Public Law Liability for Bioethical (Biological) Harm: Towards the Doctrine of Torts in the Sphere of Humanitarian Biosafety under Russian Law

The article develops the doctrinal foundations of publiclaw liability for bioethical (biological) harm within the system of humanitarian biosafety. The category of the biological identity of the person is introduced, comprising its genetic, physical-physiological, intergenerational (continuity with ancestors and future generations), and biosocial components; on this basis, the autonomy of bioethical harm is substantiated as distinct from pecuniary loss, non-pecuniary (moral) harm, harm to health, and informational harm under personal-data legislation. Drawing on the concept of anthropological bioconstitutionalism, a legal, rather than ethical, classification of biological delicts is proposed, comprising four types: somatic, reproductive, genetic, and neurocognitive. The publiclaw nature of liability for their commission is substantiated. The proposed concept of liability is correlated with the constitutional principle of proportionality of rights limitation and with the goal of achieving the individual’s bioethical well-being. The methodological basis of the study comprises the formallegal, doctrinal, comparative-legal, and constitutional-legal methods, together with a method of legal qualification of harm and offences.