Abstract:

From the standpoint of legislative textology, comments are normative texts that are beyond the scope of criminal law formulated in the articles of the criminal legislation. The main purpose of the comments is to supplement, specify, explain or change the mode of operation of specific norms. Comments are necessary elements of a codified normative act that improve the structural organization of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and improve the quality of the criminal legislation. The comments are a legal tool, since they form in a certain direction the conceptual apparatus of criminal law, specify the appraisal features, and, if necessary, limit the application of criminal liability and punishment, narrow down the scope of criminal law regulations or change the mode of their implementation. From a legislative textual perspective, comments consist of such constructive elements as the subject of the comment and a number of descriptive attributes. Moreover, each type of comments includes a set of descriptive elements that form the components of comments: definitions, clarifications, comments, exclusions, limits, calculations and qualifications. In the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, these comments are the most dynamic and effective tool of the criminal law policy, as evidenced by their quantitative growth and qualitative changes that have been made to the Code from 1998 to the present.