Evaluation Concepts in Russian Codifications of Civil Law

Abstract

Based on general legal and civilistic experience in the study of evaluative concepts, the author investigates the general and the specific in their civil law nature. As the result of the study, the author draws the conclusion that the existence of evaluative concepts forms a distinctive essential feature of civil law as private law. It is noted, however, that the doctrine, law-maker and law-enforcer need basic guidelines that will allow to define objective criteria for nominating concepts as evaluative, as well as for determining the boundaries of their systematic interpretation. Also, the author concludes that the impact of evaluation concepts on legal regulation in private and public law is different. In civil law, depending on the localization in the text of the Civil Code, it is possible to distinguish two groups of evaluation concepts. The first group includes the basic evaluation concepts that allow us to see the goals, meaning and specifics of civil law regulation. The second group, in the author’s opinion, includes peripheral evaluation concepts that are utilized by property law and separate contractual constructions and the presence of which allows to avoid unnecessary causality and, at the same time, makes it possible to bring legal regulation closer to real relations.