Institutional Ambiguity of Regulation of Possessory Relations in Modern Russia

Abstract

The article explores the institutional ambiguity of the legal regulation of possessory relations by the general and special rules of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The author’s position is based on the analysis of the conception of improvement of civil legislation and subsequent changes introduced in a number of provisions of part 1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in 2014–2016, unfortunately without affecting the content of article 209 of the Civil Code. However, according to the authors, this norm, serving as a concentrated expression of the theoretical views of representatives of the Russian civil law and a key element of the ownership principles, raises a number of uncertainties in the current regulation of the possessory relations, negatively affecting the trend and development of the trade in general.

The authors criticize the “everything that is not prohibited is permitted” method of regulating the possessory relations, which is supported by scientists on the basis of regulatory permission of all the owner’s operations in his sole discretion. They note “overrunning” off the institutional framework in part 2 of article 209 of the Civil Code.