The concept of the place of production of preliminary investigation and its legal nature

The article conducts a theoretical and legal analysis of the concept of "place of preliminary investigation." The aim of the study is to uncover the essence of this concept, define its legal nature, and functional significance in the mechanism of criminal procedural regulation. The subject of research includes patterns related to the establishment of territorial jurisdiction, as well as the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation regulating the concept in question, as well as the law enforcement practice of preliminary investigation and inquiry bodies, including disputes over jurisdiction and the transfer of criminal cases, and relevant problematic situations arising when determining the place of preliminary investigation in the case of a crime committed in different locations, in the absence of reliable data on the place of commission of the crime, or using information and telecommunications networks. The methodological basis of the work consists of the dialectical method of cognition combined with formal-legal, systemic-structural, and comparative-legal analysis. The scientific novelty lies in substantiating the dual (substantive and procedural) nature of the institution, developing an author's classification of types of places for preliminary investigation, and formulating an author's definition of the concept. The article argues that the place of preliminary investigation is not merely a territorially defined object but a key criminal procedural criterion determining the competence of the preliminary investigation body. As a result of the research, an author's definition of "place of preliminary investigation" is proposed, and a conclusion is drawn regarding the need for further unification of legal regulation in the context of the digitalization of crime. Furthermore, the novelty lies in the etymological analysis of the concept of "place" in relation to the criminal process, the differentiation of related concepts, as well as the development of approaches to determining the place of preliminary investigation in cases of crimes committed remotely.