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The Repatriation of Mortal Remains Within the EU: An Inventory of the Questions Addressed by the Members of the European Parliament to the Commission and the Correlative Answers

A significant result of the constitutional reform in the Russian Federation in 2020 is the abolition of constitutional (charter) courts and the emergence of a new institution — constitutional (charter) councils of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The legal status of the latter is quite variable, and there are grounds for identifying several of its models, adopted by the legislation of concrete subjects of the Russian Federation. The article shows the specifics of the constitutional council model that has developed in the Republic of Tatarstan. Based on the analysis of the legislation of this subject of the Russian Federation, it was concluded that the Constitutional Council of Tatarstan is substantive state body that carries out "soft" supervision over compliance with the Constitution of this Republic. At the same time, certain elements of its status require additional regulation.

In the article the question of correlation of such foundations of constitutional system of the Russian Federation as federal state structure and institute of local self-government is considered. Having a single public-legal nature based on the principle of democracy, the two facets of the constitutional legal order organically combine and contribute to the development of the entire public-legal system.

The contract of sale represents one of the most important contracts on internal and external circulation of goods. This contract is considered one of the oldest and it has the same purpose in all the countries worldwide. With this contract, the seller is obliged to deliver the goods he sells to the buyer, in order for him to gain the right of ownership, whereas the buyer is obliged to pay the price as per the contract. validity conditions, resolution and consequences of resolution, etc.In some occasions, the contracts are subjects of different conflicts which reach the only solution through courts. Given the fact that there are different types of the contracts of sale, it is important that we make efforts in order to study them, difficulties we encounter with regards to the circulation of goods and money.

The article is devoted to the consideration of the mediation procedure from the standpoint of legal prevention. The necessity of expanding the use of the mediation procedure in order to prevent negative phenomena, such as the workload of the judiciary, the escalation of disputes, the breakdown of partnerships and socially useful ties, is substantiated. A constructive dialogue is considered as the main preventive tool of the mediation procedure, attention is paid to the basics of a constructive dialogue in resolving a legal dispute. The preventive potential of the mediation procedure is revealed in resolving legal disputes arising in certain areas of public relations.

In the science of constitutional law, constitutional legality is mainly understood as the mandatory execution and observance of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the laws corresponding to it by all authorities, officials, individuals and legal entities. At the same time, the quality of normative legal acts adopted in pursuance of constitutional norms and their compliance with the basic law plays an important role in this process. In order to ensure the unity of the legal space, the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution in constitutional control is decisive. Ensuring such supremacy is the main task of all public authorities.

In the system of local self-government, various forms of exercise of power by the population are possible. And one of the other forms of participation of the population in solving local issues can be called various forms of participatory democracy. The article reveals one of the forms of participatory democracy as co-participating design. The author notes that co-participating design refers to the design process involving residents of a particular municipality. It manifests itself in the participation of residents in improvement activities aimed at changing the urban environment, as well as participation in the planning of territories of municipalities. It is gratifying that in a number of subjects of the Russian Federation the practice of participatory design is actively used in the formation of a comfortable urban environment.

This thesis analyses how international human rights law (IHRL) influences China's domestic protection of minority language rights by dissecting the factors obstructing its application and providing an alternative pathway in soft law to overcome these impediments. Using a desk-based and documentary analysis methodology, the thesis's unique standpoint examining human rights development as a dialectic, evolutionary process contributes to the understanding and promotion of minority linguistic rights not only in China, but also in other multiethnic countries. The thesis argues that soft law, due to its inherent 'softness', provides a realistic, if less than optimal, pathway to integrate IHRL in a totalitarian State. The thesis's contribution is significant as it challenges the canon perception that mere narratives can bring no concrete progress to a State's human rights situation. The thesis shows that soft law provides a strong narrative function that creates and develops compelling counter-narratives to State-propagated notions of nationalism and international oversight, informing public opinion and creating public space for academic discussion that is essential to the integrating process of IHRL.The thesis first presents the conflicting interests and the inability to provide mitigating mechanisms to reconcile domestic and international commitments in IHRL and China's current legal systems. It finds that illiberal trends in politics, combined with the inherent hostility of China's polity towards cultural diversity, mean that direct incorporation of IHRL is impossible. China's three National Human Rights Action Plans are examined as proof of the viability of soft law to function as the mitigating mechanism needed to overcome the inadequacies of both the domestic and international systems. The thesis refutes the common critique that only hard law reform can provide human rights development due to its punitive nature in the face of violation. As the Xinjiang case study demonstrates, without the necessary democratic architecture, any law, hard or soft, suffers from a lack of restraining power. The inherent softness of soft law is therefore not necessarily a defect, but an advantage to help it manoeuvre around unfavourable domestic circumstances, eventually facilitating the domestic influence of IHRL to protect minority language rights in China and other illiberal systems.

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that corporate lawyers' professional ethics, known as legal ethics, requires greater moral content. The role of legal ethics is indicative of how lawyers practice law and is defined by the Queensland Law Society as 'principles and values which, along with conduct rules and common law, regulate a lawyer's behaviour [that give guidance] to ensure right conduct in the daily practice of law'. Legal ethics, therefore, has a vital role in lawyers' professional obligations: legal duties to the law and justice, fiduciary and confidentiality duties as well as discretionary rules such as integrity, practical wisdom, and judgement as well as professional codes of conduct. Legal ethics also refers to theoretical legal ethics (TLE), a generic term coming from philosophical theory, whose function is to provide guiding principles to lawyers when interpreting their professional role and obligations.Lawyers' current TLE, positivist TLE, is guided by a positivist philosophy which the thesis argues is no longer suitable for corporate lawyers and should be replaced. Its narrow scope does not adequately reinforce lawyers' professional obligations, nor address ethical issues of 21st century corporate law practice. The thesis shows the situation faced by corporate lawyers and the problems with positivist TLE, by analysing the legal and ethical issues in the James Hardie (JH) case study. Here, commercial decisions made by JH, parent company of a company group, were later subject to a commission of inquiry initiated by an Australian state government.The thesis proposes a new TLE: Aristo-Kantian TLE, informed by the moral philosophies of Aristotle and Kant and applying them to legal practice issues. This is developed into a practical model that corporate lawyers (and indeed all lawyers) could use to formulate legal and ethical advice to clients. These moral philosophies are applied in three steps: Step I, Moral Sensitivity; Step II, Moral Reasoning; Step III, Lawyers' Dialogue with Clients, to present lawyers' advice. The main research question is: Could Aristo-Kantian philosophies provide greater moral content for corporate lawyers' professional obligations and theoretical legal ethics, with benefits for corporate clients, legal professionals and the public good?

The research is an examination of the question of whether China, with a substantial number of State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) active in the market, can effectively maintain a level playing field through the existing competition law and policy framework and, if not, what strategies or policies it could adopt in order to address this problem.The Thesis takes the position that the current competition law and policy in China have limited effect in ensuring a level playing field between SOEs and non-SOEs. To be clear, the Thesis does not suggest that the existing Chinese competition law and competition policy completely fail to address competition concerns caused by Chinese SOEs; on the contrary, there are cases that suggest that SOEs, like all the other market players, are under the scrutiny of Chinese competition law (the Anti-Monopoly Law 'AML') and will continue to be so in the future. Chinese competition policy is developing into a more comprehensive policy and the newly established Fair Competition Review System (FCRS) potentially addresses one aspect of competitive neutrality concerns caused by SOEs, the regulatory advantages of SOEs. Collectively, the Thesis argues that the application of AML and the FCRS cannot address all aspects of competitive neutrality problems caused by SOEs, leaving the problem of lack of competitive neutrality between SOEs and non-SOEs unaddressed in the market of China. Given the current reform of SOEs has increased pressure on Chinese SOEs to be more competitive, this Thesis argues that it is a good time for China to reconsider how level the playing field is between SOEs and non-SOEs.To ensure competition between SOEs and non-SOEs is based on efficiency, rather than on who can benefit from government ownership and political connections, the Thesis proposed to reform the AML. It also provides policy recommendations for China to consider when introducing a competitive neutrality policy in its regime. These measures, if adopted, would provide stronger domestic competition and would help Chinese SOEs to be more competitive in the market.