<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This paper analyses actual legal issues related to the protection of rights of a child deprived of parental care and the use of alternative care. Every child separated from the family has the right to receive adequate care and protection from the state. The author notes that currently, there is no unified deinstitutionalisation strategy and action plan in Georgia ensuring the protection of the rights of a child deprived of parental care. The qualitative research results, regulatory legal acts for alternative care and court practice are based on legal analysis. The authority of the guardianship and custody body lies in the application of alternative care. Thus, the aim of our study is to analyse alternative care issues regulated in Georgia, its enforcement in practice and to develop specific proposals and recommendations in order to eliminate the gaps related to the alternative care issues. The research has revealed that in order to successfully complete the deinstitutionalisation process in Georgia, it is necessary to develop a unified strategy and action plan. Children should be provided with services as close to family as possible: taking prevention measures, offering appropriate support services to families and considering the geographical access. It is necessary to allocate both material and human resources, including in terms of training.
</abstract>

Challenges in legal regulation of alternative care in modern Georgian law

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Establishing a road servitude is one of the ways of ensuring access to immovable properties, which are not connected to a common use road, thus ensuring complex improvement and development of reachability provided for in the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia until 2030 (Latvija2030). The graphical representation of a servitude territory is a legally binding document necessary for the corroboration and registration of the road servitude right. The purpose of the study is to reflect, as a result of studying the development and practical application of the legal framework for the content and form of the graphical representation of a servitude territory, the problems and peculiarities involved to draw conclusions and to provide conceptual solutions to the problems identified. Research methods used are general scientific – descriptive, analytical, formally dogmatic, modelling and legal interpretation – grammatical, systemic and teleological. The study has revealed problems in the development and practical application of a graphical representation of a servitude territory due to the lack of a legal framework to ensure a uniform procedure and principles for the development of content and form.
</abstract>

Graphical representation of a servitude territory: legal and practical aspects

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On analysing the Latvian regulatory framework governing the work of the state police in a multicultural society and the practice of its application, the author proposes a number of improvements, mostly concerning the internal regulatory framework of the state police. With respect to the practice of applying the legal framework, the author proposes to follow the recommendations of the European Union institutions and the best practices of the Member States in this area, with emphasis on the Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies developed by the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In the author's opinion, this article will become a useful source of information for both state police officers and other law enforcement officers performing their duties in a multicultural society and will facilitate their interaction with representatives of national minorities and other social groups.
</abstract>

Improving policing in a multicultural society in the Republic of Latvia: theoretical legal aspects

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The institute of asset securitisation emerged at the end of the 20th and 21st centuries while the securitisation market has developed significantly in global capital markets. This article raises questions about the concepts of asset securitisation and their regulation in Latvia. This research topic is selected because the financial market is currently developing intensively. The aim of the research is to examine the procedure and regulation of securitisation of assets and the advantages of their use. The research task is to analyse the legal framework of the securitisation of assets in Latvia and identify the current issues. Within the framework of the research, the analytical method, descriptive method, induction and deduction method, and the logical and legal method have been used. As a result of the research, the author draws conclusions about the use of securitisation of assets, indicates the lack of appropriate regulation in Latvia and claims that thanks to digitalisation and the widespread use of securitisation around the world, including mortgages, the concept of ownership will be transformed into digital claims rights, which will lead to the creation of new forms of civil law relations.
</abstract>

Institute of Asset Securitisation

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International investment law protects investors from unlawful expropriation of investments by the host state. This article focuses on the problems of protection of investors against such unlawful actions by the state and the possible application of the right to property which is established in the European Convention on Human Rights as the possible defence mechanism. The purpose of this study is to assess whether, in cases of expropriation of investments, investors may effectively defend before the national tribunals relying on Article 1 of the Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The authors analyse complicated questions related to this problem, namely, whether investment shall be full under the notion of “property” under the said international convention, what kind of protection may be provided in case of expropriation of investment in the European Union Member States and how investors shall be compensated against the violation of their right to property in such cases. The authors use comparative, systematic analysis of deductive methods for the assessment of the relevant sources and formulation of the conclusions and proposals. The authors found that though the right to property under the European Convention on Human Rights protects foreign investments against expropriation, one of the most problematic issues related to the application of the right to property under this act in investment disputes is the question of fair compensation to investors.
</abstract>

Protection against expropriation of investments under the European Convention on human rights

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Today, social media, information management systems and smart devices are just a few examples of technologies that process large amounts of data every day. Although the General Data Protection Regulation requires data controllers to ensure that technical and organisational measures are in place, the focus of the Regulation is on data processing, such as the collection, storage and processing of personal data. Given that a very large part of the data of smart devices is nowadays stored directly in the cloud, it is necessary to analyse how to store and process this data in the cloud, which most often can also identify a specific person to meet the requirements of the Regulation, or to store it directly in a form that does not have to meet some of the data protection requirements. The work focussed on the storage and processing of personal data in the cloud and analysed whether the pseudonymisation of personal data can effectively eliminate the reference to the data subject, since such an elimination would imply that the cloud can be used without restrictions as well as in accordance with the requirements of data protection. Scientific articles, legislation, guidelines and other sources were analysed. The paper describes the possibilities of pseudonymisation as such, and also provides useful insights into storing personal data in pseudonymised form.
</abstract>

Pseudonymisation of personal data as a technical and organisational measure for using data in the cloud

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In this article, I address the by-product of the property reform—perpetual land lease—with a case study of Latvia. Contributing to scholarship on the challenge of property reforms after generations of dispossession, I examine the economic meaning of property restitution in this post-Soviet context. Using process-tracing and policy analysis techniques to examine the creation and implementation of Latvia's restitution policy in the aftermath of independence from the Soviet Union, I tackle the research question: “Have the property rights of the parties been considered during these reforms?” I use two theories to answer this question: one of law and economics, by applying the theory of efficient regulation and Normative Hobbes Theorem (coalesced from the Coase Theorem and the Hobbes Theorem) and the other of transitional justice, by analysing the perpetual lease relations as part of restitution policy, aimed at providing justice to victims of the Soviet occupation and nationalization. In this paper, I illustrate that state intervention by normatively fixing the lease fee is necessary to prevent infringement of property rights of the landowners, thus ensuring that restitution as a transitional justice measure has reached its aim.
</abstract>

Rent control: a friend or foe

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This article examines the content of the type of operational experiment defined in Article 15(3) of the Operational Activities Law (OAL) (hereinafter referred to in the article about operational experiments in the meaning of Article 15(3) of the OAL as operational experiment). The aim of the study is to analyse the performance of an operational experiment, define basic elements that form the structure of the measure and study the performance (element) qualities of the measure which must exist in order for it to be performed successfully. To achieve the aim, research methods – analysis, modelling and deduction – were used. The study concluded that the operational experiment consists of three basic elements: the subject of the operational activity (hereinafter referred to as “the institution”), the person against whom the measure is performed (hereinafter referred to as “the subject”) and communication. If one of these is absent, the measure does not exist as such. The central subject of the study is the communication that takes place between the operator of the measure chosen by the institution and the subject during the operational experiment. To enable communication, a number of preconditions must be met when performing the operational experiment, which are clarified, investigated and defined in the conclusion of the paper.
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The content of an operational experiment: Basic elements and performance qualities

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This study aimed to reveal the philosophical basis and the impact of removing judgement for termination of research based on the perspective of Indonesian criminal procedure law renewal, as well as the implication of releasing determination for termination of the investigation in law enforcement efforts. This study used empirical methods by using primary data. Primary data were the observation of the implementation of the policy in releasing a determination for termination of the investigation. The result showed that the philosophical foundation of the need to formulate policy still needed to be revised to realise the law's general goals. The formulation policy on the authority of the Police Investigator to issue the Provision Letter for Investigation Cancellation is carried out by changing or revising, or adding the power of the Police Investigator in cancelling the investigation. Then, the juridical implication of the issuance of the Provision Letter for Investigation Cancellation (SKP2) by the Police Investigator for the law enforcement effort is that it strengthens the exercise of the duties and responsibilities of the Police Investigator in solving the case and facilitating the attainment of the goals of the law.
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The determination of policy issuance to stop investigation in the perspective of the renewal of Indonesian criminal law procedure

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The article aims to study the nature of the legal framework of telemedicine. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiological safety in Latvia was determined by minimising human contact in all possible sectors, including healthcare. This was followed by service restrictions in accordance with the COVID-19 Infection Management Act. Although these restrictions were in effect, it was impossible, throughout their duration of operation, not to provide health services, as even a temporary discontinuation of these could pose a threat to patient health security; accordingly, it was necessary to take steps to avoid any interruption in the provision of medical treatment, thereby ensuring that the continuity in the treatment process would not be affected, which is important because such continuity is clearly defined by the right to health protection, as well as to a minimum of medical assistance, guaranteed by the State to everyone.
</abstract>

The regulation of telemedicine: a Latvian–EU perspective

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 2024 (2024): Issue 1-28 (May 2024)

Volume 2023 (2023): Issue 1-25 (May 2023)

Volume 2023 (2023): Issue 1-27 (December 2023)

Volume 2023 (2023): Issue 1-26 (October 2023)

Socrates. Rīga Stradiņš University Faculty of Law Electronic Scientific Journal of Law.

The scientific journal Socrates was created in 2015. The Journal is published on behalf of the Faculty of Law in the Riga Stradins university. It is designed to contribute to understanding in all matters relating to law and focuses on interdisciplinary research.  The aim of the journal is to foster and expand debates among legal scholars, practitioners, researchers, and members of the academic community. The content of the journal promotes scientific discussions within the fields of Medical Law, International Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Administrative Law, and Comparative Law, while considering interdisciplinary aspects. Articles and commentaries of a comparative nature are published in both Latvian and English.  Socrates is published in a single volume three times a year in May, September, and December.  The scientific journal Socrates is one of Latvia's top legal journals with an international profile, and it is indexed in lists such as ERIH+, ICI Journals Master List, DOAJ.  Until December 2023, please submit articles via email to socrates@rsu.lv. From January 2024, all manuscripts should be submitted to the journal via Editorial Manager.  Review process  All research articles submitted to Socrates are subject to a thorough double blind peer review. Each article in each edition is assigned to at least two reviewers. The identities of both the authors and the reviewers of a manuscript are kept confidential from each other. This anonymity ensures an impartial evaluation of the manuscript's quality, methodology, originality, and adherence to academic standards. Reviewers provide detailed feedback and recommendations for improvement without any knowledge of the authors' affiliations or backgrounds. This process enhances the fairness and objectivity of the peer review, helping to maintain the quality and integrity of scholarly research.  Open Access License  This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY NC 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY NC 4.0 license.   Journal policy and ethics  Socrates follows ethical standards in publishing. The ethical standards of the journal are based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal at institutional level supports FAIR principles for scientific data management and stewardship and work with institutional repository created based on open source code software provided by Dataverse project – Dataverse.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  Previous volumes are available at: https://www.rsu.lv/en/socrates/archive 