Журнал ЗАКОН

What are the origins of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation? Which authority of the great Russia was its predecessor? The author refers to the history of the foundation and performance of the Justice Kollegium (Justice Board), which was the predecessor of the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

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Keywords: history of the Ministry of Justice, Justice Kollegium (Justice Board), reforms of Peter the Great

The article is dedicated to the history of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation. It elucidates topical issues of the Ministry’s activities during each stage of its development. The information is provided about all ministers of justice, who occupied this position in 1802—2012; also the activities of separate ministers who considerably contributed to the development of their department are analyzed.

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Keywords: Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire, the USSR Ministry of Justice, the RF Ministry of Justice, history of the Ministry of Justice, ministers of justice

On the eve of the 210th anniversary of the RF Ministry of Justice we addressed legal experts and public characters of Russia with the request to share their impressions about the Ministry’s activities and hopes which they rely on it.

It seemed that the Decree of the Plenum of the RF SCC of 28.06.2012 No 17 should have been able to resolve the acute problem of the permissibility of the assignment under loan agreements with the consumers for the persons without the banking license. This problem directly touches upon the legal basis of the collectors’ activities which, as it is well known, mainly deal with the recovery of bank debts. On the one hand, the RF SCC Plenum resolved the issue – in accordance with cl. 51 of the Decree, the assignment of such rights is permitted upon the borrower’s consent. On the other hand, the question remains, how courts will perceive the practice of the widespread inclusion of such clause in loan agreements, - and there is little doubt that it will be widespread. Concern is voiced that the relevant agreement clauses will be disputed after the conclusion of the agreement with the bank. We addressed experts and practicing lawyers with the request to comment on the solution of the problem suggested by the RF Supreme Commercial Court and share their expectations in relation to the application of cl. 51 of the Decree of the Plenum of the RF SCC of 28.06.2012 No 17, as well as enquired how they would resolve the issue.

Merja NORROS, Ministerial Counselor, Ministry of Justice, Finland, answers the questions of Yan Piskunov, editor-in-chief of the ‘ZAKON’ (The Law) Magazine

Yevgeniy Alekseyevich SUKHANOV, Vice-Chairman of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Codification and Improvement of Civil Legislation, answers the questions of Vladimir Rumak, chief editor of the ‘ZAKON’ (The Law) Magazine

Lately, there have appeared evident negative tendencies in the development of the criminal and criminal procedure legislations, which make it possible for many specialists to talk about a real crisis in the criminal policy. Measures must be urgently taken in order to stabilize the situation and recover the conceptual unity of the criminal justice. One of the possible ways to resolve the acute problem is described in this article.

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Keywords: criminal legislation, criminal procedure legislation, lawmaking, codification, legislative drafting activities.

Under the modern conditions of the economic development in Russia, it is most important to provide security of the civil turnover. The notarial system, which deals with resolving this issue, faces today certain problems and distrust. The author tries to draw the readers’ attention to the necessity of further development of the notaries’ institution within the legal framework of Russia, analyzing the results that were already achieved and identifying key tasks which require the solution in this sphere in the course of further reforming of the domestic civil legislation.

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Keywords: notarial system, a notary officer, notarial certification, registration of deeds, Civil Code draft

The article is devoted to the assessment of possible transformations in the sphere of legal consultancy in Russia. The author answers the question whether a large-scale reform of the domestic legal profession is needed, and justifies the point of view on the necessity of uniting the legal services market on the basis of the attorneys’ society.

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Keywords: advocacy, reform of the legal profession, legal services, granting of legal assistance, professional standards of juridical activities

Lately, there has been an ongoing discussion about the reforming of the domestic market of legal services. Assessing the history of this problem resolution in Russia and the state of the current legislation, the author undertakes to answer the question, whether the domestic practice needs attorneys’ monopoly and what other development variants of the process professionalization could be used.

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Keywords: Key-words: attorneys’ monopoly, legal consulting, legal services, legal representation, civil procedure

In this article the author attempts to comprehensively analyze the traditional problem of the balance between the adversary proceeding and proceeding arising from the public law, on the examples of the cases related to challenging the decision, actions (omission) of bailiff and executor of justice and compensation for the harm incurred in the enforcement proceeding.

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Keywords: civil litigation, enforcement proceeding, defense of a debtor’s rights, compensation for the harm, bailiff

The article is devoted to the place and role of punishment in the social crime control system. Global and Russian tendencies are analyzed. The global ‘crisis of punishment’ and the attempts to overcome it are being reviewed. Characteristics are given to the modern Russian crime policy and penitentiary system.

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Keywords: social control over crime, ‘crisis of punishment’, the Russian penitentiary system, confinement, prisons

Soviet legal science never finalized the development of the concepts of ‘capacity for legal relations’, ‘dispositive legal capacity’ and ‘judicial personality’. Nevertheless, it is widely known that Marxism assigns the law with the role of an obsolete phenomenon. Should the modern Russian state assign the law with any other role, the development of the above-mentioned concepts must be continued. And this is the topic of the article that is presented to readers.

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Keywords: capacity for legal relations, dispositive legal capacity, judicial personality, persons at civil law

The article analyses the concept of ‘obligations’ execution’, a critical assessment of points of view on this problem is provided. The author provides his own interpretation of the 'obligations’ execution’ concept and proves that the obligation can cease, among other matters, as a result of improper execution.

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Keywords: a deal, an obligation, obligations’ execution, improper execution, an executive deal

The article tackles the problem of application of legal mechanisms to regulation of professional-ethical relations. The author justifies the necessity of a clear separation of legal and moral norms in such corporative act as a lawyer’s professional ethics code.

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Keywords: a lawyer, professional responsibility, disciplinary responsibility, a lawyer’s professional ethics code, moral norms, legal norms

The court always plays an important role in the interstate integration. The creation of the Eurasian Economic Union planned for 2015 makes the issue of formation of an international organization’s structures most topical, and if some of such structures will be formed anew, then the court of the new integration can become a successor to the EurAsEC Court.

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Keywords: Eurasian integration, EurAsEC Court, status of a judge, independence of judges

The article deals with the topical problems of legal regulation of liability insurance for members of the economic companies’ regulatory bodies. Legal reasons are analyzed that hamper the development of liability insurance practice for the economic companies’ directors.

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Keywords: corporative responsibility, director of economic companies, responsibility of regulatory bodies’ members, insurance, liability insurance, D&O, Board of Directors (Supervisory Board) member, Board of Directors

The purpose of the article is the description of the system on combating cartels created by FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) of Russia in the past few years, the analysis of new laws of the third anti-monopoly package touching upon the issues of struggle with cartels.

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Keywords: the system of cartel combating, a cartel, antimonopoly legislation, Competition law, anti-competition agreements, anti-competition concerted actions, antimonopoly authorities, the FAS of Russia, Ministry of Interior of Russia

The author reviews the concept and characteristics of off-shore companies, digs into the issues of their structure, and analyzes the ways of use of such companies and peculiarities of resolving disputes with their participation.

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Keywords: an offshore company, an off-shore territory, applied law, a beneficiary, nominal directors and shareholders, the Party’s commercial enterprise, favorable tax regime

The article states the problem of a guarantee’s independence – a widely spread in the entrepreneurial practice way of ensuring the obligations' execution. The author suggests recognizing the guarantor’s right for corporeal objection as an exception from the general principle of formality of a documented obligation with the aim of struggling against dishonest claiming under the guarantee to beneficiaries.

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Keywords: independent guarantee, bank guarantee, abstract obligation, ensuring performance of obligations