The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (russian: Гражданский кодекс Российской Федерации, frequently abbreviated 'ГК РФ') is the prime source of civil law for the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The Russian Civil Law system descended from

Roman Law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

through

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

tradition. It was heavily influenced by German and Dutch norms in the 18th-19th centuries. Socialist-style modifications took place during the Soviet period (1922-1991) and Continental European Law influences since the 1990s. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation came into force in four parts. The first part, which deals with general provisions (i.e. defines sources, names

legal entities In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

etc.) was enacted by the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

in 1994 and entered into force in 1995. The second part (dealing with the

Law of obligations The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law legal system and so-called "mixed" legal systems. It is the body of rules that organizes and regulates the rights and duties arising between individuals. The specific rights a ...

) entered into force in 1996. The third part ( Succession law) entered into force in 2002. The document has certain basic principles: equality of all participants guaranteed by civil law, inviolability of private property,

freedom of contract Freedom of contract is the process in which individuals and groups form contracts without government restrictions. This is opposed to government regulations such as minimum-wage laws, competition laws, economic sanctions, restrictions on pri ...

, free exercise of civil rights and juridical protection of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. The fourth part, dealing with

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

, was

signed into law A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an '' ...

on December 18, 2006 and came into force on January 1, 2008. Part IV became the first truly complete codification of the legislation on

in the world.

The structure of the Civil Code

* Part 1 ** Section I: General provisions ** Section II: Ownership and other proprietary interests ** Section III: The general part of the

law of obligations The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law legal system and so-called "mixed" legal systems. It is the body of rules that organizes and regulates the rights and duties arising between individuals. The specific rights a ...

* Part 2 ** Section IV: Specific types of

obligation An obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral. Obligations are constraints; they limit freedom. People who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. Obligation exists when the ...

s * Part 3 ** Section V: Succession law ** Section VI:

International private law Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

* Part 4 ** Section VII: The right to products of intellectual activity and means of individualization Unlike most European civil codes, Russia's Civil Code does not cover

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage, ...

. Instead, family law is dealt with in a separate code.

History

Since its foundation as an independent successor state of the former Soviet Union, the Russian Federation had been engaged in a large legislative project of developing a new Civil Code. In July 1994, President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

signed a decree authorizing the "Establishment and Development of Private Law in Russia" program. The program called for a group of legal researchers, led by

Sergei Alexeyev Sergei Sergeyevich Alexeyev (28 July 1924 – 12 May 2013) was a Soviet and Russian legal scholar and politician. He was the first and only chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Supervision of the USSR from 1990 to 1991. Later, he was one ...

, to create a new civil code for the nation. Initially, Russian politicians on all sides of the political spectrum opposed the idea of a Civil Code. It took significant effort to get first part of the Code approved by the State Duma — while the

Federation Council The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

voted ''against'' the Code. However, the Federation Council took longer than allowed by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

to come to its decision. This allowed Yeltsin to sign the Code into law. In other words, as Sergei Alexeyev put it, the Civil Code became law almost "by accident".

References

External links

*Full text English translation o
parts 1 to 3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
Old edition on December 23, 2003, after this date many changes were made. *Full text English translation o
part 4 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
made by

Rospatent The Federal Service for Intellectual Property, commonly known as Rospatent (russian: Федеральная служба по интеллектуальной собственности (Роспатент), Federalnaya sluzhba po intellektualn ...

in 2011. *Russian Federation, Federal law no. 231- of 2006:

'. Law 231-FL of December 18, 2006: implementation act for part IV of the Civil Code. In Russian. URL last accessed 2010-07-13. {{Civil codes by country, Europe Law of Russia

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

The structure of the Civil Code

History

See also

References

External links