On the legal nature of criminal offence
The article analyses the concept, characteristics of a criminal offence, and features of distinction of a new type of criminal offence from a crime. The authors consider the formation of the concept of a criminal offence in pre-revolutionary Russian legislation. It is noticed that a criminal offence was act in the form of violation of rules that protect certain values, entail corrective punishments. The comparative legal method and systematic study of foreign legislation are used in research. The authors identify three approaches to the concept of criminal offence of depending on: 1) the prohibition and type of punishment; 2) the procedural order of the proceedings; 3) the degree of public danger of the act. The authors consider various positions regarding the need to introduce the concept of a criminal offence in a criminal legislation, cite positive and negative consequences of amending Russian legislation.