History teaches us that in any period the state should not compromise its principles and sacrifice sovereignty. The political agenda of the modern world order predetermines the importance of strengthening Russian sovereignty. The events that took place during the decades of the post-Soviet period highlight the timeless nature of the strategy chosen by the nation. The issues of the state sovereignty, identity, and sustainable development of the state and society are extremely important for the implementation of global political and legal objectives of the Russian Federation in the context of the multipolar world formation. The 21st century has resulted in reconsidering old political paradigms and searching for new ones and extending the tools of cognition (methods, technologies, techniques), while the entire history of attempts to create artificial or borrowed political and legal constructs, alien to the national mentality, testifies that this is destructive both for the individual citizen, and for the entire people and it destroys the freedom of the Russian state. The authors believe that if the national idea acts as a source of the formation of public legal culture, the spiritual bond of Russian statehood, then the state ideology emanating from the national idea transforms the system of political and legal symbols and stereotypes into a single state-civilization.

Sovereignization has become a trend (process), and sovereignty is an important result of this trend. Based on the constructive and productive approach, the author has examined the sources and the producer producing sovereignty as a product. Under the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the multinational people is the bearer of sovereignty and the source of power. Therefore, the people, as a producing subject, produces a power subject that ensures the sovereignty of the people as its bearer and the state as a whole, in the form of inviolability (ensuring security), independence (supremacy of power and national legislation) and self-sufficiency (the ability to independently produce critically important products). The space of national sovereignty is formed based on the legal force of legal documents as sources of the legal environment within the boundaries of the existence of this environment. Since the legal space intersects with the actual space, legal forces indirectly affect the actual forces that can directly affect persons who have committed unlawful and/or illegal acts. Sovereignization implies the movement of a legal entity to ensuring its sovereignty. Sovereignization is not opposed to globalization and/or localization, but should be considered as a component of their optimal combination. Modern sovereignty arises not only on the territory, but in the space of a certain subject area, in particular, due to the presence in such an area of at least one center of power, because the space of the area is produced by the forces of the producer in the form of at least one subject (center of power). Localization means localization, rather than isolation, of modern tools in the territories of less developed countries to equalize their level of development, in particular, to increase the depth of resource processing. In this regard, sustainable development can be understood as dynamically balanced development (qualitative movement (transition, transduction)) of all subjects, which can be achieved through their sovereignty, including states, on an equal, reciprocal and fair basis.

The paper is devoted to the unification of Germany in 1871 and ensuring the sovereignty of a unified state. The author analyzes the reasons, goals and conditions for the unification of German lands. The paper concludes that the unification was necessary for the further joint economic and political development of the German states, as well as for their protection from external enemies. The author concludes that external and internal independence were the most important condition for the subsequent existence and development of the German Empire. The study focuses on the personality of Otto von Bismarck — the man thanks to whom the unification of the German lands took place, because it was the «Iron Chancellor» who was the first to realize that unification could only be achieved with «iron and blood,” that is, using military power. The paper presents reforms that contribute to the consolidation of German states. Attention is focused on their legal aspect — entering into force of the constitution and criminal code throughout the entire territory of the German Empire in 1871, as well as the German civil code in 1896. Normative legal acts contributed to the formation of the common legal space of a united Germany and, as a result, to ensuring its sovereignty. The Civil Code substantiated creation of a single economic space on the territory of the country, which ensured its economic independence. The desire of the German people themselves for national unity is considered as an important factor of German sovereignty. Conclusions are drawn about the complexity and duration of the process of ensuring the sovereignty of the German Empire and about those areas of state policy and aspects of public relations that contributed to ensuring sovereignty.

The paper defines the importance of Rosfinmonitoring in strengthening financial sovereignty of the state by combating financial crimes and their negative consequences for national security. The author focuses on the means by which Rosfinmonitoring bodies and structural divisions can carry out their activities, and justifies the legal basis for such interactions. Based on a systematic analysis of the functions and powers of this service, the author concludes that this body is a body of special financial competence and contributes to strengthening financial sovereignty. Rosfinmonitoring activities, on the one hand, are related to control measures over the movement of finances, and on the other, to the control of entities defined in legislation. The monitoring carried out by the aforementioned service represents one of the forms of state financial control and ensures the stability of the country’s economic sovereignty. The paper emphasizes the importance of Rosfinmonitoring in national security and indicates effectiveness of the service provided by optimizing preventive measures and using the unified information system of Rosfinmonitoring that is formed based on the analysis of the data obtained.

The paper examines the period of the Great Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War, their impact on government bodies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The author points to the political upheavals accompanying the revolutionary transformations of Russian society, including changes in the law enforcement system. As a result, during the construction of an updated state apparatus based on bourgeois-democratic principles, new bodies were created, such as the People’s Militia of the Provisional Government, then the Siberian militia, to ensure law and order and the safety of citizens in the conditions of transition from one political power to another. Rapid changes in the political, social and economic situation were reflected in the adopted normative legal acts. The Provisional Government, formed by the liberal democratic forces, pursued the policy of decentralization of power, which corresponded to the prevailing historical conditions in spring, 1917. The outbreak of a full-scale armed confrontation between supporters and opponents of the Soviet government dramatically changed the internal political situation. The revolt of the Czechoslovak Corps in the spring of 1918 led, in fact, to the simultaneous overthrow of Soviet power along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. The state formations formed in the East of Russia were consistently transformed into the All-Russian government, the supremacy of which was recognized by the other centers of the anti-Bolshevik struggle. It was on this territory that state authorities capable of being a full-fledged alternative to the system built by the Bolsheviks were formed. The paper analyzes the changes that took place in legislation concerning the organization of law and order, from the consolidation of the principle of decentralization to an attempt to build a new vertical of power. The author examines and resolves the issue related to the ever-increasing personnel shortage in the process of staffing the militia. The draws the conclusion concerning the overall effectiveness of the established system of law and order.

The paper analyzes the mechanism of state administration of the healthcare system in the Soviet Union at the regional level. For illustration purposes only, the author focuses on twenty years of the post-war period — from 1945 to 1965. The object of the study was the healthcare system of the Kursk region. The paper analyzes the legal framework of healthcare in the USSR, which developed during these years. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that the regulatory legal acts in the field of healthcare that were available at that time did not allow the management of the healthcare system to be fully formed using legal methods. Until 1969, more than one law regulating the healthcare system was not even adopted in the USSR. The underdevelopment of the legal framework led to the fact that, along with state structures represented by the Ministries of Health of the USSR and the RSFSR and their local bodies, the CPSU (VKP(b) bodies played a significant role in the health system. Based on archival materials from the state archives of the Kursk region, the author analyzes the mechanism of functioning of health management in the period under review at the regional level. According to the results of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the mechanism of health care administration was based not only on normative legal acts of the state, but also on decisions of party bodies. Therefore, the experience of healthcare management in the Soviet period cannot be used in modern Russia, which has embarked on the path of building a rule of law state.

The paper examines the issue of authentication of a contract for the sale of a tourist product within the framework of established civil law relations. Tourism, which has an impact on logistics and is one of the highly profitable sectors of economy, is an integral part of the economic activity of the Russian Federation. The relevance of the work is determined by the fact that the discussion of the legal regulation of the provision of tourist services in science is quite young. The elimination of the economic troubles of the nineties brings the understanding of the importance of tourism in the country to a different level, requiring appropriate regulatory regulation. There is a need both for state mechanisms to stabilize the studied area of public relations, and for proper intervention of the dispositive principles of civil law. Over the thirty years of streamlining the tourism sector, the sectoral law has undergone many changes against the background of growing tourist flows. The conceptual framework is still imperfect, there is no unified approach to the issue of tourist legal relations, and there are errors in the civil protection of consumers involved in the obligations to provide paid tourist services. The regulatory regulation of the process of selling a tourist product deals with a special design of agreements that allow the tourist and the counterparty to choose the best option for contractual registration of relations. According to the legislation, the contract under study is an agreement under which a professional subject of tourist activity undertakes to provide a targeted range of tourist services to a customer who undertakes to pay for it.

The paper analyzes the problems associated with the development of patent law. The patent system development in Russia will make it possible to have a positive impact on economic growth and ensure a certain degree of autonomy in the economic sphere. The relevance of this problem is related to the rapid technological development of other countries. The author gives three main reasons for the weak development of the patent protection in the Russian Federation: intellectual migration, imperfect legal regulation in patent legislation and problems related to the legal protection of patents, in particular, the judicial protection of patent rights. The author analyzes the experience of foreign countries in solving the problem of human capital outflow and evaluates the possibility of applying various approaches to solving this problem in the Russian Federation. The author concludes that these approaches cannot be used in Russia to full extent at the moment. Therefore, a fundamental change in the economic situation in the state is necessary. The imperfection of legal regulation can be explained by relatively recent introduction of the law regulating patent law, as well as a small number of developed practices on this legislation. Thus, the author does not propose large-scale changes in legislation, but insists that adjustments in some areas of patent legislation are necessary. The problem of judicial protection of patent rights is also identified, which is associated with a heavy workload of courts due to a large number of cases, in connection with the author proposes to alter the mechanism of the pre-trial dispute settlement procedure.

The paper is devoted to imposing administrative liability for violations of bankruptcy legislation. The paper considers the main types of violators who are subject to administrative responsibility. Special attention is paid to the classification of violations of bankruptcy legislation, as well as to the definition of administrative liability measures applicable to persons who have committed such violations. The paper provides a detailed review of the sanctions provided for by law and their effectiveness in preventing violations in the field of bankruptcy. Special attention is paid to such a type of administrative punishment as disqualification. The author compares domestic sanctions with its counterparts in Germany and the United States. The paper concludes that there is a need to change the approach to sanctions applied in the Russian Federation. The paper analyzes the current legislation, the decision of the Constitutional Court and judicial practice, identifying shortcomings and contradictions in legislation concerning administrative offenses in the field of bankruptcy. The author makes his own proposals to amend Articles 2.9, 14.12–14.14 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation that can make domestic legislation more effective in regulating relations related to violations of bankruptcy legislation.

Global climate change is another factor in occurrence of natural disasters, as a result of which damage is caused to the population, economic and transport facilities; the infrastructure of cities and settlements is destroyed. Developing countries are particularly affected by climate change. Currently, the international community has reached a certain consensus on losses and damage that take place due to climate change. The author shows that the practical dilemma in identifying liability for damage because of losses caused by climate change lies in the fact that a number of international treaties on climate change, e.g., the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, do not clarify the legal basis for compensation. There are certain difficulties in determining the subject of liability, and the lack of a mandatory mechanism for compensation for damage. The article shows that the direction of solving this problem is the allocation of a mandatory mechanism of responsibility, primarily of developed countries to developing countries, as well as to review the mechanism for the formation of climate funds.

The paper attempts to explore the problem of mobilization of Russian emigrants in the French army during the outbreak of World War II. In 1939, several thousand Russian emigrants were mobilized in France at the beginning of the war, most of whom did not have French citizenship and were in France as stateless persons. Mobilization was made possible by means of adoption in France of several legal acts related to the law on conscription. According to them, young people who did not have citizenship but live in France had to enlist in the country’s army within their age group. Thus, the Decree of April 12, 1939, equalized some categories of foreigners who lived in France to the French themselves in the matter of conscription, and concerned foreigners who settled in France a long time ago and those who arrived recently. The entry into force of this provision caused great criticism from Russian emigrants. Despite this, France nevertheless confirmed its intention to conscript stateless persons for its military service. Thus, during the outbreak of World War II, the French Army turned out to have many famous Russian emigrants in the future, some of whom became participants in the French resistance movement. The rapid defeat of France had a negative impact on the future defensive forces of the Russian diaspora, which could have ended up in the French Resistance if they had not been captured by the Germans.

The paper examines the features of the international law regulation of biomedical research involving humans. Special attention is paid to the Nuremberg Code of 1947, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocol of 1977, the Helsinki Declaration of 1964. These international documents reflected the gradual formation of principles that ensure the rights of the participants. It is noted that inhuman experiments on people, the grossest violation of the absolute human right to protection from torture, cruel, degrading treatment and punishment became the subject of universal consideration after World War II and became the basis for the appearance in international documents of the concept of «voluntary consent of a person involved in a medical experiment.» The author concludes that the legal regulation of biomedical research involving humans has passed a long period of formation and continues its development. The latest judicial practice indicates that conducting illegal experiments on people remains a socially significant problem. Moreover, in view of scientific and technological progress, which has now reached unprecedented heights and opportunities, the improvement of mechanisms for the protection of human rights in the field of biomedical research is becoming particularly relevant.

The paper provides the author’s understanding of the role and place of moral elements in the institute of Russian allegiance. Using the example of historical normative acts and specific cases of joining Russian citizenship, it is proved that allegiance, although it acted as a legal institution, had a significant moral and ethical content. This conclusion is based primarily on the analysis of the texts of the oath, which was given when accepting Russian allegiance. In particular, it contained the main duties voluntarily recognized by the new subjects. It is noted that the key duty of a subject was to follow the moral category of «loyalty». In turn, the Russian state, relying on Orthodox doctrine, provided protection and patronage to new subjects. In conclusion, it is stated that the modern Russian state is interested in increasing its population at the expense of people who consciously connect their lives with Russia and are ready to sincerely work for its benefit. For its part, Russia is ready to provide them with protection and patronage. In this regard, the introduction of norms into the federal law «On Citizenship of the Russian Federation», which provides for an oath upon entry into Russian citizenship, is evaluated as an example of a successful reception of domestic historical experience into the legal system. Such an oath is not of a religious nature, as it has been historically, which is quite justified, given the secular nature of the state, declared in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. However, the modern concept of citizenship is based on moral imperatives as well as on the imperatives from the past.

The paper examines the legal foundations of the organization of local government, fixed by the Regulations on provincial and county Zemstvo institutions of 1864. Analyzing the structure of Zemstvo institutions, the work determines that they were created at the county and provincial levels. Zemstvo assemblies and councils were established in all provinces and counties. Assemblies were formed by the population of the county and province, in which elections were held on the basis of the curial system. A stronger side of the formation of the town council of members was the differentiation that was used in the organization of elections. Thus, a property qualification was introduced for landowners and urban residents. In turn, a multi-stage order was introduced for the rural curia through the institution of electors. Thus, it is worth emphasizing the complex nature of the reforms of Emperor Alexander II, and the work concludes that the reform of the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and the Zemstvo reform were connected. It is particularly worth emphasizing the connection of the Zemstvo reform with the Judicial Reform, according to which the election of magistrates was attributed to the competence of the county zemstvo assembly. The paper analyzes the subjects of the department and the limits of the power of the zemstvo institutions, which are fixed in the third chapter of the Regulation. The jurisdiction of the emerging bodies included issues related to the local needs of each county and province, which is of particular importance for the systemic development of the country and bridging the gap between the administrative center and the regions. The paper elucidates the functioning of the zemstvo institutions, namely: the organization of meetings, its quorum, the work of the departments. The Regulation provides for the reporting and responsibility of zemstvo institutions. In general, the progressive nature of the Zemstvo Reform of 1864 is emphasized, which was a kind of political school in the field and contributed to the formation and development of civil society.

The author focuses on the problems of constitutional construction in the history of the Soviet state. The study is based on the Constitution of the USSR of 1936 as a legal source, the content of which still attracts the attention of experts and generates various assessments of this legal source. The paper analyzes the features of the legal norms of the Constitution of the USSR in the context of political development of the Soviet state in the 30–50s of the 20th century. Special attention is paid to the assessment of the declarative nature of individual norms of law. There is a certain interrelation between the concepts of declarative norms of law and constitutional values. At the same time, the author draws attention to the fact that Soviet constitutionalism adopted the experience of state and law transformations in Europe during the Great French Revolution. It was France that contributed to the wide dissemination of documents-declarations that formed the basis of the constitutions of the opposing political forces and reflected their programmatic attitudes. It should also be noted that one of the sources of the USSR Constitution of 1936 was the Weimar Constitution of 1919 in Germany, primarily in terms of declaring the rights and freedoms of citizens. The relevance of historical and legal analysis of the Soviet Constitution of 1936 is obvious due to the fact that there is no uniform approach in the academic literature in interpreting the content of declarative constitutional norms. Legal scholars, along with declarative norms of law, identify target norms, norms-principles, norms-definitions, which increases discrepancies and deprives the norms-declarations of content in practice. In historical studies, on the contrary, declarativity of the Constitution of the USSR is considered in the context of the failure to implement its legal norms in the realities of the political system of the Stalinist period. One can find statements that it was the 1936 Constitution that contributed to the formation of a regime based on autocracy and lawlessness («repressive constitutionalism», «nominal constitutionalism»). However, it must be borne in mind that the legal and historical analysis of the Constitution are based on different methodological approaches, which determines the presence in the scientific space of excellent assessments of the political and legal significance of the 1936 Constitution of the USSR for the history of Russian statehood development.

The paper examines the evolution of Pavel I. Novgorodtsev’s views in the post-revolutionary period regarding the state and law image of future Russia. The initial conviction of the need to preserve constitutional dualistic monarchy in Russia was replaced by faith in the possibility of establishing a republican form of government. During the Civil War the scholar considered it possible to restore order in the country only through a constitutional (limited) dictatorship of the Bonapartist type. The events of the Russian Revolution of 1917, series of events caused by the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–1905 and the first Russian Revolution did not change Novgorodtsev’s views concerning the establishment of ideal law and the rule of law in Russia. However, the events of the 1917 Revolution, social crisis intensification and brutality of the Civil War persuaded the scholar to accept the need for a temporary rejection of democratic values. Since the beginning of 1917, Novgorodtsev had been in increasingly close contact with representatives of the right camp, which has affected the deformation of his legal consciousness. In exile, the scholar shared the ideas of the Russian intelligentsia, including moderate monarchists and right-wing cadets. The author provides a general assessment of the evolution of the lawyer’s state law views in the final part of the paper.