The problem of assessing the materiality of harm as part of arbitrariness

Introduction. The aarticle deals with the issue of legislative regulation, establishment and assessment of the consequences of arbitrariness. The issues of determining the materiality of harm as a feature of the objective side of the offence under Article 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Based on the analysis of judicial practice, the varieties of substantial harm caused in the commission of arbitrary actions are determined. It is noted that the materiality of harm is a necessary condition for qualification of a deed under Article 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the research is to characterise the criteria used by law enforcers in determining the essential harm as part of arbitrariness. Methods. The author used the following methods: dialectical method of cognition, a set of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), as well as a number of special methods (formal-legal, comparativelegal, systemic, functional). Results. The analysis of judicial practice on the problem under study allowed to determine the influence of the subjective factor due to the creative nature of the law enforcer in determining the materiality of the harm caused by unlawful actions. It is concluded that the lack of criteria for assessing the materiality of harm, as well as the lack of specification of the range of social relations that may be harmed as a result of arbitrariness, may cause such harm, entails uncertainty in the emerging law enforcement judicial practice.