RECOGNITION OF A CONTRACT AS NULL AND VOID AS A MEANS OF PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS

Abstract

The article considers the problems of correlation of recognition of a contract as null and void as an independent means of protecting civil rights. It is noted that the reform of civil legislation in 2013–2015. Equally affected is the legal regulation of both of these methods, at the same time not resolving a number of problematic issues regarding their scope and grounds. The article concludes that, despite the attention to this issue in the literature, as well as the presence of certain conclusions of the highest judicial instances, the doctrine of civil law is not characterised by unity in the ratio of non-conclusion and invalidity of contracts. In the aspect of the issues raised in the article, an analysis is made of the understanding of the essential conditions, the coordination of which is necessary for the conclusion of the contract, as well as the approaches to the ratio of conclusion and reality existing in the doctrine of Russian civil law. Situations are considered when the requirement to declare the contract null and void and the requirement to declare the contract invalid are substantially close to each other by legal nature. The author’s approach to distinguishing between these methods of protection on the basis of their grounds is proposed, suggesting that the non-conclusion and invalidity of contracts are two different levels of their defects.