Categories of “abuse of law” and “abuse of official authority” in criminal proceedings

To date, the problem of defining the category of “abuse of law” is considered relevant, since there is no clear understanding of this category, its content, as well as the relationship of this category with the already defined criminal legislation - “abuse of official authority”. Objective: based on the analysis of legislation and scientific theories on the abuse of law and abuse of official powers, to identify the subject composition of these categories, as well as to determine the terminology used in relation to these categories, namely: “authority”, “competence” and “criminal procedural legal personality”. Research methods: in the study, methods of analysis and synthesis were used for a more detailed study of the subjects that fall into these two categories, and a comparative legal method was also used to distinguish the subject composition of the categories. Results: the article defines the commonality and difference of the studied objects, their subject composition, and also proposes changes to the criminal procedure law in connection with the studied categories. The circle of subjects that are part of the categories of “abuse of law” and “abuse of official authority” in criminal proceedings has been determined. Due to the fact that the term “authority” is not legally fixed, while the Constitution of the Russian Federation often uses the term “subject matter”, it is proposed to use it in relation to subjects with power functions. Conclusion: the study has theoretical significance in the further study of the terms “authority”, “competence” and “criminal procedural legal personality”, as well as in the study of the category “abuse of law in criminal proceedings”.