The article examines the issues arising from defining the essence and specifics of an ethical code as a unique institution and regulator of human behavior. The heterogeneous nature of the ethical code as a social phenomenon existing at the intersection of law, morality, and administration in managing human behavior is subjected to detailed analysis. The author identifies and discusses evolution of the concept of law from a purely legal phenomenon to a semantically significant image present in the realm of religious and scientific experience, shaping the subject-conceptual schemes of theology, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The juridification of various areas of social experience resulting from this fact, including moral regulation, is considered. Additionally, the article analyses the specific situation created by the ambiguity of ethics and law as different forms of public consciousness, as well as the classification of international ethical codes under soft law, and national and professional ones under self-regulation.

Based on the analysis of the regional legal acts on the human rights protection in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) the article characterizes the current situation in this field in the context of the reset of the CIS Human Rights Commission activities in October 2022. The authors conduct a comparative legal analysis trying to determine what procedures and mechanisms that proved most effective in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights can lay a solid foundation for establishing a CIS Court of Human Rights, and they outline the potential competence of a new court in the future. Key priorities and areas of cooperation between the CIS Member States in light of the task of increasing the effectiveness of a regional human rights protection system are highlighted in the concluding part, namely elaborating the CIS Model Law to enforce the implementation of the CIS Court of Human Rights decisions at the national level including the creation of compliance monitoring bodies, the appointment criteria and the tenure guarantees for the prospective judges; adopting a new regional treaty on the establishment of the CIS Court of Human Rights to define its competence, jurisdiction, institutional structure, procedural rules, and relationship with the national judicial systems of the CIS Member States; updating regulatory documents that already exists at the CIS level; optimizing the institutional framework to increase the efficiency of the functioning CIS Commission on Human Rights.

The author examines the basics of legal regulation of the development of the newest direction of economic knowledge — bioeconomy, which is understood by modern science as economy based on the application of biotechnologies using renewable biological raw materials. Bioeconomy is closely related to environmental issues, including the implementation of the concept of sustainable development that provides for the functioning of the national economic complex of the State, when simultaneously ensuring: satisfaction of the growing material and spiritual needs of the population; rational and environmentally friendly management and highly efficient use of natural resources; maintaining favorable natural and environmental conditions for human health, preserving, reproducing and enhancing the quality of the environment and the natural resource potential of social production. The purpose of this research is to study the key regulatory documents adopted at the global and regional levels to ensure the progressive development of the bioeconomy, and the features of the implementation of the fundamental provisions of these documents into national law. In conclusion, approaches that can be borrowed into the legal system of the Russian Federation are considered.

The authors of this study analyze problematic aspects of the interrelation of economic processes in entrepreneurial activity with certain issues of legal regulation and law enforcement. Taking into account the current problems of law enforcement, this work pays special attention to the need to apply timely practical analysis of the main legal risks of business. The problematic aspects of legal awareness on the use of expert assistance in bankruptcy, tax and economic disputes, in the investigation of economic crimes, in “shareholder” conflicts, as well as in the processes of countering corporate fraud and corruption are touched upon. The methodological basis consists of general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition of socio-legal phenomena, normative, logical, systemic, functional, retrospective analysis. A separate place is given to the study of the ability of business entities to effectively defend themselves against unjustified claims from the State, counterparties, creditors and former partners, as well as issues of effective use of tools of prevention and combating corporate fraud. According to the results of the study, the authors reveal from a scientific and law enforcement point of view the positive trend of attracting experts to prevent risks in the process of entrepreneurial activity.

The paper explores employment contract termination under third-party pressure, a topic that gained prominence during the pandemic. It categorises pressure termination into partial and complete pressure termination and highlights their differences. The authors also examine the conditions for pressure termination and its legal consequences. This issue is particularly examined within the context of terminating a contract of an employee whose spouse/partner is a healthcare worker as a result of colleagues’ pressure at the time of the pandemic. The paper shows that terminating the contract of such an employee can exemplify complete pressure termination if conditions are met and it is prohibited to terminate the contract without notice. It also explains that such employees can claim compensation under general provisions. Though focused on the pandemic, the findings can apply to analogous situations, such as a professor pressuring a university to dismiss an assistant without valid cause.

The study examines the principles of restitution under Jordanian law from various aspects, with a primary focus on restitution within the context of tortious liability. Restitution is an underlying commitment under contractual liability where the debtor is obliged to perform what he committed to perform under the law, which will achieve the creditor’s satisfaction. Restitution under tortious liability is no less critical than other compensation, as it results in restoring the position of the injured party to what it was before the damage was caused, and achieves the satisfaction of the injured party, who will be compensated with the same type of thing that was damaged. This study purports to clarify the perspective of Jordanian law that does not address restitution in the context of tortious liability. It provides a critical analysis of the relevant provisions regarding restitution outlined in the Jordanian Civil Code (JCC) and other applicable legislation that addresses restitution in the context of tortious liability. The paper concludes with findings accompanied by a series of recommendations designed to address the identified gaps in Jordanian regulations.

The issue of extending legal liability to artificial intelligence — that is broader than its legal capacity — has been within law and technology. The main array of questions in this area is focused on understanding the specific characteristics of artificial intelligence in the context of its regulation, which inevitably leads to a number of fundamental and applied questions. The integration of artificial intelligence into the legal framework requires a clear understanding of its functional capabilities and limitations. Its autonomy and ability to self-learn provide a basis for discussions about legal personality and the potential for accountability. Such considerations inevitably raise questions about how exactly artificial intelligence can participate in legal relationships, as well as what rights and obligations may be associated with its functioning. In this regard, one of the cornerstones remains the question of introducing artificial intelligence into the circle of entities subject to legal liability, which necessitates the exploration of existing approaches to defining this category and the subsequent step of developing acceptable conceptual approaches concerning the legal capacity of modern technologically complex systems. The main task of the research is to present the existing conceptual constructs, based on a detailed analysis of the existing concepts regarding artificial intelligence and its legal capacity.

Recently, Internet platforms have been increasingly active in Kazakhstan, providing services, passenger transportation and food delivery. With this in mind, in 2023 the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted. The Social Code regulates platform employment and makes partial additions to the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on this issue. These additions need to reveal the true essence of platform employment due to the need for more elaboration on certain problems and on the lack of consideration of many European countries’ international practices and court decisions. Modern approaches to the regulation of platform employment have been revealed in European, Russian and Kazakh scientists’ works. The analysis of the works of these scientists allowed the authors of this paper to draw several conceptual conclusions, such as the objective need to classify the self-employed into “independent self-employed” and “dependent self-employed”, depending on which norms of civil and labor legislation can be applied. With this classification, particular importance should be given to the principle of authority — subordination in the relationship of the platform with its performers (or employees) in order to identify signs of a classic labor relationship. According to the authors’ opinion, in the conditions of a legal vacuum, it is proposed to reflect the most optimal ways of regulating such employment in the future law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Platform Employment”. The authors’ main idea is that when regulating platform employment, a rebuttable presumption of labor relations should be introduced and the burden of proving the absence of labor relations should be imposed on the platform.

The concept of Constitutional Morality that is rooted in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision has emerged to be an often contested and pivotal doctrine in the jurisprudence of the Indian Constitution. The concept broadly emphasizes adhering to the core Constitutional principles like liberty, fraternity, equality and justice over populist sentiments or majoritarianism. The judicial interpretation of the concept has evolved with considerable divUrsity that has at times led to contradictory or contrasting applications by the various benches of High Courts and the Supreme Court. In cases like Indian Young Lawyers Association vs State of Kerala and Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India the concept was invoked to challenge the populist sentiments and expand individual rights. Conversely, in a few cases a restrained or deferential stance was adopted by the courts. This diversity in the interpretation of the concept raises critical questions about subjectivity of the concept and judicial over-reach. Some critics are of the opinion that an expansive and undefined use of the concept may blur the lines between moral policing and judicial reasoning. On the other hand, the proponents assert that it is necessary to enable social transformation and to uphold the constitutional ethos. The legal implications of the divergent interpretations are profound because it has a direct bearing on the civil liberties, policy and the balance between the three organs, legislative, executive and judiciary. This commentary addresses how the concept of Constitutional Morality, though a powerful interpretative tool, requires consistent jurisprudential clarity to prevent arbitrariness and to ensure that it remains anchored in the constitutional values, text and democratic accountability.

The majority of states nowadays grant legal protection to photographs. Most often, photography is the object of related rights. However, legislative solutions are not limited to this approach. The legal protection of photographs varies significantly across different jurisdictions, often due to historical, cultural, and legal influences. For example, in some countries, photographs are protected as objects of neighboring rights or as a separate group of objects. This article explores the legal protectability of photographs through a comparative analysis focusing on four countries: Germany, France, Italy, and China. It reveals that while all these countries offer some form of legal protection to photographs, the nature and extent of this protection can differ markedly. Based on the comparison of approaches, the peculiarities of legal regulation of photography (as an object of intellectual property rights) are revealed. This comparative study reveals notable differences in the legal criteria and scope of protection, reflecting diverse cultural and legal traditions associated with intellectual property rights. Understanding these distinctions is essential for photographers, legal practitioners, and policymakers involved in intellectual property rights, ensuring that the protection granted is appropriate to the cultural and legal context. This exploration highlights the ongoing need for international dialogue and convergence in the standards of photographic protection, particularly in an era of rapid technological advancement and global digital dissemination.

Szabolcs Mátyás’s Crime Geography is a ground-breaking book that explores the intersection of geography and criminology, offering theoretical insights and practical applications for understanding the spatial dimensions of crime. Published in English, the book is the first to present crime geography as an independent scientific discipline, bridging criminology, geography, and social sciences. The author emphasizes its interdisciplinary nature, outlining three main approaches: criminological, geographical, and interdisciplinary. The book traces the historical development of crime geography, from 19th-century French “moral statistics” by André-Michel Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet to the 20th-century Chicago School’s “concentric zone model”. Modern technological tools like GIS and crime mapping are discussed extensively, particularly their use in analysing crime hotspots and informing policing strategies. The author also introduces the innovative Crime Classification System, inspired by Köppen’s meteorological classification, which integrates qualitative and quantitative data to enhance crime visualization and reveal regional crime trends. The book’s standout feature is its practical focus, which includes examples from Hungary and international contexts. The author connects geographic methods to crime prevention, exploring frontier areas like urban crime, demography, ethnography, and transport geography. His engaging writing style makes complex concepts accessible, although the technical terminology may challenge readers without a background in geography or criminology. Overall, Crime Geography is a significant contribution to the field, blending academic rigor with real-world applicability. It is a valuable resource for professionals and lay readers interested in crime’s spatial and social dimensions.