Subject and hypothesis. The article interrogates the legal nature, forms, and distinctive features of public participation mediated by digital technologies in the Russian Federation, arguing that the term “crowdsourcing”, rooted in private law, lacks normative certainty for public administration. The working hypothesis is that “civic cooperation” can and should be conceptualized as a distinct public law institution, differing from private law crowd technologies by its procedural legal framing, legally relevant outcomes, and enforceable guarantees of participation.Goal. The study aims to substantiate and introduce into legal scholarship a definition of “civic cooperation” as a public law institution, identify its constitutive features and forms, and propose directions for legal regulation that ensure equality, transparency, and accountability of digitally mediated participation.Methods and methodology. The research employs doctrinal legal analysis; historical and comparative perspectives on the evolution from early forms of collective problem-solving to digital platforms; functional comparison of private law crowd models (crowdprocessing, crowdsolving, crowdcreation, crowdrating, crowdvoting, crowdfunding) with public law analogues (public consultations, regulatory impact assessment, petitions, participatory budgeting, public control, e-voting, participation in procurement and PPP/concession frameworks); and normative analysis of Russian constitutional and statutory guarantees (popular sovereignty, equality, access to information, petitions, data protection) as well as sub-statutory procedural rules.Results. The paper demonstrates that in the private sphere crowdsourcing is an organizational technological model whose outcomes are typically factual and legally consequential only at the initiator’s discretion, while motivation is mixed and monetary incentives are ancillary. Transposed into public administration, identical technological forms require legal mediation: the object of regulation becomes legally significant procedures for engaging an indeterminate number of citizens in preparing and adopting administrative or regulatory acts; coordination by a public authority is mandatory; and results must be documented, reasoned, and linked to final acts with justiciable consequences. The study formulates an original definition of “civic cooperation” as a legally regulated set of procedures of citizen involvement that culminate in a legally relevant outcome (an administrative act or other public decision) and trigger obligations of consideration, reasoned assessment, publication, and accountability. The findings confirm the hypothesis: civic cooperation constitutes a distinct public law institution rather than a mere transfer of crowdsourcing techniques.

Subject. The article considers the system of fiscalization of settlements using cash registers in the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is stated that the uncertainty of the legal regulation of this area creates the basis for tax evasion. As a result, the author identifies growth points for increasing the level of tax discipline by improving the legal framework: demarcation of the sphere of fiscalization, revision of the system of tax penalties and the introduction of new types of sanctions and interim measures against violators, improvement of the motivation system of civil control.The purpose of the study. The purpose of the article is to develop regulatory proposals to eliminate legal uncertainty in the field of fiscalization of settlements in the Republic of Uzbekistan in order to increase the level of tax security of the country. Methodology. The formal legal and comparative legal methods have been used in the course of the study.Conclusions. In the course of the research, the author has prepared a number of proposals to improve the legal mechanism of fiscalization of settlements in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The subject of study is the category of "virtual reality," as examined by the authors in the context of multiplayer online games.The purpose of the article is to analyze modern approaches to defining the concept of virtual reality and the relationships arising from the circulation of virtual reality objects. The research methodology incorporates general scientific methods, as well as a comparative research method and a formal legal approach.Results. An analysis of modern approaches to defining the concept of virtual reality and the relationships arising from the circulation of virtual reality objects suggests both the possibility and the necessity of regulating such relationships, particularly in the context of online games. In identifying the philosophical basis of this study, the authors of the article believe that the ontological principle of virtual reality lies in overcoming the limitations of human nature within a virtual environment. The desire to regulate all aspects of human life is excessive and does not lead to the desired consequences. However, virtual gaming actions will be subject to real law if the participant understands that their actions will have consequences in the real world. To support their position, the authors apply the so-called "magic circle theory": the rules in the game space differ from those in the real world until a violation of the game rules is detected, leading to negative consequences for the copyright holder in reality.The authors focus on the relationships that develop between participants in multiplayer online games. These relationships are used as an example of virtual reality, which has been insufficiently studied from a legal perspective and lacks qualified legal regulation.The authors identify three main approaches developed in legal scholarship regarding the description of virtual reality, gameplay, its objects, and relationships: reification of virtual world objects by applying property law to the relevant relationships; consideration of the relationships between players transferring game assets as services for modifying game parameters; and description of the relationships between players as the transfer of a claim (a claim) between the initial and subsequent users of virtual property under a contract for the provision of services for organizing the game process (an agreement between the initial user and the game organizer).In examining the legal classification of relationships between players regarding the alienation of various in-game items in multiplayer online games, the authors seek to answer the question: are such transactions permissible, do they have legal significance, and which legal institution and branch of law should regulate the actions of players? The article concludes that in these cases, a transfer of rights of claim (right of claim) occurs between the users-players: the right of claim against the game developer, arising from the agreement with the gaming organization, is transferred. Currently, this classification of relationships is considered optimal, but it is temporary. According to the authors, neither property law nor contract law in their traditional forms can serve as a full-fledged regulator of virtual reality; sooner or later, courts and legislators will be forced to recognize virtual property as a special type of social relationship.

The subject of the research is the methodological problem of identification of some world regions as a legal systems and legal families. In recent years, in practical comparative legal studies (calculation of indices of the rule of law, human rights and freedom of the press), as well as in theoretical comparative legal literature, there has been a problem of incorrect universalization of legal system identification criteria based on the Western legal tradition alone. This problem is also particularly clearly manifested in the uncertainty of European legal space regions in the context of their attribution to a separate legal family. A striking example of such an uncertain region is Eastern Europe.The purpose of the research is to substantiate the directions for improving legal comparative legal research in the context of postclassical methodology, namely the approach from the point of view of legal values and in the aspect of legitimacy of legal institutions in the investigated legal system.Methodology. The interdisciplinary approach serves as the methodological basis of this research. It provides a synthesis of methodological tools of classical jurisprudence and methodological techniques and achievements of related socio-humanitarian fields of knowledge and post-classical jurisprudence. In our research we use sociological studies, especially legal sociology, political science and legal axiology, which allows a comprehensive study of the legal systems and legal families on a real case of investigated countries.Results and conclusions. The authors revised the existing criteria for classifying legal families, considered the criteria for the separation of legal families, as well as the classifications of legal families themselves, proposed by R. Leger, K. Zweigert and H. Ketz, V.A. Lafitsky. From the standpoint of non-classical science, authors propose a mechanism for verifying the legal system from the legal axiology point of view. This axiological approach can be applicated through an assessment of the legitimacy of norms, according to its value basis. In a dependence of affiliation of these values as a western or eastern (liberal or conservative etc.) it is correct to conclude that one legal system belongs to a particular legal family.The main results. The authors conclude that the prospects for the development of contemporary comparative law also lie in strengthening an interdisciplinary approach that allows combining the achievements of jurisprudence with sociology, philosophy, economics and cultural studies. The conducted integrative study of legal traditions opens up new possibilities for the analysis of legal systems. For example, it allows us to solve a specific research problem on the relevance of the legal systems of Eastern Europe to the Slavic legal family. The prerequisites for substantiating this conclusion were a shift in focus from the analysis of a not entirely universal criteria of legal ideology to the more basic criterion of legal axiology. It also allowed us to offer tools that opened up opportunities for a more differentiated definition of values relevant to the corresponding legal system through an analysis of the legitimacy of institutions and norms.

The subject. The article examines the basic approaches to the regulatory framework for informing and campaigning in the context of the growing influence of global digitalization on electoral law, the use of previously unknown digital technologies and the transfer of electoral legal relations to the Internet space.The aim of the article is to identify the specific features of legal regulation of informing and campaigning in digital era.The study of informing and campaigning was conducted with the methodology of a systems approach, formal legal interpretation of legislative acts and comparative legal analysis.Main results. The search for an optimal mechanism for information support for elections in the context of changes in the content of the subjective rights of participants in the electoral process actualizes the need to improve the traditionally understood procedure for observing, implementing and using the law. The increasing complexity of the process of interaction between participants in legal relations and the expanding list of legal liability measures emphasize the importance of resolving law enforcement issues. The establishment of an expanded list of entities entitled to campaign in social networks, the inclusion of various information resources on the Internet (including the so-called "new media") in the list of sources of information dissemination, the possibility of recognizing the informational nature of materials distributed in the media by those entities that, by law, are subjects of campaigning activities – all this leads to the erasure of the boundaries between informing and campaigning and, in fact, to the creation of a new information electoral space for the preparation and holding of elections, requiring the establishment of new requirements and principles for its organization.Conclusions The dissemination of campaigning in the field of the Internet space (digital services) transforms the rules for conducting campaigning. They become more unified, strictly ranked, which brings campaigning closer to informing and transfers the freedom of use of the right to the plane of compliance with the specified rules.

Subject. The article considers changes in the system of municipal financial control organization in the context of the ongoing reform of local government organization in the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study is to identify the main trends in the development of municipal financial control and their characteristics.Methodology. The following methods of analysis were used in the work: statistical, data synthesis, formal legal, system-structural, comparative legal, as well as the general scientific dialectical method of cognition.Main results. The trends of maintaining the ratio of the share of municipal audit and accounts chambers to the total number of municipalities, improving the forms and methods of municipal financial control, and automating it through the introduction of modern information technologies are identified, which increases the transparency of the budget process at all levels of public authority. Conclusions. Summing up the trends analysis in the municipal financial control development, it should be noted such a quality of the organization system as sustainability. Although, in the context of the territorial foundations of local self-government reform, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of municipalities, the ratio of the share of control and accounting bodies of municipalities to the total number of municipalities remains at the level of 12%. The forms (preliminary) and methods of organizing municipal financial control are being improved, and the participation of individual subjects (citizens) in its implementation is being intensified. The introduction of modern information technologies, on the one hand, ensures transparency of the budget process, and, on the other, poses new challenges in the training and advanced training of specialists engaged in control activities.

Subject. The authors reveal the main groups of modern technologies that can be used to improve the effectiveness of investigative activities, to describe the ways of their penetration into forensic practice and to outline the value of information that can be obtained as a result of their application. The relevance of this work is due to the fact that scientific and technological progress affects all spheres of society, including law enforcement, in this regard, special attention today among the professional community deserve the issues of competent implementation of technical achievements in the practice of detection and investigation of crimes.The purpose of this study was to prove that the introduction of modern technologies only after the prior enshrinement of the possibility of their use in the law, is currently irrational.Such an approach is not conditioned by the existing rules and negatively affects the effectiveness of investigative activities.The methodology. The authors used the interdisciplinary approach, methods of analogy, analysis and synthesis.The main results. As a result of the study, four groups of technologies were identified: complexes aimed at automation; decision support systems; means of working with computer information; other technologies that increase the efficiency of traditional processes. In each group, specific technologies that are most in demand in today's practice are described. Based on this, the basic principles that can guide the introduction of new technologies in investigative activities are formulated: the presumption of free determination of technical means for the production of investigative actions; restriction of human rights only by judicial authorization; autonomy of decisions of an official; preservation of the value of information while maintaining its integrity.Conclusions. According to the results of the conducted research it is concluded that the reliance on the proposed principles, as well as the action by analogy with the considered specific models will allow investigators to successfully determine how to adapt the new technology to solve the problems of detection and investigation of crimes.

The subject. The issue of the modern value of theoretical and historical sciences is considered. It is proved that these sciences continue to be irreplaceable for the development of legal ideas, legal values, general legal dogma, fulfil a certain role as the basis of law-making and lawenforcement practice. The competence approach implemented in higher education should not lead to the reduction of theoretical and historical knowledge. At the same time, the assessment of modern research in the field of these sciences for their relevance and scientific novelty depends on the extent to which these studies actually contribute to the development of legal ideas (legal values) and general legal dogma applied in practice. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the importance of theoretical and historical sciences in the field of legal science as a whole at the current stage of its development. Methodology. The following methods were used: combination of dialectical method with the methods of formal logic, formal legal and comparative legal analysis.Main results. It seems that the question about the expediency of studying theoreticalhistorical sciences in the educational programmes for legal specialties should be answered affirmatively, as they remain relevant and practically applicable and will continue to be in the future. Despite the fact that today there is a controversial but widespread view stating that theoretical and historical sciences are no longer able to respond to the relevant challenges and have a significant disconnection with practical jurisprudence, lawyers nowadays still should be taught to think, to analyse legal acts and other legal information,

The article analyzes the approaches of the federal legislator to determining the status of a city in the context of territorial and organizational foundations of local government activities in the Russian Federation based on the identification of trends in the development of legislation on the organization of public authority in Russian cities. At the current stage of development, there is a search for an optimal model for organizing a unified system of public authority and determining strategic guidelines for sustainable spatial development, which is reflected in discussions at the level of the expert community and at the level of drafting bills on urban space management. The issue of the structure of public authorities and the delineation of powers acquires new content when forming urban districts with intra-city division and intra-city districts. Based on the experience of organizing and operating urban districts with intra-city division, the problems and prospects of this approach to territorial planning and organizing public authority are identified.The purpose of the work is to identify the optimal approach to the relationship between the balance of public and private interests in organizing public authority in Russian cities and an effective approach to determining the list of “urban issues”. In this aspect, the issue of more effective delineation of powers between different levels of public authority comes to the forefront in order to maintain a unified urban policy in the sphere of ensuring sustainable spatial development of the Russian Federation.The main research methods are comparative legal and formal legal. They were used to analyze and compare regulatory acts and proposed projects.The main results. The author concludes that it is necessary to amend Russian legislation on the organization of public authorities in cities. The effectiveness of urban development depends on many factors, among which the primary ones are clear legal instruments for managing urban space and legal regulation of future socio-economic development based on the use of new technologies of strategic planning at different territorial levels of governance.

The subject. In the 20th century the problems of urbanization began to be discussed at the international level. In the early of the present century the international community moved to develop standards for human rights in cities. At the same time, special attention was given to the right to the city. The article is devoted to the analysis of foreign legislation and law enforcement of the right to the city. Examples of states in which the right to the city has been reflected in legislation, as well as states in which the right to the city has been recognized through judicial decisions, are discussed separately.Only a few studies can be found in Russian legal science, which fragmentarily analyzed the experience of foreign countries (primarily Brazil) in terms of the consolidation and recognition of the right to the city. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to summarize comparative legal approaches in interpreting the right to the city, as well as to identify differences in them.The methodology of the study includes general scientific methods of cognition (methods of analysis, system approach, deduction and induction), special methods of cognition (comparative-legal, formal-legal) and method of interdisciplinary research.The main results. The right to the city has been legislated in the states of South and Central America. This is explained by two reasons: the high level of urban population and false urbanization. Three states were chosen for the study: Ecuador, Brazil and Mexico. The right to the city has obtained the status of a constitutional right in Ecuador. In Brazil the foundations for the right to the city were laid at the constitutional level. However, it was set forth in a separate law – the City Statute of 2001. It is noted that the right has not become declarative. It has had a significant impact on urban planning regulation and the protection of the rights of citizens. The right to the city is considered as one of the principles of urban planning policy in Mexico and was established in Constitution of Mexico City.It is also analyzed the experience of states in which the right to the city has not been formalized. South Africa and India, where the right to the city has actually been recognized by the courts in resolving housing disputes, are selected as examples. This allowed the author to state that even in the absence of formalization, the idea of the right to the city can be used to protect the rights of citizens.the possibility of application of the right to the city in the states of Europe and North America, the author notes the widespread use of the other approach to the protection of the rights of the urban population – the concept of “human rights in the city”. However, the author provides arguments in favor of the right to the city and states that the foundations for its development in the states of Europe and North America are laid by the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City.