Criminal Law Conceptualization of the Category “Official Authority” as a Necessary Prerequisite for a Uniform Delineation of the Crimes Provided for by Articles 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The relevance of the problems of this article is due to the need to improve law enforcement practice in the field of qualification of crimes under Articles 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A critical review of the Russian Federation Supreme Court Plenum explanations, sentences and scientific works allows to conclude that the main obstacle to a uniform delineation between abuse of official authorities and excess of official authorities is the lack of a theoretically mature construction of official authority in criminal law doctrine. Purpose: to propose a definition of the category “official authority” that contains substantial features and reveals its legal nature, to develop official authority construction and to demonstrate its influence on the crime qualification. Methods: theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic; empirical methods of comparison, description, interpretation; specific scientific methods: legaldogmatic and interpretation of legal norms. Results: the study substantiates the constructive basis of official authority as a structure of the following elements: authorized person (official), subject of authorization, interests of the subject of authorization, authorized action, conditions and grounds for the implementation of authorized action, list of regulatory legal acts. The proposed structure of official authority is tested on the example of a court sentence. The author of the article clarifies some new criteria for distinguishing between crimes provided for by Articles 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and shows how the concept of the content of acts corresponding to the specified crimes will change.