Legal Personality In The Russian Civil Law

The ambiguous and inconsistent doctrinal interpretation of the category of a legal personality and its structure in the civil law of Russia in absence of legal definition of this category in the positive law makes the research done quite urgent. Lack of legislative definition generates inconsistent judiciary practice when transactions made in the Russian Federation are verified. This article is aimed at identifying and disclosing the elements essential to a legal personality of legal and physical persons, a possibility of restriction and deprivation of a legal personality, as well as such persons' ability to enter into civil-law relations. Research objectives: Analyse different doctrinal points of view and positive-law provisions for nature and structure of a legal personality, determine the acceptance criteria for restriction and deprivation of a subject of legal status and capacity, analyse the judiciary practice of examination and resolution of civil cases and identify the main problems connected with definition of legal status and capacity. The article examines the phenomena under analysis with the system analysis method to research civil-law categories of legal status and capacity as structural elements of a legal personality. In addition, the methods of structural-functional and systematic analysis, as well as the generalised methods of knowledge obtaining are used. The paper studies the legal categories of legal status and capacity, a legal personality. It has justified that both legal and physical persons have their legal status and capacity. It has proved that a legal personality cannot immanently belong to all subjects of law without exception. Contrary to the established opinion, the paper has rationalised that a full legal personality of physical persons begins from the age of not 18 but 21. It has postulated that legal capacity is not only affected by such factors as age, education and state of mind, but also civil legal status because lack of the latter would mean lack of the subject of law as such. The article can be used in development and improvement of the legislation regulating the issues of the legal status and capacity of civil-law subjects. The article can also be useful to all subjects engaged in law-enforcement practice.