Журнал ЗАКОН

We have addressed our traditional questions to moderators and speakers at sessions of the V St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. What are your expectations from the Forum 2015? Which topics for discussion could be the most interesting for you?

The article touches upon contemporary issues of international law in the context of existing international relations, that have been complicated by conflicts, critical situations and aggravated by ideological struggle. One of the essential terms characterising the subject of international law is the concept of the international community, that has elicited responses from academic literature, international treaties and decisions of international courts and other organisations. The article presents a quite reduced concept of the international community proposed by a liberal theory of international law. The author critically evaluates its meaning in reliance on pure epistemological positions, but also according to international law and its role in the international community of states. The main elements of the term “state sovereignty” and their meaning for contemporary international law as well as certain challenges and threats faced by this concept at the current stage of global development are examined in the article. The article also explains the applicability and conceptual limits in understanding supranationality in regard to the Eurasian Economic Union as a new international organisation for economic integration.

---

Keywords: international law, supranationality, sovereignty, principle of sovereign equality of states

Anti-corruption enforcement is at once a global and at the same time national goal in many countries. The article outlines distinctive features of Russian and American law on counteracting corruption in view of the latest legal precedents. Despite anti-corruption legislation of both jurisdictions aimed at prohibiting bribery, national peculiarities as well as court practice have led to the establishment of a unique system of anti-corruption regulation in each case.

---

Keywords: anti-corruption actions, anti-corruption laws in the USA, anti-corruption laws in the Russian Federation, anti-bribery activity

Several sessions at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum — 2015 are devoted to the reform of the Russian Civil Code since it is 2015 in particular that may become a starting point for the next stage in the development of the civil law in Russia. This year the majority of amendments, developed by leading Russian civil lawyers with the assistance of the business community and designed to suit advanced civil turnover, are coming into effect. Still, the question whether they will be applicable in practical terms remains unanswered. The author shows concern for this and identifies prerequisites necessary for its resolution.

---

Keywords: primitivisation of the civil law, real rights, corporate entities, principles of the civil law, principle of good faith

The article touches upon the issues to be discussed in one of the sessions of the “Private Law” track of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum 2015, which are the problems of implementing a system of remedies for the violation of contractual obligations. The establishment of such a system took central place in drafting model laws like DCFR, PECL and PICC, which are aimed at unifying private law principles at the international level.

---

Keywords: Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), contract, securing performance of obligations, violation of contractual obligations, remedy, civil liability

The article contains vivid examples of the introduction of innovative technologies into the work of legal departments that will be discussed in the “Legal Department in the Digital Age” session at the V St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. General counsels from the largest Russian and international companies in banking, oil, telecom and the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors will demonstrate how the newest technologies have enabled legal departments to take on leadership and increase the efficiency of the legal operations. In the framework of the project “Lawyers and Business” the Russian Corporate Counsel Association develops the legal profession by establishing exchange of best practices between its members and teaching them about contemporary management.

---

Keywords: legal function, legal department, in-house counsel, key performance indicators (KPI), compliance

The article is an attempt to answer the question of whether institutionalised pro bono remains, as of today, a purely Anglo-Saxon, mostly American tradition or has already become global. The author looks at the globalisation of pro bono from two perspectives: the provision of legal pro bono by global law firms outside of the US and the UK (both in countries where they have offices and in those countries and regions where lawyers are in short supply in general) — and the recently growing popularity of pro bono among lawyers and national law firms in places where this practice has never been widespread.

---

Keywords: pro bono, free legal assistance, global law firms, social responsibility, pro bono clearinghouses, pro bono declarations

The article is devoted to the problems of dispute resolution involving Russian parties in Western European arbitration institutions in a situation of uncertainty regarding sanctions against Russia. The author examines the activities of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) as an alternative to the arbitration institutions of Western Europe and highlights the features of dispute resolution in the ICAC at the CCI of the Russian Federation.

---

Keywords: arbitration, international commercial arbitration, arbitration courts

The article is devoted to the development of the integrated water resource management system and the possibilities for applying its elements to managing transboundary water bodies. The author addresses both the role of law as a part of such a system and the challenges arising in the course of its development and functioning.

---

Keywords: water resources, water body, integrated water resource management (IWRM), environmental protection, environmental law

Corporate raiding in Russia is a widely discussed and reported problem that severely damages Russian economic development, its prospects for investment and the welfare of citizens. The author’s field research, based both on closed and still ongoing public cases from recent years (SMARTS v. Sigma, ToAz v. Uralchem) in Russia, sheds light on the methodologies of raiding and the PR-methods of raiders, as well as on the consequences of raiding for Russia’s further development.

---

Keywords: corporate disputes, corporate raiding, PR-instruments

The article provides an overview of US economic sanctions imposed against Russia as a consequence of the Ukraine crisis. The following features of the sanctions are outlined: exterritorial nature, broad scope of application with regard to persons responsible for compliance and types of transactions, and severe liability for violation which, taken all together, make compliance with US sanctions de facto mandatory for any company falling under US jurisdiction or depending on access to US technologies or financial markets. The article also contains analysis of US sanctions through the prism of Russian law. It concludes, that as a general rule, US sanctions cannot be treated as force-majeure or supervening impossibility for the purposes of discharging an existing contractual obligation. Although the article focuses on the analysis of US sanctions only, its conclusions are applicable to unilateral sanctions imposed by other foreign states (EU, Canada, Japan, etc.).

---

Keywords: economic sanctions, exterritoriality, export control, force-majeure, supervening impossibility, abuse of rights

The discussion around the necessity of introducing criminal responsibility for legal entities in Russia is important not only as a matter of fact but also methodologically. It might be helpful in understanding the conflict between the real need of states for particular legal forms for reacting to socioeconomic processes and the global initiatives, forced to separate themselves from the aforementioned processes, which is a fundamental feature of the modern law. The differentiation of necessities at the national level confronts the global unification of legal instruments which leads to an obvious institutional crisis. The article describes this problem using the example of foreign global regulators imposing criminal responsibility for legal entities on Russia without any internal institutional demand.

---

Keywords: legal entities, criminal responsibility, global institutionalisation, socioeconomic development

Cross-border enforcement of judgments in commercial matters is a complex process combining both legal issues and complicated aspects of international politics and economics. Yet creating an effective and convenient regime for enforcement of foreign judgments can be easily considered as an important precondition to doing business in international markets. The article explores the analysis of recent precedents of commercial (state arbitrazh) courts touching upon this subject and reveals the direction of their further development. This direction demonstrates a switch from the isolated (or closed) concept of granting the exequatur towards an open one which, despite its complexity, allows for the creation of an up-to-date legal enforceability regime for foreign judgments.

---

Keywords: recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, exequatur, international comity, reciprocity, public order, exclusive international jurisdiction

The author highlights the basics of the theory of the sovereign immunity and its realisation in frames of the Russian legal system. A survey of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights is provided to display a contemporary world trend that establishes and employs a restrictive approach to domestic legislation. Meanwhile, some types of state assets, for instance funds of foreign central banks, other monetary authorities and sovereign wealth funds, according to the opinion of the author, are to be immune from recovery in Russia for the purpose of developing Moscow as a financial center. Based on and guided by the UN Convention of 2004 on the topic, the author urges the passing of a separate law on the sovereign immunity of the Russian Federation.

---

Keywords: sovereign immunity, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, right to a fair trial

The article attempts to paint a vivid picture of F.F. Martens (1845–1909), a famous lawyer and specialist in international law. Proceeding from a novel written by J. Kross, largely unknown to legal professionals, with Martens as a protagonist, the article shows the significance for Martens of the idea of the rule of law in international relations and the way he combined it with loyalty towards his own country — the Russian Empire.

---

Keywords: F.F. Martens, international law, rule of law, law of war