Classification of civil contracts: types, definition of differences and general properties

In civil law, the term "contract" is used in different meanings. This is the emergence of legal relations, and the form of their existence. All transactions are designed to create, terminate or change certain relationships. One of the main conditions of any contract is a single expression of will for certain actions of all participants in the transaction.

General concepts

In a broader sense, the concept of civil contracts (we will classify them below) implies a tool through which certain obligations and opportunities of the parties to the agreement are established. And the fact of the conclusion of the transaction gives rise to legal consequences for the parties, including liability. And due to the fact that the contract is provided with measures of state coercion, it can even be called a "law for two."

All agreements have common features:

• expression of will;
• principle of freedom;
• coincidence of will and interests;
• principle of admissibility;
• principle of lawfulness.

However, such a wide list of common features does not exclude the possibility of their classification according to certain criteria. Classification is not only theoretical, but also practical. The types and types of contracts make it much easier for the parties to choose exactly the type of transaction that will fully satisfy the participants in civil relations.

Bilateral, multilateral and unilateral

What is the classification of civil contracts? If both parties come to an agreement, and the transaction implies a meeting of obligations and rights, then it is called bilateral. It is carried out with the participation of several persons, for example, an agreement on equity participation (the buyer may be more than one).

In multilateral transactions, this feature is absent. The most common examples of multilateral transactions include a memorandum of association or a joint venture agreement. The parties in this case have specific obligations and rights, but they are not reciprocal.

Unilateral transactions are also distinguished. In this case, one party has exclusively rights, and the other only assumes obligations. The simplest example is giving.

Legal focus

Classification of civil law contracts as follows:

1. Preliminary. Such transactions establish only the intention of the parties to conclude an agreement in the future.
2. The main ones. These are already agreements that give rise to rights and obligations regardless of their subject.

Preliminary transactions are subject to rather stringent requirements. Such a document should contain the essential conditions for a future transaction by the date of conclusion of the latter, establish the subject. If the deadline for signing the main agreement is not specified, then by default it must be concluded within 1 year from the date of signing the preliminary. The preliminary and main contract must be concluded in the same form without fail, otherwise it will be considered invalid.

Framework agreements

The concept of an open contract in the Civil Code appeared not so long ago, in 2015. From that moment, the concept of a framework transaction, that is, open, appeared among the multifaceted classification of civil contracts. It is understood that such an agreement does not have all the agreed conditions, which will be further clarified by other agreements concluded later by applications. For example, an enterprise may sign a general contract for the transport of goods by rail, and further specify the conditions by submitting an application.

Retribution and gratuitousness

A very important classification criterion is the nature of the movement of material goods, that is, retribution and gratuitousness of contracts.

In the first case, both parties have property requirements for each other, that is, the seller transfers the goods, and the buyer pays for it.

A gratuitous transaction involves the transfer of the subject of the transaction by one party without making a claim for its payment or foam to other property.

Subject

The classification of civil contracts of this type distinguishes four classes. One of the classes is still being formed, but three have long been recognized in legal practice.

Class 1 is the actual transaction for the transfer of property into ownership or use. A person encounters such contracts in his life on a daily basis: purchase and sale, gift giving, rent and rental, leasing, maintenance for a lifetime, loan, lease, barter, and so on.

Class 2 is transactions concluded for the purpose of performing certain works, for example, household contracts (pipe or floor repairs), design and survey works, and so on.

Class 3 - the subject of the transaction in this case are services. The main thing is that as a result of such legal relations a new thing does not arise. Such agreements include: transportation, loans, banking services, the provision of medical, tourism, information services, etc.

Class 4 - this class is characterized by the intangible nature of the subject of the transaction. These include: contracts for the use of know-how, intellectual property, for technological or research work.

By level of legal provision

According to this classification, three types of transactions are distinguished:

1. Named. These are contracts whose names reflect the economic nature of the transaction.
2. Unnamed or atypical. They do not have a name due to the fact that the legislation does not have a clear definition of the contract. The simplest example: the use of labor (outstaffing). If the general concepts and conditions of such a transaction can still be found in the Tax and Labor Codes, then the Civil Code does not have such a term.
3. Mixed agreements, that is, having elements of different agreements, for example, lease with option to purchase.

Most often, entrepreneurs face problems in court if a dispute arises under an unnamed contract. As a rule, judges recognize them as invalid, but they are nevertheless legally significant documents.

Depending on the basis of the conclusion

The next group of transactions divides them into free and mandatory.

Free agreements are legal relations that arise solely by the will of the parties. Most legal relations in civil circulation are free.

As the name of the second group shows, transactions are obligatory for both or one side. A special place in this classification is occupied by public ones, the general requirements of which are prescribed in article 426 of the Civil Code. For example, the obligation of one party may arise from a normative act, if the city administration issues a warrant for housing to a person, then the management company must enter into a social contract with him for that person.

Public transactions have several mandatory characteristics, without which they cannot be considered as such:

• one of the parties must be a commercial enterprise;
• an economic entity carries out activities in the provision of services or sale of goods, perform work;
• the organization applies to absolutely all persons who apply; the simplest example: railway services - whoever buys a ticket will go by train;
• the subject of the transaction should be the activity specified in the previous two paragraphs.

If at least one of the signs is absent, then the agreement will be regarded as free.

To quickly understand this classification of civil contracts, we can consider the following example. Enterprises selling food products through a retail network concludes a public transaction with each buyer. But if the store closes and puts up its trading equipment for sale, then such a deal already falls under the concept of free.

Depending on the method of conclusion

The concept and classification of civil law includes a group of transactions that depend on the method of conclusion. The group includes mutually agreed and accession agreements.

The first type of transaction assumes that certain conditions in the agreement are established for all parties, that is, they establish mutual rights and obligations among themselves.

If we are talking about an accession agreement, then the conditions are set only for one of the parties. In this case, the joining party has the right to only agree to the terms and conditions or refuse. The simplest example is a bank loan, the borrower either agrees to the conditions set, or does not take a loan, he also cannot adjust the transaction rules.

Property and organizational

Consider the classification criteria for civil contracts:

1. Property These are transactions that relate to material goods, that is, purchase and sale, provision of services, in a row, donation and so on.
2. Organizational. This type is characterized by the fact that the agreement is organizational in nature and does not give rise to property relations. For example, a memorandum of association.

Consensual Deals

The differences between a real and a consensual transaction are that in the first case, the fact of the transfer of property must be present. A consensual agreement is only a fix that the parties have reached certain agreements. That is, as soon as the parties agree, the contract is concluded. In most cases, participants in civil matters are faced with consensual transactions.

Execution requirement

We continue to consider the types of civil contracts and their classification. Depending on who has the right to demand, transactions are divided into agreements:

• in favor of their parties;
• in favor of third parties.

In practice, the first group is most often found. The parties to the agreement define among themselves certain duties and rights.

The second group is less common. The most striking example is the insurance contract concluded by the tenant, in which the third party appears - the lessor as the recipient of compensation in the event of an insured event.

Terms of a transaction

The classification of the terms of a civil contract is as follows:

1. Essential. Without such conditions, the contract will be considered non-concluded in accordance with the requirements of Article 432 of the Civil Code. These include: subject, conditions that are expressly provided by the Civil Code for a particular transaction. As well as those agreements that the parties stipulate in the agreement among themselves.
2. Ordinary. These are the conditions that are not expressly provided for in the contract, but stipulated by law.
3. Random, that is, changing or supplementing conditions.

Conclusion

You can combine all the most common types in the general classification of civil contracts.

In general, the contract is one of the most unique legal means. Most often, the interests of one side can be satisfied only after satisfying the interests of the other, that is, it is based on the mutual interest of the parties to the agreement.

So, we examined the civil law contracts. The concept, types and classification of them.