. EU law does not regulate some important issues covered by Russian and Ukrainian legislations, e.g. priority of payments. On the contrary, some useful concepts, which are applicable to consumer loans under EU law, like “linked credits,” “open-end agreements” are absent in both Russian and Ukrainian laws. While comparing new Russian and Ukrainian consumer credit statutes, it is clear that in some aspects the Ukrainian one is pro-consumer, and in some other aspects the Russian one is more pro-consumer. Some provisions of both Russian and Ukrainian consumer credit statutes are very controversial and unclear; in some instances they could lead to debt slavery, so they must be corrected in the future
Legal View on the Introduction of New Technologies
Full text linkAccording to the Concept of Long-Term Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020, in the next few years the imbalance in world trade, as well as capital flows, will continue to increase, which will lead to changes in foreign exchange rates. That is why the final goal is to promote priority national interests in the framework of bilateral and multilateral trade and economic relations with foreign countries. In pursuit of this goal, the following improvement of customs regulation, and export and currency control mechanisms in the Russian Federation will be aimed at reducing barriers to foreign economic activity of innovative enterprises. Achievement of the set goals today is subject to the influence of a constantly changing world and new technologies. New technologies are increasingly penetrating the life of modern society. Meanwhile, the speed of introduction of new technologies is such that point changes in current legislation will gradually nullify the effectiveness of legal regulation as a system. Therefore, the changes today should concern not only the monetary and financial sphere, but also take into account other areas. The article is devoted to the study of crucial problems of implementing modern technologies from the legal point of view. Thus, at the international level, uncertainty still remains over issues of currency and legal responsibility, which is largely due to various legal regulations. Starting in 2018, the new rules for calculating the liquidity of banks and the ratio of borrowed funds to assets will come into full force in the European Union. Several large banks in France, dissatisfied with the policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), even appealed to the European Court of Justice for a change in the rules. According to FxPro analysts’ reports, economic growth in Europe has accelerated slightly, and the ECB is on the verge of abandoning its ultra-easy monetary policy in the direction of neutral and is preparing for further tightening. One of the subjects of the research is the system of monetary relations from the point of view of analyzing the problems of ensuring its stability, including criminal and legal means. The purpose of this analysis is to illustrate how to protect the domestic foreign exchange market and the challenges facing the monetary system today. The article has been prepared on the basis of legal and technical analysis of legal norms, as well as comparative legal and formal logical methods and system analysis methodology. In the authors’ view, this could contribute to a uniform approach to the problem, without which it would be extremely difficult to achieve success. It is concluded that in view of new challenges facing the global economy and the emergence of cryptocurrency, it is necessary to rethink the phenomenon of currency crimes, to study the experience of combating monetary crimes in other countries and to evaluate the common mechanisms for combating currency crimes. However, this approach cannot be considered legitimate insofar as different interpretation of the same term in different branches of legislation does not allow full realization of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. After all, branches of legislation do not exist in isolation from one another, but are interrelated. It is concluded that the person conducting proceedings in a case can and is obliged, based on an analysis of the circumstances under consideration, to proceed from a comprehensive assessment of the category used in making the decision as applied to its understanding in aggregate in various branches of legislation. It is also necessary to create a universal state database for judges, prosecutors, investigators, etc., which would allow free cross-sectoral information exchange on the same subject. The new digital economy also requires retraining of civil servants and state employees, including the judiciary branch of government. At the same time, the article deals with the transformation of the legal profession in the future. It is concluded that classical legal education will not sink into oblivion. However, the lawyers of the future will play a slightly different role, namely, they will act as machinists, builders, operators and inventors of a useful model of legal relations for robot judges
Protection of “Exclusive” Groups Only – An Essential Element of Genocide
Full text linkoai:oai.rlj.elpub.ru:article/529The crime of genocide, as one of the most complex crimes ever to be examined and prosecuted, is often referred to as the “crime of crimes.” It is never the result of a tragic accident, but always a deliberate, conscious, and intentional act. It is never a single act, but a collection of acts committed by a number of people acting in consort. Several elements of genocide prescribed by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) distinguish it from other core crimes. The first one is the intention to destroy a protected group – the very specific intention that brings into question the core existence of the group itself. The second element is the focus of the perpetrator’s intent on a particular group; his intent on destruction has to be directed against a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. No other groups are included on that list. Given the significance to the protected group, this paper will focus on some important issues relating to the protected groups and their identifications, both in legal theory and jurisprudence of international courts. It will also cover some considerations on the exclusion of some other groups that are left unprotected from genocide
The Free Economic Zone of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol
Full text linkFree economic zones have become an essential part of the world economy in recent history. The voluntary entry of the Peninsula of Crimea into the Russian Federation as one of its constituent regions, lead to the adoption of the social and economic development commitments of this region by our state. For this reason, one of the most important goals for authorities of the Russian Federation is to develop the social, economic, and other spheres of the society. The establishment of the free economic zone in the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol became one of solutions to this problem. This article analyzes the issues of legislation on the free economic zone in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol and aims to find solutions of these issues. This research is based on the application of comparative, retrospective and formal juridical analysis of the legislation and research papers dedicated to questions of the free economic zones and other territories with a special legal regime for conducting entrepreneurial activity (territories of advanced social and economic development, the Free Port of Vladivostok, special economic zones in the Russian Federation). In particular, the norms of current legislation on goals and terms of creation of the free economic zone in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol, the management of the free economic zone and the implementation of entrepreneurial activities within its borders were analyzed. We conclude that it is necessary to improve the current legislation on the free economic zone in the territory of the Republic of Crimea and makes several suggestions for optimization its provisions. The results achieved can be used both in the lawmaking process and as a foundation for further researches
Roman law ’s influence on russian civil law and procedure
Full text linkThe subject of the research in this article is the influence of Roman law on Russian civil procedure. Roman law has undoubtedly had a huge impact on the development of civil legislation in many countries of the continental legal system, in particular on Russian law. But the importance of the institutes developed by Roman lawyers of different eras, has not received a decent assessment of experts. In this article, the authors propose to the reader the concept that Roman civil procedure, finally formed during the reign of Emperor Justinian, is the foundation for the development of civil proceedings in Russia at different during key stages of its development. It is also suggested that Roman law was indirectly received with the help of nineteenth-century German scholars. Full use of the potential of Roman civil procedure in Russian civil procedure is difficult, because in the Russian legal science researchers have paid little insufficient attention to the correlation of such an important stage in the development of Roman, Russian and the continental law. And yet the theoretical legal basis laid by Roman law, well-developed by Roman lawyers, with procedural institutions that have had a significant impact on Russian law. The degree of such influence on Russian law in different periods of history varied. The institutions of the claim, representation in civil procedure, as well as evidence and proof, were most affected by Roman law, although the importance of other institutions of Roman civil procedure should not be underestimated. This article is intended to initiate more fundamental analysis of the impact of Roman law on Russian civil procedure
Representative Actions in Russia
Full text linkClass action is an important safeguard to protect the rights and legitimate interests of large groups of people and it has already proven successful in advanced foreign legal systems. One of the most popular forms of class action in countries with acontinental legal system (France, Sweden, Argentina) is a representative action, which is initiated by non-profit associations, i.e., “ideological claimants” (associations, foundations, non-profit organizations) in defense of violated collective rights of a large group of people or unspecified persons in the most vulnerable areas of economic life. The institution of collective redress by representative bodies is less popular in countries with common law legal systems (the USA, Australia, Canada), which traditionally use class actions. Nevertheless, countries with common law legal systems such as the United Kingdom (England and Wales) actively use the legal tools for the social protection of the violated rights and interests of citizens. This article analyzes the legislative consolidation and application of representative actions in the Russian Federation. The absence of amechanism (for filing alawsuit before the decision) of judicial protection of professional representatives’ collective rights and public interests according to the generally accepted international practices involving interested persons whose rights have been violated (opt-in or opt-out), creates barriers to the development of representative actions in Russia. At the same time, the scope of these claims and the judicial protection of collective rights and public interests by public associations has its own characteristics, which can be used by legislators to effectively protect human rights
Development of labor law in the eu an d eaeu: how comparable?
Full text linkAs of 2015 Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and (since May 2015) Kyrgyzstan have entered into the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) with the ambitious goal of ultimately transforming it into a “Eurasian Union” with a deeper confederative structure in the future. Parallels between this regional integration project and the European Union integration process are emerging. But there are also marked differences between them. The article highlights those parallels and differences in order to assess the general prospects for harmonizing labor law among the member states and to clarify how much of the EU experience in the harmonization of labor law may be applicable to the Eurasian integration project. The completely different roots and ways to harmonize the national labor law systems within the EU and the EAEU are also discussed in the article. The authors claim that the approaches to harmonizing labor law in the two regions are mirror images of each other.While the EU project attempts to provide at least a partial common legal framework for certain separate aspects of legal regulation of labor among the very diverse national labor law systems, the EAEU currently refuses even to address the harmonization of national labor laws. However, the national labor law systems of EAEU member states are already much more homogenous than in the EU. Therefore, labor law harmonization in the EAEU may develop as a consequence of its economic integration and single market.