2011 Issue №9

The analysis of existing rule of International humanitarian law governing the cases of use of human shields by the parties of armed conflict justifies the conclusion that these persons are a sui generis case and should be regarded as an exception to a number of general rules. As a result, they should not be classified as taking a direct part in hostilities and must be treated according to the principle of proportionality provided that the permissible level of excessiveness of collateral damage can be lowered.

This article analyses contradictions in the application of citizenship legislation. As of today, the application of Part III Article 13 of the Law on citizenship of 1991 (recognition as a citizen) contradicts the letter of the law. The author makes proposals regarding the changes in such practice.

The article considers the right of operative administration as the statutory right to own, use and dispose of another’s property in their own
interests by representing different scientific points of view and opinions of scientists about the nature of the right of operative administration and by highlighting modern scientific research works that give further development to the right of operative administration.

In the course of establishing legitimate limitations and control over trade navigation in the open sea, the need to define the nature of vessel's activity is of utmost importance for the ascertainment of vessel's immunity. At the same time, today, the international legislator establishes two criteria of the commercial character of a deal: the "purpose" of the deal and the "nature of the deal", the latter being the crucial one. The author considers the theoretical aspects of the priority of "purpose" criterion for the ascertainment of the non-commercial character of the vessel's
activity in the framework of functional immunity concept.

This article analyses the problem of maintaining the secrecy of adoption at the trial stage. The author makes certain proposals regarding the improvement of adoption legislation and analyses different scholarly perspectives on the legal nature of secrecy of adoption and its practicality.