Equality before the Law Principle in Administrative Offences Legislation of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The formalization of the idea of equality in legislative acts as a norm principle is one of the attributes of the legal regulation system in Russia. The study of the implementation of the principle of equality in the legislation on administrative offenses is of interest for several reasons that are theoretical, legal and applied in nature. Various branches of legislation have their own specific features, and legislation on administrative offenses is no exception. With this in mind, the formal legal formalization of the principle of equality is changing and acquiring new elements, these include, for example, exceptions to the rules contained in the norm principle. The study attempts to substantiate the position on the imperfection of the norm principle of «equality before the law», formulated in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. The objectives of the study include an analysis of the principle, taking into account the specifics of legislation; identification of defects in the formal legal formalization of the principle and the proposal of measures to eliminate them; justification for the lack of objective and reasonable grounds for differentiating administrative liability measures according to the criterion of the place of commission of an administrative offense (committing an offense in some constituent entities of the Russian Federation entails increased liability measures in accordance with the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation). Specific measures are proposed to eliminate the identified shortcomings of legal regulation. The tasks and logic of the study predetermined its structure, which includes three parts. The first part defines the specifics of the content of the principle of equality before the law in the legislation on administrative offenses. In the second part of the study, the author puts forward a proposal to amend Article 1.4 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. It is proposed to establish in Part 1 of Article 1.4 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation that all individuals and legal entities are equal before the law, except in cases defined therein. The necessity of defining in the law an exhaustive list of entities that are immune from the application of administrative coercion measures to them is justified; some other legislative changes are also proposed. In the third part of the study, it is concluded that it is necessary to exclude certain norms due to their inconsistency with the principle of equality.