Modern domestic dissertations in law are often criticized for insufficient reliance on previous research. Society’s demand for the study of digital aspects of law, the frequent use of the comparative legal method, and, to a certain extent, the current limited access to foreign sources, necessitate a review of foreign dissertations on digital law. We chose to use qualitative and quantitative methods to select the dissertations examined in this study. Firstly, we selected dissertations defended at universities from the QS World University Ranking. Then, we refined our search by using accessible national and university research repositories. Based on comparative legal and statistical methods, we consolidated the dissertations into a single list and divided them according to different criteria. While doing this, we also defined the main trends in preparing Ph.D. dissertations on digital law. The main results of our study include a subject-thematic index of Ph.D. dissertations in the field of digital law, which is designed to facilitate searches for relevant sources, help researchers determine topics for study, and outline the main aspects of the study of digital issues from the standpoint of various branches of law.

The article examines the current state of implementation of one of the largest regulatory projects in to examine the role of international cross-border payment regulation in the context of global financial architecture and to see how a modernized national payment infrastructure could be optimally embedded in the global payment infrastructure. To achieve this purpose, this article systematizes the standard setting documents and analyzes doctrinal sources. Special attention is paid to BIS Innovation Hub projects. The study analyses area E of the G20 Roadmap, which covers the development of new means of payment, including CBDCs and stablecoins. In particular, the paper provides an overview of analytics and specific projects pertaining to the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The article also analyzes how the issuance of CBDCs relates to the international framework being created for regulating crypto assets. The authors conclude that global financial regulation is becoming more payment-centric since the issue of regulating cross-border payments lies at the intersection of several important policies and international legal regimes. In particular, this involves international policies pertaining to the regulation of financial services, macroprudential regulation, regulation of the global monetary system, regulation of crypto assets, countering illicit financial flows in the global economy, and ESG regulation. The article systematizes the features and risks of the payment-centric model for global financial regulation. It concludes that international cooperation and coordination are necessary if cross-border projects related to payments are to be successfully implemented.

Under sanctions, digital services and products that are not affected by restrictions are of particular interest to unqualified investors of the Russian stock market. The possibility of illegal use of digital technologies in the stock market has not gone unnoticed by people with criminal intent. This article analyzes the already existing illegal practices in the stock market of using digital technologies and services, and also identifies criminal legal risks of their potential development in the future. The authors use general scientific methods of research as synthesis, analysis, induction, deduction, classification, as well as special methods (systematical, structural and dogmatical, as well as content analysis methods) based on a wide range of judicial practice. As a result, the authors formulate the following main areas of using digital technologies in the stock market for criminal purposes: 1) obtaining unauthorized access to users’ personal accounts; 2) organizing the activities of financial pyramids and illegal forex dealers; 3) fraudulent activity through the marketing of financial services by illegal financial market participants; 4) using artificial intelligence for the purposes of false trading. It has been established that the measures currently taken by supervisory and law enforcement agencies are not sufficient to protect unqualified investors from the criminal actions of malefactors. At the same time, the need to strengthen control over the use of digital technologies will require finding a balance between minimizing risks by government agencies and continuing to actively use new technologies on the Russian stock market.

The trend towards digitizing procedures involved in legal commercial proceedings is regularly analyzed on the pages of profile publications. Meanwhile, the practical application of electronic tools available to participants in commercial proceedings and commercial courts does not often receive the attention it is due, which creates difficulties in implementing them in real court proceedings. The author understands electronic tools as the mechanisms enshrined in the Russian Commercial Procedure Code that allow participants in commercial proceedings and commercial courts to perform procedural actions in electronic form and/or remotely. Having analyzed, systematized, and summarized the judicial practices formed by the Russian Constitutional Court, the Russian Supreme Court, the Court for Intellectual Property Rights, and commercial courts of appeal and cassation, as well as relevant publications, the author draws up a practical guide to the use of electronic tools for (a) obtaining information on the proceedings via electronic tools of communication and the Internet, (b) electronic access to case files in limited access mode or via the Court File service, and (c) remote participation in court hearings via web-conferencing (online hearings). This practical guide is necessary due to the lack of proper, uniform, and complete statutory regulation of the use of electronic tools by courts and participants of commercial proceedings. The necessary procedural actions are often performed on the basis of guides posted on the websites of commercial courts and/or in the ‘My Arbitr’ system. In this regard, drawing up a practical guide seems to be highly relevant, useful, and appropriate.