2014 Issue №9

This article examines legal conscience in view of its little-studied generating function. The author considers the ideas affecting legal consciousness in different types of cultures – humanocentric and sociocentric ones. The idea of power underlies legal consciousness in sociocentric cultures, and the idea of freedom that of person-oriented cultures. The deformations of legal consciousness characteristic of modern Russia are explained by an incomplete transition from socio- to himanocentrism.

This article analyses the emergence of canon law as a science and academic discipline in the Baltic area in the second half of 19th/early 20th centuries. The author emphasizes the role of the Tartu University in the organizational development of ecclesiastical law in legal education system of the Russian Empire. The article describes the general religious situation in the Baltic area and explores the role of the personality of a scientist in the development of a research area.

This article examines changes in the federal laws governing the institution of citizenship in the Russian Federation. Proposals on improving the existing legislation are made based on the analysis conducted.

This article analyses the socio-psychological determinants of corruption and the features of this phenomenon in the 19th century and today. It is concluded that, in the current condition, a more sever criminal penalty can have a greater effect than continuing and costly efforts to reduce poverty and wealth inequality in population. Of significance is the application of the principles of legality and inevitability of punishment for corruption-related crimes.

This article discusses the interpretation of legal norms by courts, which consist primarily in understanding the law. The interpretation of the law is often conducted alongside the interpretation of the statute, which requires serious professional and academic training, especially, if it involves the use of constitutional norms, analogy of law, and the principles of law. The authors stress that the courts of the Russian Federation do not create sources of law, but merely interpret them in the framework of their powers with the exception of the Constitutional Court, which has consistently emphasized over the years that the legal positions contained in its decisions are not only normative, but also have legal force equal to that of the Constitution.