The civil law of the Russian Federation and many other states of the world provides a definition of the concept of “thing” in the context of various legal relations. This term may correspond to objects of law that are classified on various grounds from the point of view of applicability as the subject of certain transactions, as well as when classifying a property as a specific area of legal relations. What approaches does the Russian civil law offer in this sense? How do the lawyers assess the classification of things given in the relevant sources of Russian law?
A thing as an object of civil rights
Before considering how the classification of things in civil law is carried out, we will examine what they are from a legal point of view. For this, we turn to the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with Art. 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a thing is an object of civil law, along with other types of property that can be represented in cash, securities, or rights to own something.
In some cases, the legislator establishes legal mechanisms for the protection of property rights to certain types of property. So, for example, currency values can be protected by banking legislation - when placed on deposits within the established limits. The specific legal mechanism in this case depends on the specific type of property.
If the legislator has not established mechanisms for protecting property rights in relation to an object, then citizens participating in legal relations in which these types of property are the main subject matter have the right to initiate the establishment of contractual norms. For example, in the form of an insurance contract or pledge. In the event that a person entering into a legal relationship has difficulties in exercising his rights, he can correctly compensate for losses or lost profits when correctly drafting an appropriate contract.
A thing as an object of law has an important characteristic - turnover, which is at the same time one of the criteria for classifying property. We will study what it is.
Turnover of things
In accordance with Art. 129 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, various objects of rights may be alienated from one owner to another in the manner prescribed by law. This is turnover. In some cases, the law may establish restrictions on the transfer of things from one owner to another. This is possible due to a court decision or rule of law, which implies the existence of a special permit for the alienation of an object by the owner in favor of other persons. In this case, we are talking about such a category as limited revolving things.
It may be noted that special rules are established for products of intellectual activity. A literary work or, for example, a computer program, as an object of law, in any case belongs to the author, but he has the ability to alienate the exclusive rights to use them - through sale or, for example, licensing.
Transactions with intellectual property should be carried out in accordance with established legal mechanisms. This requirement is defined by law, again, in order to protect property rights relating to this category of objects of law.
What can be caused by restrictions in the turnover of things?
It will be useful to consider in more detail what the turnover of things can be limited in. Most often this is due to the provisions of individual sources of law governing legal status:
- objects in state or municipal ownership and transferred to public use;
- archival materials;
- forbidden texts, multimedia materials, sites;
- dangerous chemicals, weapons, ammunition, missiles.
Thus, the turnover of the respective categories of objects can be extremely low: in some cases only certain categories of persons are entitled to carry out transactions with them. For example, their manufacturing plants and direct customers. In relation to transactions with the corresponding types of objects, additional state control may be established. Attempts by some individuals to transfer ownership of any of the things whose circulation is limited to others without permission may be accompanied by the application of strict sanctions defined by law.
The next criterion for the classification of things is attribution to movable or immovable. We will study it.
Real estate and movable property
The classification of things in civil law can be carried out on the basis of their classification:
- to immovable;
- to movable ones.
The things of the first type are usually:
- land;
- buildings, structures;
- bosom.
The main feature of these objects of law is the impossibility of moving them from one place to another without violating integrity. In some cases, the law may determine the classification as immovable of certain means of transport - for example, airplanes, sea and river vessels, spacecraft, which are subject to registration with state bodies in the prescribed manner. By virtue of the law, other objects of various purposes can be attributed to real estate.
The remaining things that do not fall under the criteria we have considered relate to movable property. In general, their registration with state bodies is not required, but is possible if it is required by virtue of the provisions of the law. Personal household items, relatively simple equipment, as a rule, are not subject to registration in the registers of competent government agencies. However, cars and some other means of transport are subject to. At the same time, in a number of contexts, they can also be considered as personal things.
Note that registration of rights to certain objects that belong to citizens and organizations may vary. But, one way or another, one of the key features that distinguish between immovable and movable things is the need to enter information about certain types of property in special registers, which are the responsibility of the competent authorities. We will study this feature in more detail.
State registration as a factor in distinguishing between immovable and movable things
The main legal norms governing the procedure for state registration of property are also reflected in the Civil Code of Russia. So, article 131 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation establishes the rules for entering real estate information into the registers of the competent authorities. Due to the effect of these provisions of the law, the protection of property rights and other property rights with respect to the corresponding type of property is ensured above all. A person who owns a particular property can always confirm this fact, if information on this is contained in state registries.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 131 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the right of ownership, economic management or operational management, inheritance, permanent use, easements, the fact of real estate registration in a mortgage are subject to registration with the competent authorities. Other types of property may also be subject to registration, if this is predetermined by the provisions of the law.
The competent state body, which enters information on the property of certain persons in specialized registers, certifies the fact of registration of the right to it with a separate document. In addition, at the request of interested persons who have the right to implement it, this government agency is obliged to provide information about certain objects from the registers.
A special category of property defined by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is an enterprise. This term has a much broader interpretation than the concept of a thing in civil law, but, in one way or another, is associated with the legal category under consideration. We will study how the Civil Code of the Russian Federation determines the essence of an enterprise and regulates legal relations within the framework of which certain transactions with it can be carried out.
Civil Law Enterprise
Based on the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, an enterprise should be understood as a complex that consists of various types of property used for their owner or manager of entrepreneurial activity. In the general case, an enterprise - as a single complex, is classified as real estate. However, in its composition can be represented in the widest range and movable things. Such as, for example, machine tools, inventory, raw materials.
Intellectual property may also be part of the property complex of an enterprise and may even be its most valuable resources. Thus, things as objects of civil rights, individually being movable, when considered in the context of the property complex of an enterprise, can be classified as part of an immovable object.
The next criterion for dividing things into different categories is their classification as divisible and indivisible. We study their specifics in more detail.
Classification of things into divisible and indivisible
The classification of things in civil law as divisible and indivisible is defined in the provisions of Article 133 of the Civil Code. In accordance with these rules of law, there are things that cannot be divided into component parts without destroying their functionality, consumer properties or changing their purpose. These types of property are indivisible. Moreover, if any component parts of the corresponding object are replaced by others that are similar in properties, and if this replacement is not accompanied by the formation of another thing, the property remains indivisible. Objects that do not satisfy this criterion are, in turn, divisible.
Sometimes it is difficult to define divisible and indivisible things. For example, if we are talking about a TV, then in the case of separation of some parts from it, for example, the top cover, it will remain functional. But if you remove any of the microcircuits from the corresponding device, for example, it will stop working. In the first case, the television will be a completely divisible object, in the second - obviously indivisible.
There is a special category of property - a single immovable complex. Its legal nature is defined in the provisions of Article 133.1 of the Civil Code. We study the specifics of this type of property in more detail.
Single immovable complex as a special type of property
Things as objects of civil rights can be represented in the form of single immovable complexes, which are a combination of various buildings, structures, linear objects, infrastructure elements that are technologically integrated and have a general purpose.
The main criterion for combining certain types of property into the corresponding object of civil law is the presence in the state register of an entry confirming the fact that they form a single immovable. It can be noted that in the general case, single property complexes are classified as indivisible things.
The next criterion by which property can be classified into certain varieties is the classification of an object as simple or complex. We will study this feature in more detail.
Simple and complex things
Complex things include objects that are interconnected so that it becomes possible to use them within the framework of a general purpose. From a legal point of view, those transactions, the subject of which is a complex thing (an example is a set of furniture) apply to those objects that are part of its structure. If this is a set of furniture, then the property rights arising from its purchase apply to tables, cabinets, chairs, etc. that are included in it.
Things that do not meet the criterion considered are simple. A separately acquired type of property of this type does not imply the extension of ownership to others, which may be close in purpose. Such objects can be represented in an extremely wide range - almost at any moment in the human environment you can find a corresponding example. There are a lot of simple things in the life of a modern person. These can be individual pieces of furniture, utensils, tools.
In civil law, things can be considered in the same context as objects in the status of ownership. We will study this feature in more detail.
Items and accessories
So, we examined how the classification of things in civil law is carried out. It will be useful to supplement our study also by examining the nature of objects such as accessories. Their specificity is determined by the provisions of Article 135 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with these standards, ownership is a thing that is used to service other property, which is the main one in relation to it. From a legal point of view, property rights for transactions with the main thing also apply to accessories that correspond to it. However, otherwise may be established by the terms of a particular transaction.
Special categories of property are fruits, products, and commercial income. Civil law of the Russian Federation implies their appearance as a result of the possession of a particular subject by a certain thing. Their specificity is determined by the provisions of Article 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. We study these rules of law in more detail.
Fruits, products and income as a result of owning a thing
Indeed, article 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the fruits, products, as well as commercial income that appear to a person are due to the presence of any thing. This feature predetermines the occurrence of a right to them, regardless of who used the corresponding thing, from the owner of this object of law. However, a different state of affairs may be provided for by law, contract or flow from the essence of the legal relationship.
Legal assessment of the classification of things according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
What do lawyers say regarding the classification of things we have examined in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation? According to experts, the approach taken by the legislator in drawing up the provisions of the Civil Code as a whole reflects the concept of classifying things into certain categories that is widespread in the world legal practice.
In some aspects, according to lawyers, the approach of the Russian legislator can be improved. For example, regarding the correlation of the concepts of “thing” and “property rights”. In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation they are quite clearly delineated, but this does not always reflect the essence of legal relations. According to experts, the optimal classification of things, from a legal point of view, can be carried out taking into account their physical properties or consumer qualities, which determine the options for their use in certain types of economic activity.
Scientific Approaches to Classifying Things
Many experts also speak out about the possibility of considering the classification of things into additional categories that are not considered in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. For example, such as:
- real and conditional;
- unique and generic;
- consumable or non-consumable;
- once and reusable.
In legal science, a classification is widespread, according to which things should be divided into those that:
- are common to all;
- appear on the basis of divine law;
- are public;
- cannot be subject to the dominance of specific individuals.
This approach allows, if necessary, to classify things in the course of legal relations with the participation of specific categories of subjects - citizens, organizations, authorities in accordance with the norms and ideals of society, religion, traditions, culture.
Summary
So, we studied how the essence of things in Russian civil law is determined, and also on the basis of what criteria they are classified. In accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, one can distinguish:
- negotiable things, as well as those that have restrictions on this criterion for transactions;
- movable and immovable;
- divisible things and indivisible;
- simple objects and complex;
- main things and accessories that complement them.
It is worth noting that in legal science there are widespread points of view according to which things, as objects of law, can be classified on many other grounds.
There is an opinion that the classification given in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation should be supplemented or revised in some aspects, since by many criteria it can be problematic to attribute an object to a specific category.
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation contains rules that make it possible to protect property rights and other property rights. , . , — , , , . . , , .
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