In those days, when law was just emerging in the form in which we are all accustomed to seeing it, people still did not understand the benefits of this “adaptation”. It would seem that moral standards sanctioned by the state, what could be special about them? In fact, the usual rules of conduct, only a higher rank. Nevertheless, after several hundred years, the law proved to be the most powerful and effective way to organize the management of the public masses of different ethnic composition and culture. Gradually, law began to penetrate not only into the sphere of state building, but also into the ordinary life of people. The norms regulated the order of sale, hereditary and delicate situations, in other words, the process of ordinary life. Initially, such norms existed at the level of customs. However, after a while, a whole branch of law appeared, namely civil.
Civil Law History
Many modern lawyers are wondering what the essence of civil law is. On the one hand, the concept of this industry provides an exhaustive answer, which will be discussed later, on the other, there are many theoretical questions that very often turn out to be controversial. This fact largely depends on the history of the formation of the civil branch of law. First of all, it is necessary to note the primary role of ancient Rome, because civil law and the civil process, in fact, were invented by the scientists of this state. As mentioned earlier, initially this industry "lived" only in customs and traditions. However, as commodity-money relations develop, civil law, or rather, private law, began to develop on the Apennine Peninsula. But the industry did not arise immediately. In those days, Rome rapidly developed against the background of the constant struggle of the plebs (people) and patriciate (elite).
Under the pressure of the first patricians, one of the oldest and most important monuments of law (laws of the XII tables) was created, in which the rules governing the private life of citizens were collected. From that time on, civil law began its immediate history.
Laws of XII Tables
This set of regulatory rules is one of the first examples of codification of state law by the people. To create laws, a special commission of 10 people was drawn up. The purpose of their work was "sorting the norms." Outdated legal ones were simply excluded. Thus, the code of laws included the most demanded at that time legal norms. An interesting fact is that the codification also carries a lot of information about procedural activities in civil law, since procedural rules are specifically included in some tables. Of course, the creation of such a code of laws was a real breakthrough. However, there was a big problem. Those legal relations that were not regulated by laws were not considered to exist at all. Therefore, the next several hundred years, gaps in law were filled with special acts of state authorities. Directly civil law in the form in which we are accustomed to see it was formed on the basis of the Corpus juris civilis (code of laws of Justinian). This source largely answered the question of what is the essence of civil law, because it was really unique for its time.
The further history of civil law develops as humanity evolves. In the era of feudalism, the norms of Roman private law were implemented in many economic respects. The greatest development occurred during the Renaissance, when legal norms as a whole became the most important part of the life of society and the state. In parallel with the development of international relations, a peculiar form of civil law was formed, which became known as international civil law.
The modern concept of civil law
The civil law of Russia and other countries is practically unchanged in terms of regulated relations. Of course, the mechanism for using the law itself is quite diverse, but this does not prevent us from identifying a single concept. Thus, civil law is a set of legal rules that govern property and non-property relations based on the factual equality of the parties, in order to achieve the most favorable conditions for private individuals. However, in order to understand the essence of civil law, the industry must be considered taking into account the action of factors of various legal families formed today. Civil law can also be considered as a scientific discipline. With its help, lawyers practice in many educational institutions. Topics in civil law help new lawyers to master the legal nature and essence of the industry. As a rule, training is carried out at a theoretical and practical level. Tasks in civil law in many respects provide the development of knowledge in the field of legal implementation of private law norms.
Different effects of legal family factors
In both the Roman-Germanic and the Anglo-Saxon legal families, the subject of regulation presented in the industry article is one and the same. However, civil law and the civil process are very different in countries where there is more than one type of legal regime. The main problem can be traced to varying degrees of implementation of the principles of the civil industry. For example, in the states of the Romano-Gremansky legal family, the industry exists on the basis of the principles of de facto equality of the parties, inviolability of any form of ownership, freedom of contract. Nevertheless, these principles are much more effectively used in the countries of Anglo-Saxon law. A similar situation also arises due to the actual difference in political regimes, but this is a completely different topic.
Objects of civil law
Earlier, we found out that the subject of civil law is legal relations in the field of non-property and property interests of individuals. In turn, its object can be called all the benefits (tangible and intangible), because of which, in fact, the already mentioned legal relations arise. It should be noted that Russian civil law is currently undergoing a process of unprecedented development. This leads to the emergence of new facilities that are covered by the activities of the civilian industry. According to article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the following are recognized as an object of civil law: property (things), money, securities, as well as property and non-property rights, intangible benefits. It should be understood that all objects are subject to the regulation of the civilian industry if private law entities have an effect on them. Otherwise, civil law regulation is out of the question.
Object classification
Based on existing civil law objects, scientists put forward completely different classification criteria, for example:
1. According to the turnover in society:
- seized,
- limited in turnover,
- unlimited in circulation.
2. According to the type of property:
- movable
- immovable.
3. Real estate is divided into:
- land plots, subsoil areas,
- water bodies,
- objects inextricably linked to the earth.
There is also a general classification of all the things of the material world that surround a person:
- consumed,
- complex
- not consumed,
- individually defined,
- things with generic characteristics,
- divisible,
- indivisible.
Much attention is paid to the classification of securities.
It is worth noting that recently the financial market is on the verge of continuous evolution. This leads to the emergence of new categories that require legal identification. Thus, the following securities are distinguished:
- registered,
- order,
- title deeds,
- cash
- corporate
- documentary,
- uncertificated.
In civil law, objects are not only considered to have material expression, for example, non-property (property) rights, work, services, etc. Intellectual property occupies a separate niche in the legal regulation mechanism, which shows its exceptional importance.
The exercise of civil rights very often depends on the particularities of the regulation of an object. For example, real estate has a specific legal characteristic and regulatory method, namely: mandatory registration of absolutely all transactions with this object. In this case, the presence of an imperative method of regulating relations is traced, which is completely not typical of the civilian industry.
Methods of regulation of legal relations in civil law
As in other scientific fields, the method in civil law is a set of methods, means and techniques by which the impact of the rule of law on certain social relations. It is largely based on key principles (dispositivity, equality of arms and freedom of contract). Thus, the dispositive method of legal regulation, which is based on the actual will of the parties, is dominant. In other words, individuals have the ability to use or not to use legal norms. Laws in civil law - this is a legislative "addition", which is used if, for example, the contract does not spell any relationship. The role of the imperative method in civil law is minimized. This can be seen in the small number of prohibitions that exist in the regulations of this industry. A similar relationship between the two methodological bases was formed during the existence of Roman law. Lawyers of that time separated the sphere of public interests and private ones. The latter cannot be realized when one of the parties has priority. It follows that equality of arms is the direct basis of the dispositive method.
In accordance with the principle of freedom, subjects of the civil industry have the full right to conclude agreements stipulated and not stipulated by civil law. However, the latter cannot contradict the general principles of law and business turnover. On the whole, the prevalence of the dispositive method makes it possible in concrete legal situations to use several exit methods at once. This is clearly seen if you read the tasks of civil law, studied by lawyers in universities.
The subject composition of the industry
The exercise of civil rights, or rather, the mechanism of this process, depends directly on the subjects. Even despite their factual equality, individuals and legal entities are very different from each other. The subject of civil law may be both an animate person and not (an individual and a company, enterprise, company, legal entity). This is one of the features of this industry. It should also be noted some of the requirements put forward to all persons without exception: the availability of legal capacity and legal capacity. In addition, the legal characteristics of some entities are rather specific, for example, of states. This raises the main problems of civil law: on the one hand, there is equality of parties prescribed in industry acts, on the other hand, some entities are endowed with a different legal status.
Characteristics of individuals
In order to be a full-fledged subject of civil legal relations, it is necessary to have legal capacity and legal capacity, as already mentioned.
1. Legal capacity is the actual ability to own rights and bear certain responsibilities. Every citizen is endowed with it from birth, therefore the legal capacity is the same for absolutely everyone. The concept and types of civil rights, as well as obligations, can be seen in the Constitution, civil acts, etc.
2. Legal capacity is the ability to exercise their rights and bear responsibility for them. It can be of three types: full, partial and limited. There are also legal regimes of individuals when they are actually incapacitated. Most often, the volume of this category is determined by the person’s age. From the age of 18, everyone has full legal capacity. But, according to a court decision, anyone can be restricted in his legal capacity in accordance with certain life situations.
Legal entities and states
Many problems of civil law are associated with the definition of these two types of persons. On the one hand, the state is exactly the same legal entity as, for example, an enterprise. But due to the existence of sovereignty, this subject has certain features. For example, states do not have civil liability on a common basis. Nevertheless, in a contractual or other obligatory relationship, this entity acts, in fact, the same legal entity. Thus, the role of the state is really controversial today. As for legal entities, they have the following features:
- unity of organization,
- property isolation
- property liability,
- in civil matters always act on their own behalf.
International civil law
International civil law refers to the totality of the norms of international treaties and domestic laws governing the most important aspects of civil law in the field of interstate cooperation. This industry arose due to the rapid development of contractual, commercial, family and other civil law relations in the international policy. This set of norms allows subjects of civil law to interact with each other even if they are not citizens of one state. One example of civil law acts of an international nature is the “Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights”, abbreviated as “TRIPS”.
So, in the article we answered the question of what is the essence of civil law, and also tried to see the features of this industry. In conclusion, it should be noted that civil law is the dominant sphere of legal activity, since it is most closely related to the life of citizens. As for the international industry, it is increasingly being implemented in the civil laws of many countries, because the role of law in the world is increasing every day.