The article is devoted to the peculiarities of conducting a pre-trial investigation into violations of the laws and customs of war. The purpose of the work is a theoretical generalization of the problems of proving existing in practical activities during the investigation of crimes related to violations of war laws and customs. Recently, a significant number of incidents of shelling of residential areas from the territory of the Russian Federation have been recorded in Ukraine, which led to violations of criminal proceedings, which are currently being investigated by the investigators of the National Police. During the investigation, a number of problems related to the process of proof has arisen, which makes this problem relevant. There are problems with the lack of experience of the investigators for the specified facts, as well as with objective reasons. The latter includes the commission of illegal actions from the territory of another state, not under the control of Ukraine, which significantly complicates the process of establishing of the subjects of criminal acts during the investigation, the locations of military units from which shelling of Ukrainian territory, where civilians are located, is carried out. It is also a problem to determine the forms of criminal activity of subjects, namely by proving complicity or its absence. An analysis of investigative (search) actions is provided, including inspection of the scene, investigation, examination of the corpse, exhumation, appointment and conducting of forensic examinations. Among the examinations, it is advisable to appoint forensic medical, commodity science, economic, fire engineering, construction engineering, etc. The most common problem is the impossibility of identifying the suspect, questioning, detaining, and conducting other procedural actions with them. Conducting an investigative experiment is also excluded. It is proposed to establish operational cooperation between investigators and the Security Service of Ukraine, to develop a unified methodology for investigating crimes related to violations of the laws and customs of war. It is also proposed to establish operational interdepartmental relations, the results of which could be used in evidentiary activities.

The article is devoted to the study of the formation and development of legislation on municipal service in the Republic of Lithuania. Individual factors that influenced the evolution of legal regulation of public service have been determined, in particular, the impact of adapting legislation to the requirements of the European Union at the stage of Lithuania's membership has been analyzed. The stages of the development of the legislation on the service have been singled out, the main novelties of the legal regulation of the institute under study at each of the stages have been analyzed. A conclusion has been made about a sufficiently centralized model of legal regulation, which provides for unified regulation of state and municipal service. Despite the fact that this model is determined by national characteristics, it is emphasized that the Republic of Lithuania successfully applies it in practice, and therefore the legislation in the field of municipal service is considered to be in line with European standards. The peculiarities of the formation of legislation on service in local self-government bodies in Ukraine have been also characterized. The trend of separating the mass of legal norms regulating the municipal service into a separate law has been determined, despite the similarity of the legal regulation of the state and municipal service, the identity of the methodological approach to the regulation of the relevant social relations, which has been repeatedly noted in the scientific literature. The consequences of the lag behind the reform of the legislation on service in local self-government bodies from the legislation on civil service have been given. Modern trends in the development of legal regulation of municipal service have been determined. A comparative legal analysis of the principles of municipal service in Lithuania, the current Law of Ukraine “On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies”, as well as the draft of the new law on service under consideration by the Parliament, has been conducted. It is concluded that a number of principles have already been taken into account in the current version, although in general the interpretation of the principles given in the researched project is more modern.

The article is devoted to the problems of organizing the activities of the National Police as a subject of the security and defense sector. The analysis of the scientific works of the scholars who were engaged in research within the framework of this issue made it possible to formulate the author’s definition of the concept of the security and defense sector. It was established that it is necessary to study, analyze and practically apply the experience of international institutions, organizations (NATO, EU, OSCE) of democratic European countries in order to improve national legislation and eliminate gaps, taking into account the experience of practical activities of police officers in the field of security and defense, to update the legal framework for ensuring the functioning of the national security system. The powers of the National Police as a subject of the security and defense sector is considered. It has been established that they can be of a general nature, that is, aimed at protecting the national interests of Ukraine from internal and external threats, ensuring the independence of the state and the protection of state sovereignty, as well as the territorial integrity of Ukraine, prevention of threats to national security, and more. It has been proven that a mandatory condition for a police officer during the performance of assigned tasks is compliance with the principles enshrined in international and national regulatory legal acts. Among the general principles, the following are distinguished: the principle of the rule of law, the principle of respect for human rights and freedoms, the principle of legality, the principle of openness and transparency, the principle of political neutrality, the principle of interaction with the population on the basis of partnership, the principle of continuity. It is proposed to make changes to the normative legal acts, namely: in the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” to define the police as a subject of the security and defense sector, and in the Law of Ukraine “On the National Security of Ukraine” to define specific tasks of national security that require its provision by the police. This will make it possible to improve the role of the National Police of Ukraine as a subject of SDS.

An analysis of scientific approaches and provisions of the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine regarding the grounds for starting a pre-trial investigation in general, as well as taking into account the specifics of criminal offenses related to domestic violence, was carried out. It is argued that the effectiveness of criminal proceedings depends on the timely detection of the facts of the commission of illegal acts related to domestic violence and the initiation of a pre-trial investigation. It is emphasized that in order to eliminate conflicts in the legislative and by-law normative regulation of the activities of law enforcement agencies at the beginning of the pre-trial investigation, especially of criminal offenses related to domestic violence, the circle of subjects who can independently identify circumstances indicating the commission of a criminal offense should be expanded. It was found that the basis for starting a pre-trial investigation of criminal offenses related to domestic violence, in respect of which criminal proceedings are carried out in the form of a private indictment, is only the statement of the victim. Grounds for initiating criminal proceedings regarding criminal offenses related to domestic violence, which are not provided for by the articles (parts of articles) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, listed in Clause 1, Part 1 of Art. 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, there is a statement, a notification (to the call center for preventing and countering domestic violence, gender-based violence and violence against children; other entities implementing measures in the field of preventing and countering domestic violence) and independent detection by an investigator, inquirer or prosecutor from any source of circumstances that may indicate the commission of a criminal offense related to domestic violence. The procedural order for entering information about criminal offenses related to domestic violence into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and their content, taking into account the criminal procedural regulation of the beginning of a pretrial investigation, organizational aspects of responding to statements and reports about criminal offenses and entering relevant information into the URPI, as well as features of the mechanism of committing illegal acts related to domestic violence are characterized.

The traditional approach to consider reorganization as a succession, as well as the form of termination of a legal entity does not fully meet the requirements of practice. However, most definitions of the category of «reorganization» contain its understanding as a «civil institution», «special procedure», «special process», «special legal phenomenon», «lengthy process», etc., when some legal entities terminate their business and other organizations arise on their property basis. The above indicates the lack of a clear position of both the legislator and doctrinal approaches to understanding the general provisions applicable during the reorganization of legal entities. Based on the conducted analysis we should pay attention on the following aspects: 1) the current legislation provides five methods of reorganization, but the termination of a legal entity’s business is typical for four of them – merger, acquisition, separation and reconstruction, and none of the legal entities terminates its business during the hive-out. Therefore, it is more correct to talk about the termination of a legal entity by the universal succession than of its termination by reorganization; 2) succession is a special legal term that determines the process of «transfer of the rights and responsibilities» from one legal entity to another one. The essence of a merger, acquisition, separation, hive-out and reconstruction should be determined not through the category of termination and emergence of legal entities, but through the transfer of the rights and responsibilities from legal entities that have terminated their business to legal entities that have emerged as a result of reorganization; 3) foreign legislation does not prohibit mixed reorganization, in contrast to domestic one. The current legislation of Ukraine, having established an exhaustive list of reorganization methods, actually prohibits it.

In today’s difficult conditions, the issue of clarifying and improving the basic principles of regulating labor protection relations, including in the field of labor protection, is gaining considerable relevance. All this leads to additional attention being paid to the principles as initial provisions that determine the nature and essence of a certain social phenomenon (in our case – legal regulation of the field of labor protection). The task of the work is an in-depth analysis of the place of principles in the science of labor law and substantiation of directions for improvement of the principle basis of legal regulation of labor protection measures. Various approaches to the application of principles in the field of legal regulation of social labor relations and labor protection are analyzed. It is noted that the principles indicate the essential features of the legal regulation of social and labor relations, that they form the foundation of current and prospective legislation in the field of labor law. It is natural that these principles are specified and acquire the status of legal norms in laws and by-laws. Therefore, it should be about a kind of chain: from the principles to their application in normative legal acts. Some shortcomings in the content of the principles, which require urgent correction, were also noted. The statement that the process of formation and implementation of principles requires urgent improvement is substantiated. The problem of properly enshrining the principles in normative legal acts on labor protection is urgent. First of all, it should be noted the insufficient degree of validity of some of the formally defined principles. The process of improving legal policy in the field of labor protection should be systematic and interconnected: from principles to general and special norms.

The scientific research is devoted to the problems of legal regulation of the rights of a person receiving psychiatric care. International legal acts, Ukrainian legislation and the works of scientists were studied. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the formulation of proposals for amendments to the current legislation. The proposed changes relate to the consolidation of the socio-economic rights of a person who receives psychiatric care, as well as the establishment of administrative responsibility for the violation of their rights. The author’s classification of the rights of a person suffering from a mental illness is given. International (Resolution of the UN General Assembly on the Protection of Persons with Mental Illnesses, Hawaii Declaration) and national (Constitution of Ukraine, Laws of Ukraine “Basics of Ukrainian Health Care Legislation”, “On Psychiatric Care”) legislation is characterized, which enshrines the rights of a person who receives psychiatric care. It is indicated that the rights of citizens suffering from a mental illness include voluntary treatment, protection of the honor and dignity of the patient, access to mass media, confidentiality of correspondence, safety and free psychiatric care, provision of quality treatment. The legislation establishes special conditions and procedures for solving the issue of forced hospitalization of a person in a psychiatric hospital. Only a court can make a relevant decision at the request of a psychiatrist. Criminal liability is established for the illegal placement of a known healthy person in an institution for the provision of psychiatric care. A citizen who has been harmed as a result of illegal hospitalization or during treatment has the right to compensation. It is proposed to enshrine in the Law of Ukraine “On Psychiatric Care” the right of a person undergoing treatment for a mental illness to maintain a place of work during treatment. The need to establish the administrative responsibility of the doctors of the psychiatric care facility for violating the rights of patients is emphasized.

Peculiarities of the international legal status determination of the national minorities within the Versailles system have been studied using the example of a number of Central and Eastern European countries. The governments of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary were asked, based on the norms of international law, to develop appropriate provisions for the protection of the rights of national minorities in order to prevent new conflicts and threats to peace. The system of treaties, declarations and agreements, which were supposed to ensure the observance of the rights of national minorities and whose guarantor was the League of Nations, has been analyzed. In practice, this was embodied in giving minorities the right to submit petitions to the Council or Assembly of the League of Nations, as well as in the activities of the Permanent Chamber of International Justice. The right to submit petitions was used at different times by representatives of the Ruthenian minority in Czechoslovakia, the Russian minority in Eastern Galicia, the Jewish minority in Hungary, the German minority in Poland, etc. The weaknesses of this system have been identified, which prevented the creation of effective international mechanisms for the protection of the rights of national minorities in the specified regions of Europe. In particular, it has been emphasized that the majority of treaties, conventions, treatises, etc. were openly sabotaged by the countries that were supposed to fulfill them. The governments of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe considered the proposed system unequal, because its conditions did not apply to a number of other multinational states that had similar problems. Conflict situations surrounding the problem of national minorities continued to arise. They were caused by various factors: from divided loyalties and irredentist movements to manifestations of governmental and social discrimination.

Taking into account the latest legislative changes to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the theoretical and practical issues of the preservation of criminal proceedings materials in the conditions of martial law are highlighted. The judicial practice regarding the restoration of lost materials of criminal proceedings has been analyzed. The study of the decisions entered into the Unified State Register of Court Decisions shows that the recovery of criminal proceedings materials is not yet a widespread practice, which is due to several factors. It is emphasized that the restoration of the materials of criminal proceedings in the future will depend on the availability of criminal proceedings material copies at the investigator’s, inquirer’s and prosecutor’s disposal, given that the legislative changes to Art. 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine are quite timely and appropriate. The list of pre-trial investigation materials that must be kept by the inquirer, investigator or prosecutor in electronic form is given. A systematic analysis of the criminal procedural legislation and legal acts made it possible to conclude that the preservation of the materials of the criminal proceedings in electronic form is possible in the case of: 1) production in electronic form using a qualified electronic signature of an official; 2) creation of a pre-trial investigation using an information and telecommunications system; 3) digitization, i.e. transformation of criminal proceedings materials into electronic format. Saving the materials of criminal proceedings in electronic form by means of digitization is currently a more accessible method, given the impossibility of fully using the «eCase» information and telecommunication system at all pre-trial investigation bodies, as well as given the limitations on the volume of procedural documents that can be produced in electronic form using a qualified electronic signature.

One of the working methods of the state security bodies of the Ukrainian SSR, which were then part of the combined Ministry of Internal Affairs with the scientific intelligentsia, namely with the employees of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, was revealed. Through the agent, who worked in this structure, state security officials tried to influence the personnel of the Institute and the main areas of its scientific activity. The agent's report was summarized and thoroughly analyzed. In his reports, a description of the state of work on the main research of the Institute’s scientists was provided, with the corresponding assessments characteristic of the era of Stalinist dominance, and, as a rule, a negative description of the Institute’s leading scientists and managers. Attention is focused on several main aspects: the agent work of state security agencies among the scientific intelligentsia and the state and development of historical science in the republic at one of the turning points in its history, because it was in the middle of 1953 that the issue of the main directions of further political, ideological and social development of the state was resolved. A new important historical document from the Branch State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, which had not been published before, has been introduced into scientific circulation. Biographical materials on the names of the leading historians of Ukraine who worked at that time were added: O. K. Kasimenko, F. P. Shevchenko. Their characteristics in the indicated generalization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR and modern assessments of the scientific activity of these scientists were compared. It is emphasized that, in general, O. K. Kasymenko and F. P. Shevchenko supported progressive positions in historical science, taking into account the extent to which it was possible under the conditions of the totalitarian regime in the USSR regarding the history of Ukraine. Considering the current wartime, when ideologues of the aggressor state are constantly searching for “historical roots” in their claims to Ukraine, while referring to the alleged “achievements of historical science”, the topic, related to revealing the influence of totalitarianism on historical science, and turning it into a tool imperial policy, acquires undeniable relevance.