Theoretical Aspects of Determining the Place of Energy (Energy Resources) in the System of Civil Rights Objects

Abstract

The paper is devoted to determining the role of energy in the system of civil rights objects. The author highlights two main theories. Representatives of the first theory recognize energy as a thing and, accordingly consider it possible to apply the property law regime in relation to it. Currently, the number of supporters of this theory has increased due to the fact that the legislator consolidated regulatory norms regarding the energy supply contract in the chapter of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation devoted to purchase-and-sale transactions. The doctrine also attempts to justify the extension of the property right to energy through the category of «disembodied things». The second theory denies the attribution of energy to things. Representatives of this theory try to substantiate the legal nature of energy based on the existing systematization of objects of civil rights. According to the author, energy is an independent object of civil rights, a special object of a physical nature, having no sign of materiality, capable of generation and, under certain conditions, transfer in economic relations of civil turnover participants, and considered as a commodity with property value and high socioeconomic importance. Thus, energy perfectly fits into the category reserved by the law-maker for similar new objects and classified as «other property». Denying the substantive qualification of energy, the author supports the position of researchers who consider energy exclusively as an object of binding rights, since, given its physical nature and the possibility of generation and transmission exclusively through technical infrastructure, energy as an independent object of civil rights can act exclusively as a subject of binding legal relations