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The monograph addresses the development of the legal system concept within the general theory of law and international legal doctrine in the second half of the XX and the beginning of the XXI century. It also defines and analyses the content of the following categories: “national legal system” and “international legal system”; reveals prerequisites for and main directions of their interaction. A great part of the monograph deals with the analysis of theoretical concepts and characteristics of the legal mechanism behind the operation of international legal norms in the legal systems of modern States. It is intended for professors and students of law schools, employees of state bodies and law-enforcement agencies as well as for those who are interested in the international law theory and its practical realization.

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Nowadays, the universal nature of main international treaties on human rights is being called into question by certain countries with increasing frequency. At present time, representatives of some Asian, African and Near Eastern countries state that the contemporary international law of human rights is more oriented to Western countries, which had accepted Christian religion values and extensively fell under the influence of Roman law. This point of view is worth noticing, despite the fact that Western scholars and experts permanently assert that the international law as a whole and the law of human rights in particular are not a product of the West only, but are a global one. This paper is devoted to searching for an answer to the question of to what extent positions of the both parties have been proved and what the international community should do to find a common ground between the opposite camps in this issue. It also determines the nature and peculiarities of the International Law of Human Rights as part of the universal international legal system, reveals the merits and defects of "Universalism" and "Cultural Relativism" conceptions and shows that the effective implementation of international legal norms on human rights is impossible without taking into consideration the peculiarities of historical and cultural development as well as ethnical structure of different countries, which determine specific character and content of national archetypes of the attitude to the law.

The article shows the evolution of the concept and content of the ‘continental shelf’ legal category and covers the applicability of relevant international legal norms to the shelf of the Arctic Ocean and their use in bilateral agreements between the Arctic States on the delimitation of their marine areas. A special place in the article has been given to the submissions made by Russia to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2001 and 2015. In this regard, the article analyses prospects of delivering its final decision on the submissions, especially taking into consideration the submission of Denmark, which was made on 15 December 2014, and that of Canada, which is expected to be submitted in the future.

INTRODUCTION.Onthebasisofprovisionsofthe1982UNConventionontheLawoftheSeaandotherlegaldocuments, the article analyzes topical issues of the current and future international legal regulation of the use of maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), which are capable of completely transforming the shipping and international maritime transportation industry in the near future.MATERIALSANDMETHODS.Theissues raisedinthearticlearestructurallydividedintothreemaingroups.Thefirstoneisconnectedwiththeanthropocentrismofthe‘pre-digitalera’law– that is, with its inability to work with other autonomous subjects except for people and various forms of their organization. The second is determined by specific characteristics of autonomous systems themselves, among which their non-determinism and ability to self-study should be noted. The third group is directly related to the legal support of MASS cybersecurity in the new conditions.RESEARCHRESULTS.Whenwriting the article, the authors proceeded from the fact that the issue of extending the application of international maritime law to MASS cannot be solved by simply transferring its regulatory impact to new subjects (objects) – artificial intelligence systems or autonomous ships themselves. Such a transfer is impossible, since human and artificial intelligence use completely different decisionmaking algorithms.DISCUSSIONANDCONCLUSIONS.Th mainconclusionofthearticleisthatthewidespreadintegrationofMASSintothepracticeofinternationalmaritimetransportationwillbea turning point not only for the very procedure for its performance, but also for the algorithm of legal regulation of this sphere of public relations. Since the emergence of autonomous ships will mainly result in a gradual decrease of the human component in managing them in favor of artificial intelligence and related automated systems, international law of the sea is unlikely to continue to operate in its current form. It will take a lot of work to adapt and changeitsnormsinaccordancewiththenewrealitiesofthe‘digitalera’ofhumandevelopment.