On behalf of the Editorial Board, I am delighted to announce the publication of No1-2023 of the specialized professional edition “LEGAL HORIZONS ”. The first is the article by Oleksii Malovatskyi “The correlation of the responsibility of the individual and the state within the legal framework as a prerequisite for international legal responsibility of the state”, which scrutinizes the category of the “responsibility of an individual and a state before the law” and determines the correlation through a systematic analysis of its general and special characterological and identification features, and on this basis to attempt to respond to the question if a state is responsible to a person in international law.

No less relevant is the article by Iryna Sofinska “Ratification of the Rome Statute in time of geopolitical and legal reconsideration: mission is (im) possible”. In this paper, the author scrutinizes both legal and political issues of legal and political narratives regarding the accession of Ukraine to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Ukraine signed it in 2000 but has not ratified it till now due to political tensions and legal (legislative) disparities.

The aim of the article is to outline the importance for every democratic country (which guarantees human rights, the rule of law, and fairness) to be a party-state to the International Criminal Court.

Yevhen Popko in his article “International Private Law Relations of the state: Subjective Characteristic” examines the theoretical and legal foundations of the state as a subject of international private law relations and its special status. The author studies the immunity of the state as a subject of the private international law and defines a range of relations, in which the state may act as a subject of international law.

The next article in this issue is the paper by Khanimana Gafarova “Inheritance statute: the comparative analysis of the legislation of different states”. The author considers the issue of basic international hereditary relations, which are deemed to be one of the urgent problems of our time. Studies of international legislation in the field of inheritance and conducting a comparative analysis demonstrated significant differences, the absence of an international regulatory mechanism in this area or the presence of certain legal gaps.

Sima Suleymanli in the article “The key principles of international law as the legal grounds for the fight against illegal traffic of cultural heritage objects” highlights the features of the substantive principles of international law as the legal basis for fighting the illegal circulation of cultural heritage objects.

The paper by Shafa Guliyeva “Legal shortcomings of accounting for leasing operations in the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and proposals for their solution” considers the features of leasing operations in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The focus is on the regulatory basis and legal aspects of the control of leasing operations.

The issue continues with an article by Saftar Rahimli “The founding of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its historical significance in terms of international law within Azerbaijani territory: toponym of Azerbaijan”. The novelty of the manuscript is in detailed clarification of the status of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in the system of international relations.

The study by Inna Rakipova, Anastasiia Pidgorodynska, and Andriy Melnyk “Concepts, forms, types and main categories of human rights communication of the victim in criminal proceedings” examines the problem of human rights communication of the victim in criminal proceedings, defines the doctrinal concept of human rights communication of the victim, its forms, types, and the main categories, which include the communicative position of the victim, communicative equality, communicative guarantees, and communicative barriers.

On behalf of the editorial team, we sincerely thank the authors and readers of “LEGAL HORIZONS ”!

Yurii Harust, Editor-in-Chief