Abstract: The object of the study in this article is the idea of a social state and the potential in it from the perspective of legal regulation of the social sphere in Russia. The aim of the study is to identify the directions of implementation of the idea of a social State in the framework of the social policy of Russia and to develop theoretical and practical recommendations. To achieve the goal, the article studies: the essence of the idea of a social state, including the relationship between the concepts of «social state» and «constitutional state »; stages of formation and development of the social state; social rights and freedoms of the person and the citizen as a component of the system of constitutional values; evaluation concepts « decent life», « free human development ». The methodology of the study is based on a system, complex and specific historical approaches, includes a set of general scientific and private scientific methods of research, including analysis, synthesis, logical, system-structural, formal-legal, historical-legal, etc. The following main results were obtained: the main approaches to the interpretation of the concept of «social state» were systematized, which allowed to clarify its essence and reveal the relationship with the concept of «constitutional state»; the stages of formation and development of the social state in relation to the peculiarities of fixing this concept in the legislation have been analyzed; the approaches to determine the place of social rights and freedoms of man and citizen in the hierarchy of constitutional values were systematized; formal criteria for the definition of the concept of «decent life» and the author’s interpretation of the concept of «free human development» have been proposed. The findings and results obtained can be used in further legal studies, as well as in public authorities.

Abstract: The subject of the study is the functions of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, special attention is paid to the control and supervisory function. The purpose of the study is to identify defects in regulatory legal acts that fix the list and content of the functions of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, as well as to find ways to correct them.
The research methodology is based on systematic and complex approaches, includes a set of general scientific and private scientific research methods, including methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, system-structural, logical, formal legal, etc.
The authors analyzed a set of legal acts regulating the organizational and legal aspects of the implementation of the functions of the Ministry of Justice of Russia. According to the results of the study, the following main results were obtained: the imperfections of the Regulations on the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation were revealed, including the confusion of the concepts of "functions", "powers", "area of jurisdiction", going beyond the functions of the Ministry of Justice of Russia to the level of discretion of the federal legislator, as well as insufficient specification of the powers of the Ministry of Justice of Russia in areas of the legal organization of local self-government; the author's classification is proposed, which allows improving the situation on the basis of systematization and clarification of the content of the functions performed by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation; the peculiarities of the implementation of the control and supervisory function of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in relation to various subjects of law subject to verification are revealed; it is substantiated that the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, together with the Federal Notary Chamber, should eliminate contradictions between the Code of Professional Ethics of notaries and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The conclusions and results obtained can be used in the activities of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, when conducting further legal research in the field of public law.

Abstract: The research subject is the problems of using evidence, collected during criminal intelligence and surveillance operations, in criminal procedure in Russia, considered in the context of provision of human and civil rights and freedoms and the observance of the principle of legal certainty. The purpose of the research is to define the key problems of using evidence, collected during criminal intelligence and surveillance operations, in criminal proceedings, and the development of the ways to solve them.
The research methodology is based on the system and comprehensive approaches and includes the set of general scientific and specific research methods, particularly analysis, synthesis, formal-legal, comparative legal methods, etc. To achieve the research goal, the author analyzes the practice of Supreme Courts of Russia, the European Court of Human Rights, the doctrinal views of Russian processualists, and defines the key problems of using evidence collected during criminal intelligence and surveillance operations, in criminal proceedings, and formulates the ways to solve them. The author finds out that the judicial practice and doctrine mainly consider certain aspects of the problem under study, with no system approach to its understanding; the author proves that the main problem lies in the field of provision of human and civil rights and freedoms, and the observance of the principle of legal certainty; the author formulates recommendations about amending the legislation based on the constitutional principles and international standards, and the following legalization of evidence collected during criminal intelligence and surveillance operations. The conclusions of the research can be used in the work of law-enforcement bodies and for further research in the field of criminal procedure.